CERCLA's Easily Confused Statutes Of Limitations

Deciding statute of limitations issues in CERCLA cases is not always a straightforward matter as the recent 54 page opinion in American Premier Underwriters Inc. v. General Electric Company illustrates. There, a federal court in Ohio was faced with the unenviable task of trying to determine whether remedial actions and removal actions at four separate railroad sites located in four different states were barred by statutes of limitations under CERCLA and state law. Unfortunately, the court seems to have surrendered its common sense in its close reasoning of the facts and the case law.

Claiming that CERCLA statute of limitations issues should not be decided on the basis of bright line tests, the court concluded that an activity could constitute a remedial action for statute of limitations purposes even though a Remedial Investigation had not been completed at the time. Relying upon that flexibility, the court found that the early implementation of oil recovery