Supreme Court holds that state statutes of repose are not preempted by the federal environmental clean-up law, CERCLA [US]

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of CTS Corp. and industry, holding that a group of landowners brought their lawsuit too late.  The major legal issue in the case was the difference between the state’s statute of limitations and statute of repose, and whether the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) preempts them.

CERCLA expressly overrules a state’s statute of limitations, a rule that sets a time limit from when an injury is discovered for filing a lawsuit, due to the fact that harms from environmental contamination such as cancer or other illness can come years after the actual contamination.  CERCLA is silent on the statute of repose.  A statute of repose sets a certain amount of time in which a person must file a lawsuit from when a defendant last acted, and is an “equitable” defense meant to protect defendants from lawsuits being brought years after they engaged in any alleged wrong-doing.

In CTS Corp. v. Waldburger, the court was deciding whether the language in CERCLA that preempts the statute of limitations extends to a statute of repose.  The Supreme Court held that CERCLA does not preempt the statute of repose, and thus, the plaintiffs’ claims under CERCLA were time barred.  North Carolina’s statute of repose is 10 years.  In the opinion authored by Justice Anthony Scalia, the Court ruled 7-2 that because CERCLA does not expressly use the term “statute of repose,” and because the statute of limitations and repose are distinct defenses that Congress was aware of when drafting the legislation, CERCLA could not be read in such a manner to preempt the statute of repose.

CTS Corp. operated an electronics components factory using trichloroethylene, or TCE, near Asheville, NC from 1959 until 1986.  In 1987, CTS Corp. sold the land to a developer, claiming it was environmentally clean.  In the 1990’s, residents suffered health problems; however, it took until 2009 to confirm through EPA testing that the land was contaminated.  The landowners brought suit against CTS Corp. under CERCLA seeking monetary damages and remediation costs.  The 4^th Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing the District Court, held that CERCLA preempts both the statute of limitations and statute of repose, and allowed the landowners case to proceed.  Now, the Supreme Court has reversed the 4^th Circuit holding that CERCLA does not preempt a statute of repose.

The case will have far-reaching impacts in North Carolina where a number of Marines and their families suffered harm due to environmental contamination while at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC.  The Obama Administration intervened in CTS Corp. v. Waldburger, urging the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the industry and uphold the states’ statutes of repose.  A number of families have brought suit against the Department of Defense for harm, but because the contamination occurred between 1957 and 1987, the Department of Defense will have a strong argument that the statute of repose precludes the families’ cases.

Outside of North Carolina, the case with have limited impact as the only other states with an applicable statute of repose are Oregon, Kansas, and Connecticut.

Source:

CTS Corp. v. Waldburger et al., Supreme Court No. 13-339, decided June 9, 2014 (http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-339_886a.pdf)

Jeremy P. Jacobs, Supreme Court rules for industry in fight over contaminated groundwater, Greenwire, June 9, 2014 (http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060000953)