Opinion ID: 3010909
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: at 903a, 1069a, 681a, 713a.

Text: The NJDEP began investigating possible chromium contamination at sites in New Jersey in the 1980s. 2 In 1988, the NJDEP issued a Directive to Allied-Signal, PPG, and Occidental. The NJDEP stated that the Directive was issued for the following purposes: in order to notify [Allied, PPG, and Occidental] that the Department, pursuant to the provisions of the [Spill Act] has determined that it is necessary to remove or arrange for the removal of certain hazardous _________________________________________________________________ 1. Earlier versions of the record below indicate that the Turnpike initially focused on site 198, but the parties appear to be in agreement that it is site 192 that is at issue in this case. 2. The Turnpike was made aware of the presence of COPR at some of the sites at issue in this case from the Director of the Hazardous Waste Task Force of New Jersey in 1984. A. at 281a. 4 substances, and in order to notify [Allied, PPG, and Occidental] that the Department believes them to be responsible for the discharge of such hazardous substances. A. at 499a. The Directive put appellees on notice of 118 contaminated sites, including four of the sites at issue here, Sites 7, 20, and 21 in Jersey City, and Site 56 in Kearny. A. at 50712a. The Directive assigned collective responsibility for these sites to Allied, PPG, and Occidental, because it could not identify which company had discharged chromate waste at these and other sites. A. at 502a. In 1990, Occidental entered into an administrative consent order with the NJDEP relating to 26 chrome-contaminated sites in Kearny, including Turnpike sites 56 and 131. 339a-364a. Occidental agreed, via this administrative consent order, to propose and implement remedial measures at all of the Kearny sites listed. A. at 343a-347a.3 This order did not include an admission of liability or fault by Occidental for the sites. A. at 343a, 362a, 495a. Occidental has spent more than $700,000 on investigation and remedial measures at the Kearny sites, and over $47 million at the non-Turnpike Kearny sites. A. at 1138a-41a. PPG has also signed an administrative consent order whereby it has been investigating and remediating over 55 sites in Hudson County. A. at 626-68a. The NJDEP issued another Directive in 1989 that set forth the following as its findings: 1) Allied had reported that it could not account for the disposition of all its chromate chemical waste, but that it had been used as fill at offsite locations and had been stored at one of its production sites and then used as fill in construction projects; 2) Occidental employees had reported that chromate chemical waste had been used as fill in wetlands areas or in construction projects and roadway construction; and 3) during the late 50s and early 60s, PPG allowed approximately 40 tons per day of chromate chemical production waste to be taken free of charge from the PPG _________________________________________________________________ 3. When the NJDEP identified Turnpike Site 201 as a new chrome site in 1996, Occidental agreed to treat the site as one covered by the administrative consent order. A. at 494a-95a. 5 site. A. at 524-26a. The Directive also cited the testimony of PPG employees in prior cases that its waste was used as fill in Jersey City, and was sold and used for fill in construction and industrial sites. A. at 527a. Other NJDEP Directives were issued that discussed how waste from the PPG and Allied plants were used as fill, and these Directives also observed that both Allied and PPG had entered into administrative consent orders with the NJDEP to determine remedial plans without admitting liability. A. at 551-52a, 559-62a, 585-86a, 593-620a, 626a-34a, 635664a. This activity spawned a series of lawsuits in state and federal courts seeking damages for personal injury and property claims arising out of chrome ore residue, and the courts in Hudson County, New Jersey, in particular, have been the locus of a number of suits.4 See, e.g., Jersey City Redevelopment Authority v. PPG Indus., Inc., Civ. A. No. 852014, 1987 WL 54410 (D.N.J. Sept. 3, 1987), aff'd, 866 F.2d 1410-11 (3d Cir. 1988); Florence Trum, et al. v. Allied Signal, et al., Docket No. W-14248-89 (N.J. Super. Ct. Law Div. Feb. 11, 1993) (order granting summary judgment in favor of PPG and Allied); Gertrude Settle v. PPG Indus., Inc. et al., Docket No. W-10654-92 (N.J. Super. Ct. Law Div. June 7, 1996) (order granting summary judgment in favor of Allied); PPG Indus., Inc. v. Lawrence Construction Co., et al., Docket No. L-195-93 (N.J. Super. Ct. Law Div. April 11, 1996) (consent order). The Hudson County litigation that is relied upon most frequently by the Turnpike in this appeal, Exxon v. PPG Indus., et al., was filed in 1990, and the appellees, or their corporate predecessors, were named in this suit. In May 1993, the Turnpike filed suit in District Court, alleging claims under CERCLA, the New Jersey Spill Act, tort, contract, and quasi-contract claims, and a declaratory judgment claim against numerous defendants, including insurance companies, construction and trucking companies, and corporations alleged to have produced _________________________________________________________________ 4. For example, Allied's counsel in this matter has handled approximately fifteen cases on behalf of the corporation in the state and federal courts in New Jersey. A. at 1285a. 6 COPR. Discovery efforts in this matter were sporadic at best. In February, 1994, the Magistrate Judge entered a case management order that indicated that discovery would be conducted in phases, and that the first phase of discovery would include document requests, interrogatories, and depositions. The parties exchanged documents and interrogatory answers shortly thereafter. For a period of at least twelve months afterward, however, the Turnpike sought no discovery from any defendant or third party on the question of liability. We also note that there appeared to be little or no discovery taken by any party for almost two years. On October 16, 1996, the Magistrate Judge issued an order closing fact discovery at the request of Allied, so that its dispositive motion could be filed. The Turnpike appealed this decision to the District Court and received an extension of time to pursue fact discovery on the issue of liability through March 15, 1997, and on the subject of damages through September 15, 1997. The Turnpike served five deposition notices, and withdrew all but one. In sum, the Turnpike did take one, one hour deposition in this case in 1997, served written discovery requests on the appellees, and it obtained from various sources 102 deposition transcripts, but it concedes that it did not review all of those transcripts. Allied, PPG, and Occidental moved for summary judgment, as did the Turnpike. In support of its motion for summary judgment, the Turnpike quoted and utilized deposition testimony from prior actions and also relied heavily on statements made in the NJDEP Directives and the administrative consent orders that the appellees had entered into with the NJDEP. The District Court heard oral argument on the motions, and then ruled in favor of Allied, PPG, and Occidental on the Turnpike's federal and state law claims. This order became final upon dismissal of all other claims.5 _________________________________________________________________ 5. Judgment had been entered previously in favor of USF&G, Travelers Insurance Co., and N.J. Manufacturers Insurance Co., and is not a subject of this appeal. A. at 241-44a. Summary judgment was granted in favor of appellees on May 15, 1998. On August 4, 1998, the District Court entered an order: 1) dismissing all of the claims against the John 7 The focus of the District Court's opinion was the Turnpike's assertion that an alternative liability theory should be applied. In its opinion, the District Court noted that the Turnpike had admitted it could not produce direct evidence to prove CERCLA liability, and that it had instead urged the Court to apply an alternative liability doctrine, whereby the burden would shift to the Generator Defendants to prove that COPR originating from its plant was not the source of the COPR detected on each site in question. New Jersey Turnpike Authority v. PPG Industries, Inc., 16 F. Supp.2d 460, 468 (D.N.J. 1998). In examining the Turnpike's alternative liability arguments, the District Court noted that under any burden-shifting framework, a plaintiff still had an initial burden of demonstrating that two or more actors joined as defendants acted tortiously toward that plaintiff, and that all culpable defendants were joined in the action. See id. at 470 (citing Shackil v. Lederle Laboratories, 561 A.2d 511 (N.J. 1989); McLaughlin v. Acme Pallet Co. 658 A.2d 1314 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1995)). Without deciding the question of whether a theory of _________________________________________________________________ Doe Defendants without prejudice; 2) stating that any and all claims by the Turnpike against Natural Products Refining Co., F.S.F. Company, Mutual Chemical Company of America, Oxy-Diamond Alkali Corporation, Martin Dennis Company, George M. Brewster & Sons, Inc., Felhaber Corporation, Reid Contracting Company, Inc., Klevens Corporation, Horn Construction Company, and American Mutual Liability Insurance Company were acknowledged by the Turnpike to be defunct, and dismissing those claims; 3) dismissing counterclaims and cross claims by the appellees with the exception of the counterclaims brought by Occidental, which were stayed and administratively terminated pending disposition of any appeals from this Court's Order dated May 15, 1998. The order was accompanied by correspondence stating that the order was issued to ensure finality prior to appeal, and that no 54(b) certification was necessary. We questioned whether this court had jurisdiction in the absence of a 54(b) certification, and counsel sought a 54(b) certification from the District Court. A 54(b) certification was entered by the District Court and presented to this court at argument. We conclude that any jurisdictional defects inherent in the District Court's August 4, 1998 order were cured by the 54(b) certification, and that we therefore have jurisdiction to consider this appeal. See Instructional Systems, Inc., 35 F.3d 813, 818 n.9 (3d Cir. 1994); Feather v. United Mine Workers of America, 711 F.2d 530, 535 (3d Cir. 1983). 8 alternative liability is applicable to cases brought under CERCLA, the District Court found that even if this theory could apply, the Turnpike had not demonstrated that alternative liability should be applied to this case. See id. at 470-71. The District Court noted that the Turnpike was not a proper innocent party to be aided by an alternative liability doctrine, as it was also potentially liable for the COPR contamination at its sites under CERCLA, and that the Turnpike, rather than the appellees, was in a better position to uncover evidence relating to causation. 6 See id. For these reasons, the District Court declined to apply the doctrine of alternative liability to the Turnpike's claims. The District Court also concluded that the Turnpike's evidentiary proffers were not sufficient in and of themselves to establish a question of material fact, under either CERCLA or the Spill Act. The District Court noted that the Turnpike had not produced sufficient competent evidence to demonstrate that Allied or PPG's facility had deposited COPR on any of the sites at issue, and that the Turnpike had not produced sufficient evidence against Occidental as to sites 7, 20, 21 and 192. See id. at 472. The District Court then took a closer look at the evidence produced by the Turnpike against Occidental with respect to sites 56, 131, and 201 and concluded that the Turnpike could not produce adequate evidence against Occidental with respect to these sites to survive summary judgment under CERCLA. See id. at 472-75. The District Court also found that the Turnpike had not produced sufficient evidence to survive summary judgment on its Spill Act claims, and it also addressed and denied the Turnpike's other state law _________________________________________________________________ 6. The District Court made the following comments as to proof of causation: [O]ne of the primary justifications for invoking the alternative liability doctrine -- to provide redress for injuries that would not be remedied otherwise -- is plainly absent here. The alleged damage here -- the environmental harm -- is already being addressed in ongoing NJDEP proceedings, which have already secured the agreement of Occidental to address three of the seven sites in question. 16 F. Supp.2d at 471. 9 claims. The Turnpike argues on appeal that the District Court erred by 1) failing to consider evidence that would link Allied, PPG, and Occidental to the COPR found at the Turnpike sites; 2) refusing to shift the burden of proving causation to the defendants under an alternative liability theory; and 3) exercising supplemental jurisdiction over the Turnpike's state law claims, where the claims presented novel and complex issues of state law. The District Court had subject matter jurisdiction over this case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. S 1331 and 42 U.S.C. S 9613(b). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. S 1291. Our review of the District Court's grant of summary judgment is plenary. See United States v. USX Corp., 68 F.3d 811, 819 (3d Cir. 1995).