United States v. Bestfoods, et al. (524 U.S. 51)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 8, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 524 U.S. 51 · 118 S. Ct. 1876
- Decided
- June 8, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Souter
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Souter delivered the opinion of the Court. The United States brought this action for the costs of cleaning up industrial waste generated by a chemical plant. The issue before us, under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), 94 Stat. 2767, as amended, 42 U. S. C. §9601 et seq., is whether a parent corporation that actively participated in, and exercised control over, the operations of a subsidiary may, without more, be held liable as an operator of a polluting facility owned or operated by the subsidiary. We answer no, unless the corporate veil may be pierced. But a corporate parent that actively participated in, and exercised control over, the operations of the facility itself may be held directly liable in its own right as an operator of the facility. I In 1980, CERCLA was enacted in response to the serious environmental and health risks posed by industrial pollution. See Exxon Corp. v. Hunt, 475 U. S. 355, 358-359 (1986). “As its name implies, CERCLA is a comprehensive statute that grants the President broad power to command government agencies and private parties to clean up hazardous waste sites.” Key Tronic Corp. v. United States, 511 U. S. 809, 814 (1994). If it satisfies certain statutory conditions, the United States may, for instance, use the “Hazardous Substance Superfimd” to finance cleanup efforts, see…
Excerpt of a 40,361-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.