The Eighth Circuit for the U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld
an $11 million judgment entered against two subsidiaries of Titan International
(collectively “Titan”) by a lower court which ruled Titan had improperly sold
contaminated buildings to avoid cleanup.
United States v. Dico, Inc., No. 17-3462 (8th Circuit
2019). The Court’s holding affirms the
lower court’s judgment that Titan violated the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA).
In 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit on behalf
of the EPA alleging Titan failed to clean up polychlorinated biphenyls, or
PCBs, and other contaminates before selling the land to another company. In
2017, Titan was ordered to pay $5.45 million in costs the U.S. Government
incurred for disposing of hazardous substances related to the site, and another
$5.45 million in punitive damages.
On appeal, Titan argued the court misapplied the law
regarding arranger liability and held it to a more stringent standard than has
been applied in other cases. Titan
claimed it did not intend to arrange for the disposal of hazardous substances
when it engaged in arms-length transactions with a third-party.
