A federal district court recently dismissed a defendant’s apportionment defense, asserted pursuant to Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company v. United States (“BNSF”), 556 U.S. 599 (2009), because the defendant failed to address the entirety of the harm resulting from the contamination.

In Pakootas v. Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd., 2012 WL 1133656 (E.D.Wash. Apr. 4, 2012), the plaintiffs moved to dismiss, and for partial summary judgment against, defendant Teck’s affirmative defense seeking to apportion the harm resulting from the alleged release or threatened release of hazardous substances from the Upper Columbia River Site (the “Site”), which the plaintiffs, The Confederate Tribes of The Colville Reservation (the “Tribes”) and the State of Washington (the “State”), claimed to cause the Tribes and the State to incur response costs and natural resource damages. 

To learn more. please read Bill Wagner's recent blog post on Commonground.