Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. United States
United States Supreme Court
556 U.S. 599 (2009)
Shell Oil (defendant) supplied pesticides to Brown & Bryant (B&B), during which chemical spills and leaks routinely occurred while transferring the chemicals from Shell's trucks to B&B's storage tanks, contaminating soil and groundwater on B&B's site and adjacent land owned by Burlington Northern Railroad (defendant); Shell knew about the spills and took some remedial steps, like employee training, but the spills continued. California and the EPA (plaintiffs) sued to recover over $8 million in cleanup costs under CERCLA, and the lower courts found Shell liable as an "arranger" of hazardous-waste disposal based on its knowledge of ongoing spills, while apportioning only 9% of cleanup costs to the Railroad rather than imposing joint and several liability; the parties cross-appealed to the Supreme Court.
Whether a supplier is liable as an "arranger" for hazardous-waste disposal under CERCLA merely because it sold a hazardous product with knowledge that spills were likely during the transfer process, and whether apportioned rather than joint and several liability was proper for the Railroad's contribution to a single environmental harm.