California v. Montrose Chemical Corp.

This action was filed by the United States and the State of California (“the Trustees”) in 1990 under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), as part of an effort to clean up DDT and PCBs released respectively by Montrose Chemical Corporation and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. The release over several decades of an estimated 5,500,000 pounds of DDT and 38,000 pounds of PCBs has allegedly harmed the marine environment in the San Pedro Channel, the Palos Verde Shelf, the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbors and the area surrounding Santa Catalina Island and the Channel Islands.

In this action, the Trustees seek to recover (1) natural resource damages under 42 U.S.C. § 9607 (a)(4)(C) for the harm to the marine environment caused by releases of DDT and PCBs and (2) response costs under 42 U.S.C. § 9607 (a)(4) for the clean-up of the Montrose DDT plant site. The district court granted summary judgment as to the claim for natural resource damages on the ground that the claim was barred by CERCLA’s statute of limitations, 42 U.S.C. § 9613 (g). The district court also ruled that the Mont-rose defendants’ collective liability for damages on the…