United States v. Geppert Bros., Inc., Civ. A. No. 85-1338.

• Decision Date: 30 June 1986
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 85-1338.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. GEPPERT BROS., INC. and Amstar Corporation.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

638 F. Supp. 996

UNITED STATES of America v. GEPPERT BROS., INC. and Amstar Corporation.

Civ. A. No. 85-1338.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

June 30, 1986.

F. Henry Habicht, II, Asst. Atty. Gen., Cyrus S. Picken, Jr., Land and Natural Resources Div., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., Margaret L. Hutchinson, Asst. U.S. Atty., U.S. Atty's Office, Philadelphia, Pa., for U.S.

Richard T. Abell, Ambler, Pa., for Geppert Bros.

Robert M. Landis, John P. Mason, Philadelphia, Pa., for Amstar Corp.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

VanARTSDALEN, District Judge.

This case arises out of the demolition by defendant, Geppert Bros., Inc. (Geppert), of buildings at two sites. One of the sites was the Amstar Sugar Refinery owned by defendant Amstar Corporation (Amstar). The buildings at that site were demolished by Geppert, pursuant to a contract with Amstar, starting on February 28, 1985 and continuing until March 10, 1985. The United States, at the request of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), brought a civil action against Geppert and Amstar for violations of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 7401-7642. The United States alleged that the defendants failed to comply with the regulations controlling release of asbestos, issued pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7412(b) & (e), and thus violated the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7413(b). The regulations require that the "owner or operator of a demolition or renovation operation" at a facility containing certain specified amounts of asbestos provide notice to the EPA of the planned demolition and follow specified work practices in removing the asbestos. 40 C.F.R. § 61.145-.147.

The United States has now moved, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f), to strike three of the affirmative defenses, Nos. 3-5, raised by Amstar in its answer to the complaint.¹ The three challenged affirmative defenses raised by Amstar are that (1) Amstar was not an "owner or operator" of the demolition operation; (2) Amstar did not own the buildings being demolished due to its contract with Geppert; and (3) it would be "inequitable, unfair and unjust" to permit the United States to bring this action since the only reason the buildings were demolished was because the United States' trade policies forced Amstar out of business. For the reasons stated below, I will strike the three affirmative defenses. The United States has also moved to dismiss Amstar's counterclaim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), 12(b)(6) or 12(c). For the reasons stated below, that motion will be granted and the counterclaim will be dismissed without prejudice.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f) provides that:

Upon motion made by a party before responding to a pleading or, if no responsive pleading is permitted by these rules, upon motion made by a party within 20 days after the service of the pleading upon him or upon the court's own initiative at any time, the court may order stricken from any pleading any insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter.

Rule 12(f) is the "primary procedure" for objecting to an insufficient affirmative defense. 5 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1380 at 782. Although motions to strike are often viewed with disfavor because of their potential to be used as a dilatory tactic, they do serve a useful purpose in eliminating insufficient defenses and thus saving the time and expense which would otherwise be spent in litigating issues which would not effect the outcome of the case. Narragansett Tribe v. Southern Rhode Island Land Development Corp., 418 F.Supp. 798, 801 (D.R.I.1976). A court can strike an affirmative defense "when it is legally insufficient to prevent recovery under any state of facts reasonably able to be inferred from the well pleaded allegations of the answer." M.L. Lee, 36 F.R.D. at 29. If substantial questions of fact or law exist, the motion should not be granted. United States v. 187.40 Acres of Land, 381 F.Supp. 54, 56 (M.D.Pa.1974).

Amstar's third affirmative defense is that it cannot be liable as the "owner or operator of a demolition operation" where it contracted with another party, Geppert, to do the demolition work. The regulations which Amstar is alleged to have violated, 40 C.F.R. § 61.146 & .147, apply to owners and operators of demolition operations. Amstar argues that since, at most, it merely owned the buildings being demolished, while Geppert did all the actual demolition work, the regulations do not apply to it. This argument, however, is clearly wrong given the EPA's own interpretation of the regulations. In a response to a comment regarding a proposed change to § 61.145, the EPA stated:

One commenter noted that the word "or" between "operators" and "demolition" in § 61.145(e) should be changed to "of." He indicated that the proper wording would show what he believed to be the Agency's intent to limit applicability of the regulations to only "wreckers and renovators" and not to include facility owners and operators.

The commenter is correct that the word "or" should be changed to "of," and this correction has been made. However, the commenter's interpretation that the regulations apply to only "wreckers and renovators" and not to facility owners and operators is incorrect. The general provisions of 40 CFR Part 61 define "owner or operator" as any person who owns, leases, operates, controls, or supervises a stationary source 40 CFR 61.01(1)). The stationary source in this case is the demolition or renovation operation. The demolition or renovation contractor would clearly be considered an owner or operator by "operating" the stationary source. The facility owner or operator, by purchasing the services of the demolition or renovation contractor, acquires ownership and control of the operation and would, therefore, be the "owner" for purposes of this standard. Therefore, the standard applies to both the contractor and the facility owner or operator.

49 Fed.Reg. 13,659 (April 5, 1984). A "facility" is defined in § 61.141 as "any institutional, commercial, or industrial structure, installation, or building (excluding apartment buildings having no more than four dwelling units)." Thus, it is clear that the regulations are intended to apply, and by their plain wording do apply, both to the owner of the building being demolished and the operator of the demolition operation.

Courts show "considerable deference" to the interpretation of a statute made by the officer charged with its administration. Ethyl Corp. v. Environmental Protection Agency, 541 F.2d 1, 31 n. 64 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 941, 96 S.Ct. 2663, 49 L.Ed.2d 394 (1976). The same, if not greater, deference should be accorded to the EPA's interpretation of its own regulations.² The EPA's interpretation of its own regulations is reasonable in terms of both the language of the regulations and the purpose of the Clean Air Act. The regulations in question apply to "each owner or operator of a demolition or renovation operation." 40 C.F.R. § 61.145. By the use of the word "each," it is clear that the regulation can be applied to more than one party at a given demolition site. "Owner or operator" is defined broadly for purposes of the asbestos regulations as "any person who owns, leases, operates, controls, or supervises a stationary source." 40 C.F.R. § 61.02. A "stationary source" is "any building, structure, facility, or installation which emits or may emit any air pollutant which has been designated as hazardous by the EPA." 40 C.F.R. § 61.02. Although a demolition operation is an activity rather than an object, it is an activity that only occurs in relation to a particular object, in this case the buildings being demolished. Thus, the demolition operation itself is the "stationary source" to which the regulations apply since it is the demolition of a particular building which the regulations seek to control. The owner of the demolition operation is the owner of the building since it owns the source from which the pollution emanates.

Interpreting the asbestos regulations...