Akzo Nobel Coatings, Inc. v. Aigner Corporation

197 F.3d 302 (1999)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P sued D for contribution in the clean-up of a waste site. P had performed some cleanup work in a portion of the site that it concedes received waste for which it is responsible. D did the bulk of the work. P demanded that D contribute to the cost of cleanup in P's portion of the site. D made the same demand against P. P claims its responsibility is limited to a small portion of the site so that it need not bear any cleanup costs for the rest. The court ruled that the premises are a single site for CERCLA purposes. The court found it was not possible to trace pollutants from different sources to their destinations. The judge ordered P to reimburse D for 12.56% of the total costs that Aigner will incur in performing cleanup work, plus a cash award of about $1.5 million. P appealed, claiming it owes nothing, and that if it must pay anything its liability is limited to 9% of costs because it sent only 9% of the total volume of solvents processed. P claims wastes from P's solvents were deposited at discrete locations within the site, making it possible to ascertain the precise injury inflicted by these wastes.