Some decisions are valuable not because they make new law but
because they reaffirm well known principles of
law. City of Banning v. Dureau is one such
decision. There, a federal district court in
California ruled that an owner of real property was strictly
liable under CERCLA for the release of hazardous substances on
her property and could not escape CERCLA liability by arguing that
she was ignorant of the conditions giving rise to the
release.
Specifically, the owner had leased her property to an
automotive shop. When the tenant left the property, it
apparently left drums of waste oil, which were turned over several
years later by one of the homeless people who inhabited the
property, causing over a million dollar
cleanup. Although the owner claimed to come within the
innocent landowner defense in Section 107(b) of CERCLA, the court
rejected that defense, holding that the owner had not
exercised due care. According to the court, the
owner knew that the
