OHM Remediation Services v. Evans Cooperage Co., Inc., 96-30714
| Decision Date | 22 July 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 96-30714,96-30714 |
| Citation | 116 F.3d 1574 |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
| Parties | , 27 Envtl. L. Rep. 21,318 OHM REMEDIATION SERVICES, Plaintiff-Counter Defendant-Cross Defendant-Appellant, v. EVANS COOPERAGE CO., INC., Defendant-Third Party Plaintiff-Counter Claimant-Cross Defendant Counter Defendant-Appellee, Louisiana Oil Recycle/Reuse, Inc.; Coastal Leasing Services, Inc.; Henrietta McCrary; Francis' Drilling Fluid, Inc.; Power Tool Repair Service, Inc.; American Inspection and Testing Laboratories, Inc.; American Manufacturing Company, Inc.; Atlas Processing Co.; Aviation Laboratories Inc.; Boassa International Inc.; Cabot Corporation; Caleb Brett USA; Castrol Inc.; Catalyst Recovery of Louisiana Inc.; Cherry Picker Parts & Service Company, Inc.; Cheyenne Services, Inc.; Conoco Inc.; Daniel Oil Tools Co.; De Nova Oil and Gas, Drilling Measurements Inc.; Dravo Lime Company; Dresser Industries Inc.; Dwaca Enterprises; Ebasco Services, Inc.; Fruehauf Trailer Corporation; Howell Industries; Iew Systems Inc.; Independent Tank Cleaning Services Inc.; Ingersoll Rand Co.; Koch Service Inc.; KRC Southern Inc.; L & B Transportation; Louisiana Bulk Carriers Inc.; Matlack Inc.; Quality Diesel Service Inc.; Richard Oil Co.; Rubicon Incorporated; Sabine Manufacturing; Saybolt Inc.; Schuylkill Metals; Southern Natural Gas Company; Stupp Brothers Bridge and Iron Company; Tube Alloy Corp.; Valley Electric Membership Corporation; Verret Shipyard Inc.; Westlake Polymers Corp., Third Party Defendants-Cross Defendants-Appellees, Atlas Wireline; Dresser Pump; Geismar Marine Inc.; Greenville Johnny of Louisiana Inc.; Intercoastal Truck; LA Interstate Liquids Inc.; N L McCullough Industries; Novi Chemical; Southern Pipe; Southern Scrap Metals Inc., Appellees, Acadian Ambulance Service Inc., Third Party Defendant-Cross Defendant-Third Party Plaintiff-Cross Claimant-Counter Claimant-Counter Defendant-Appellee, T T Barge Cleaning Inc., Third Party Defendant-Cross Defendant-Third Party Plaintiff-Cross Claimant-Counter Claimant-Appellee, Florida Parishes Voc-Tech School |
Allen D. Darden, Phelps Dunbar, Baton Rouge, LA, Steven Jay Levine, Baton Rouge, LA, for OHM Remediation Services.
Michael D. Peytavin, Daniel A. Ranson, Windhorst, Gaudry, Ranson, Higgins & Gremillion, Gretna, LA, for Evans Cooperage Co., Inc.
Edward W. McCrary, Baton Rouge, LA, pro se.
John David Ziober, Ashley Culbertson Atchison, Shockey & Ziober, Baton Rouge, LA, for Acadian Ambulance Service, Inc.
Elizabeth Haecker Ryan, New Orleans, LA, for T T Barge Cleaning, Inc.
Homer Ed Barousse, Jr., Barousse & Craton, Crowley, LA, for Francis' Drilling Fluid, Inc.
Ian Douglas Lindsey, Louisiana Department of Justice, Baton Rouge, LA, Florida Parishes Voc-Tech School.
Robert A. Redwine, New Orleans, LA, for American Mfg. Co., Inc.
W. Craig Wyman, Liskow & Lewis, New Orleans, LA, for Atlas Processing Co., Conoco, Inc. and Southern Nat. Gas Co.
Robert E. Holden, New Orleans, LA, for Atlas Processing Co., Southern Nat. Gas Co. and Valley Elec. Membership Corp.
Anastassios Triantaphyllis, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, Houston, TX, for Aviation Laboratories, Inc.
Clarence F. Favret, III, Favret, Demarest, Russo & Lutkewitte, New Orleans, LA, for Boassa Intern., Inc.
Wade P. Webster, New Orleans, LA, for BP Exploration and Oil, Inc.
Lawrence R. Plunkett, Jr., S. Daniel Meeks, Reich, Meeks & Treadaway, Metairie, LA, for Caleb Brett, USA.
Eric O. Shuman, McGlinchey, Stafford & Lang, New Orleans, LA, for Castrol, Inc.
Joseph E. LeBlanc, Jr., Nesser, King & LeBlanc, New Orleans, LA, for CCL Custom Mfg., Inc.
Melissa M. Cresson, Sandra Louise Edwards, James Randy Young, Kean, Miller, Hawthorne, D'Armond, McCowan & Jarman, Baton Rouge, LA, Leonard Louis Kilgore, III, Baton Rouge, LA, for Cedar Chemical Corp., Deep South Chemical, DSI Transports, Inc., Intern. Paper Co., Occidental Chemical Corp. and Oxy USA, Inc.
Mark Randal Callender, Baton Rouge, LA, for Cherry Picker Parts & Service Co., Inc.
Thomas M. McNamara, Liskow & Lewis, Lafayette, LA, for Conoco, Inc.
J. Michael Johnson, New Orleans, LA, for Constar Plastics, Inc.
Eva M. Fromm, Heather M. Corken, Fulbright & Jaworski, Houston, TX, Patrick A. Juneau, Jr., The Juneau Firm, Lafayette, LA, for Daniel Oil Tools Co. Fred W. Davis, Strain, Dennis, Mayhall & Bates, Lafayette, LA, for De Nova Oil and Gas, Drilling Measurements, Inc., IEW Systems, Inc. and Port Allen River Plant, Inc.
William P. Stubbs, Jr., J. Kevin Stelly, William Stubbs Firm, Lafayette, LA, for Drilling Measurements, Inc.
Joseph Thomas Hamrick, Jr., Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn, New Orleans, LA, for Dravo Lime Co.
Boyd Allen Bryan, Lafayette, LA, for Dresser Industries, Inc., Ingersoll Rand Co. and Dresser Pump.
Ronald A. Johnson, Bettye A. Barrios, Johnson, Johnson, Barrios & Yacoubian, New Orleans, LA, for Ebasco Services, Inc.
Margaret N. Strand, Bayh Connaughton & Malone, Washington, DC, for Fruehauf Trailer Corp.
William Boyce Monk, Lake Charles, LA, for Howell Industries.
Paula M. Wellons, Taylor, Wellons & Politz, New Orleans, LA, for Independent Tank Cleaning Services, Inc.
Michael Andrew Chernekoff, Judith V. Windhorst, Jones, Walker, New Orleans, LA, for KRC Southern, Inc. and Rubicon, Inc.
Alexis A. St. Amant, II, Baton Rouge, LA, for L & B Transp.
Warren E. Byrd, II, Baton Rouge, LA, for Louisiana Industries.
William J. Hamlin, Joell M. Keller, Bordelon, Hamlin and Theriot, New Orleans, LA, for Matlack, Inc.
Thomas J. Smith, New Orleans, LA, for Port Allen River Plant, Inc.
Michael Ray Mangham, Dawn Mayeux Fuqua, Mangham & Davis, Lafayette, LA, for QLTY Diesel SVC, Inc.
Theresa Rohr Kelley, Butler & Binion, Houston, TX, for Saybolt, Inc.
James C. Carver, Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, Baton Rouge, LA, for Schuylkill Metals.
John Conway Miller, Kantrow, Spaht, Weaver & Blitzer, Baton Rouge, LA, for Stupp Bros. Bridge & Iron Co.
George Febiger Riess, New Orleans, LA, for Tube Alloy Corp.
Henry Cole Gahagan, Jr., Natchitoches, LA, for Valley Elec. Membership Corp.
Berlon Michael Mauldin, Baton Rouge, LA, for Westlake Polymers Corp.
Michael J. Herpin, J. Isaac Funderburk, Abbeville, LA, for Coastal Fluid Technologies, Inc.
Robert J. Young, Jr., Young, Richaud & Myers, New Orleans, LA, for Koch Service, Inc.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.
Before EMILIO M. GARZA, PARKER and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.
OHM Remediation Services appeals the district court's dismissal of its action to recover response costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act ("CERCLA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 9607 and 9613. In a case posing two issues of first impression in the federal courts of appeal regarding the response cost recovery and contribution provisions of CERCLA, we reverse and remand.
The relevant facts here are not in dispute. Louisiana Oil Recycle and Reuse ("Louisiana Oil") operated a facility in Baton Rouge that recycled nonhazardous waste. In a critical two-year period, Evans Cooperage sent at least seventy-six shipments of waste materials, the total volume of which exceeded 450,000 gallons, to Louisiana Oil for treatment or disposal. At some point after these shipments, a hazardous substance began escaping from the Louisiana Oil facility, flooding the grounds of adjacent property and spilling into the Baton Rouge storm sewer system. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality ("DEQ") ordered Louisiana Oil to take immediate action. Louisiana Oil contacted OHM the same day, and over the next three months OHM contained the release and recovered the spilled materials. According to the DEQ, OHM's work successfully abated the emergency situation at the facility and left the site in a secure condition. At no point was OHM's relationship with Louisiana Oil anything other than contractual; OHM has never had any ownership or leasehold interest in the Louisiana Oil facility.
The DEQ shut Louisiana Oil down after issuing an order finding that the materials spilled were "hazardous waste, namely hazardous washwater which failed the characteristic test for corrosivity and for chromium and lead." After it was shut down, Louisiana Oil went out of business, and its insurance did not cover OHM's $3 million bill for response costs. As Louisiana Oil was unable to pay for its services, OHM sued Evans for recovery of clean-up costs under CERCLA section 107(a), 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a). Evans named several potentially responsible parties ("PRPs") as third-party defendants, and two of these companies named numerous other parties as third-party defendants. Based on documents obtained from Louisiana Oil, the total number of third-party co-defendants eventually reached seventy, including OHM, which had delivered ten drums of waste to Louisiana Oil in 1991. Although OHM did not admit that the material it sent to Louisiana Oil was hazardous, nor that the ten drums made OHM a potentially responsible party under the statute, the company brought a contribution action against the third-party defendants under CERCLA section 113(f), 42 U.S.C. § 9613(f).
Evans filed a motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), part of which the district court converted to a motion for summary judgment and granted. The court dismissed OHM's section...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
In re Weiand Auto. Indus.
...dismissed by the California District Court given its similarity to the unjust enrichment claim.40 OHM Remediation Servs. v. Evans Cooperage Co. Inc. , 116 F.3d 1574, 1578 (5th Cir. 1997).41 See 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601(23) -(25) (2018).42 C.D. Cal 15-02105, D.I. 70.43 D.I. 91 at 3.44 D.I. 109 at 2......
-
City of Wichita, Ks v. Trustees of Apco Oil Corp.
...out by federal and state governments when they are responding to hazardous waste releases."); OHM Remediation Servs. v. Evans Cooperage Co., Inc., 116 F.3d 1574, 1579 (5th Cir.1997) (noting that the NCP "sets performance standards, identifies methods for investigating the environmental impa......
-
Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. v. Nl Industries
...response from the taxpayers to the parties who benefitted from the wastes that caused the harm." OHM Remediation Servs. v. Evans Cooperage Co., 116 F.3d 1574, 1578 (5th Cir.1997) (citing Matter of Bell Petroleum Servs., Inc., 3 F.3d 889, 894 (5th Cir.1993)). Section 107(a)(4) states that "c......
-
Southdown v. Allen
...See Aviall Services, Inc. v. Cooper Industries, Inc., 2000 WL 31730 (N.D.Tex. Jan.13, 2000), citing OHM Remediation Services v. Evans Cooperage Co., Inc., 116 F.3d 1574 (5th Cir.1997). Thus, Customer defendants argue, because Southdown is not an innocent party as required under § 107, it ca......
-
A Year After Waldburger, Are Lower Courts Ready To Dump CERCLA's Broad Remedial Purpose?
...should be paid by those who benefitted from or had a nexus to the contamination. See OHM Remediation Services v. Evans Cooperage Co., 116 F.3d 1574 (5th Cir. 1997); Brief for Respondent United States of America at 12, 39, 556 U.S. 599 The Waldburger case followed this familiar path on its w......
-
Brief for natural resources defense council as amici curiae supporting respondent, United States V. Atlantic Research Corp., No. 06-562 (U.S. Apr. 5, 2007).
...810 F.2d 726, 747-748 (8th Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 848 (1987); see also Ohm Remediation Services v. Evans Cooperage Co., Inc., 116 F.3d 1574, 1579 (5th Cir. 1997) ("the combination of these two clauses in section 107 evidences congressional intent that anyone is eligible to recov......
-
CERCLA: convey to a pauper and avoid cost recovery under section 107(a) (1)?
...CERCLA: Restoring the Need for Due Diligence, 9 FORDHAM ENVTL. L.J. 401,405 (1998). (5) See OHM Remediation Serv. v. Evans Cooperage Co., 116 F.3d 1574, 1578 (5th Cir. 1997) (stating, "[b]ecause the Act imposes strict liability ... plaintiffs generally need not prove causation, only that th......
-
Prospective purchaser agreements: EPA's new outlook on landowner liability.
...purchasers contribution protection. See generally 1989 Guidance, supra note 28. (312) See OHM Remediation Sere. v. Evans Cooperage Co., 116 F.3d 1574, 1582 (5th Cir. ("[A] party may be 'potentially liable' simply by being sued under the statute."); Amcast Indus. Corp. v. Detrex Corp., 2 F.3......