United States v. Serafini
United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
706 F. Supp. 346 (1988)
Empire Contracting Company, owned by Serafini and other partners (defendants), purchased land in 1969 on which the City of Scranton had previously operated a landfill, and in 1983 the EPA (plaintiff) discovered over a thousand drums containing hazardous materials scattered across the property and conducted an emergency cleanup. After the EPA sued for cost recovery and the parties entered a consent decree on remediation, the EPA moved for partial summary judgment on CERCLA liability, and the defendants invoked the statute's innocent-landowner exemption, arguing they never participated in the waste disposal and had no reason to inspect the property before buying it.
Whether landowners who did not participate in hazardous-waste disposal are automatically liable under CERCLA for failing to inspect contaminated property before purchasing it, where visible drums were present on the land but the owners never conducted an on-site inspection.