United States Ninth Circuit

The circuit court finds that Atlantic Research overruled the holding in Pinal Creek Group v. Newmont Mining Corp., 118 F.3d 1298 (9th Cir. 1997), that an action between so-called potentially responsible parties is necessarily for contribution under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and not cost recovery. Consequently, the judgments in two separate actions seeking recovery of costs associated with the cleanup of hazardous waste sites are vacated and remanded for further proceedings.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/18/2007
• Decided 04/17/2008
• Published 04/17/2008

Judges

• TASHIMA, Circuit Judge:, Before: ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, A. WALLACE TASHIMA, and M. MARGARET McKEOWN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Michael E. Vergara, Jacqueline L. McDonald, Somach, Simmons & Dunn, Sacramento, CA, for plaintiff-appellee James Kotrous., John D. Edgcomb and William D. Marsh, Edgcomb Law Group, San Francisco, CA, for defendant-appellant Bayer CropScience, Inc., Jeffory J. Scharff, Sacramento, CA, for defendant-appellee Edward Anselmo., Howard L. Pearlman, Glenn P. Zwang, Robert L. Wainess, Bartko, Zankel, Tarrant & Miller, San Francisco, CA, for plaintiff-appellee Adobe Lumber, Inc., Thomas M. Donnelly, Heller Ehrman LLP, San Francisco, CA, for defendants-appellants F. Warren Hellman and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.