Kalik v. General Electric Co.

Ben Kalik (plaintiff) ran a scrap-metal business that bought, dismantled, and processed junk electrical components, some of which contained toxic PCBs; PCBs leaked onto the site during storage, dismantling, and burning of these components, prompting a $1.9 million EPA cleanup and $22,000 in cleanup costs to Kalik's own business. Kalik sued 27 manufacturers and suppliers of the PCB-containing components, including General Electric Company (GE) (defendant), to recover his cleanup costs, alleging GE negligently failed to warn that its electrical components contained toxic PCBs. GE moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim.