Hydro-Manufacturing, Inc. v. Kayser-Roth Corp.
Rhode Island Supreme Court
640 A.2d 950 (1994)
Stamina Mills contaminated its own property with a 1969 trichloroethylene (TCE) leak, then sold the site (through an intermediate owner, Meunier) to Hydro-Manufacturing (Hydro) (plaintiff) in 1981, two years after a state health department report had already confirmed the TCE spill had contaminated nearby residential wells. After the EPA pursued cleanup, the government sued Hydro and Kayser-Roth Corporation (defendant), Stamina Mills's corporate successor, under CERCLA to recover remediation costs; Hydro settled by transferring the property to the government, then sued Kayser-Roth for indemnification, arguing Kayser-Roth (as Stamina Mills's successor) negligently breached a duty owed to Hydro, as a future owner, to refrain from activities harming the property. The trial court granted Kayser-Roth judgment as a matter of law, and Hydro appealed.
Whether a landowner who contaminates its own property owes a common-law negligence duty to subsequent purchasers of that property to refrain from such contamination, separate from any statutory indemnification remedy.