United States Second Circuit
New York v. Solvent Chemical Co., Inc., 10-2026, 10-2166, 10-2383
In an action by a chemical manufacturer against adjoining landowners for contribution under the Comprehensive Environmental Response and Compensation Act (CERCLA) for both past and future costs of cleaning up industrial pollution carried among the properties by groundwater, denial of a declaratory judgment as to future contribution is reversed where it was found that under the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 USC section 2201(a) as interpreted by Dow Jones and Co., Inc. v. Harrods Ltd., 346 F.3d 357 (2d Cir. 2003): 1) the judgment would serve a useful purpose in settling the legal issues involved; 2) the judgment was not being used for procedural gamesmanship or a race to res judicata; 3) the judgment would not increase friction between sovereign legal systems; 4) there was no better or more effective remedy; and 5) it did not matter that a declaratory judgment of liability alone would not finalize the controversy and offer relief from all uncertainty.
Appellate Information
- Decided 12/19/2011
- Published 12/19/2011
Judges
Court
- United States Second Circuit