City of Modesto Redevelopment Agency v. Superior Court

This case comes to us on a petition for extraordinary relief after the trial court granted summary adjudication to defendants, manufacturers and suppliers of dry cleaning solvents and equipment. We are called on to decide whether the Polanco Redevelopment Act (Health & Saf. Code, § 33459 et seq.) (the Polanco Act) allows a local agency to recover the costs of cleaning up hazardous substances from parties that did not directly discharge wastes, control the site of the discharge, or have authority to prevent the discharge of those substances. We grant the petition and direct the trial court to reconsider the motions for summary adjudication in light of the views expressed herein.

I. BACKGROUND

The City of Modesto Redevelopment Agency brought an action against numerous defendants, alleging causes of action for strict liability, negligence, negligence per se, continuing trespass, private and public nuisance, private and public nuisance per se, response costs and declaratory relief under the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act (Health & Saf. Code, § 25300 et seq.), ultrahazardous activity, and cost recovery under the Polanco Act (case No. 999345). The…