Opinion ID: 2816330
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The 2008 Bankruptcy Settlement Fixed

Text: ASARCO’s Costs Associated with the Wickland Agreement. The 2008 Bankruptcy Settlement settled any claims that State Lands and CSLI had against ASARCO as a result of the Wickland Agreement. It also settled ASARCO’s responsibility vis-a-vis DTSC (California DHS’s successor) to clean up the Selby Site. The 2008 Bankruptcy Settlement refers to the Wickland Agreement, and states that DTSC required ASARCO, CSLI, and State Lands to conduct additional remediation at the site in order to achieve a “final remedy.” CSLI’s and State Lands’ proofs of claim in the 2008 Bankruptcy Settlement all cite to the entry of the Wickland Agreement Consent Judgment on March 13, 1989, as the basis for their claims against ASARCO. DTSC’s proof of claim cites January 1, 1983 as the date when ASARCO’s obligations to DTSC began. In other words, the bankruptcy claims against ASARCO stem from ASARCO’s liability to fund or perform cleanup efforts at the Selby Site, which, according to the terms of the Wickland Agreement, were divided among ASARCO, Wickland, and State Lands for past and future costs at the Selby Site. In an affidavit in support 5 If ASARCO had filed a contribution claim against CNA after entering the Wickland Agreement, it could have sought a declaratory judgment for contribution costs. See, e.g., Boeing Co. v. Cascade Corp., 207 F.3d 1177, 1191 (9th Cir. 2000) (proportional declaratory judgment contribution claims allowed following private party CERCLA actions). 20 ASARCO V. CELANESE CHEMICAL CO. of the 2008 Bankruptcy Settlement, ASARCO contended that its fair share of any future work at the Selby Site would be 33%, in accordance with the terms of the Wickland Agreement (although the other Wickland Agreement parties maintained that ASARCO would be liable for 42%, citing a different provision of the Wickland Agreement), and the amount paid to DTSC reflected that liability. Therefore, the 2008 Settlement Agreement reflects an understanding of the parties to settle ASARCO’s 1989 obligations under the Wickland Agreement. Also instructive is ASARCO’s parent’s objection to the terms of the 2008 Bankruptcy Settlement, withdrawn after clarification and a stipulation among the parties that the 2008 Bankruptcy Settlement did not go beyond ASARCO’s responsibilities under the Wickland Agreement. While ASARCO’s contention that there are items in DTSC’s remedial action objectives that differ from the intermediate remedial measures in the Wickland Agreement is valid, those changes are the mandate of an overseeing government agency. The Wickland Agreement defines such mandated costs as “necessary and appropriate,” and apportions that liability according to the intent of the parties. Therefore, the $33 million that ASARCO agreed to pay to DTSC in the 2008 Bankruptcy Settlement to satisfy ASARCO’s obligations to clean up the Selby Site is not a new cost, and it cannot underlie a new claim for contribution. ASARCO contends that the phrase “such costs or damages” in the statute of limitations means that ASARCO’s claim for contribution only came about when “such costs or damages” became fixed. ASARCO cites to American Cyanamid Co. v. Capuano, 381 F.3d 6 (1st Cir. 2004), but that case held that a new claim for contribution based on new settlement liability (groundwater) cannot be barred by an ASARCO V. CELANESE CHEMICAL CO. 21 earlier settlement for a different contribution claim (soil). 381 F.3d at 25–26. ASARCO also cites to a Sixth Circuit case in an attempt to bolster the point that only costs fixed in a settlement are eligible in contribution. See RSR Corp. v. Commercial Metals Co., 496 F.3d 552, 559 (6th Cir. 2007). But the Sixth Circuit found that the future costs sought in that action were imposed as part of a judicially approved settlement, and found that the statute of limitations had expired. Id. at 558. “Rather than focus on who settled the cost-recovery action, in short, the statute asks us to focus on what was settled.” Id. at 557. In this appeal, ASARCO’s new contribution claim via the 2008 Bankruptcy Settlement is for exactly the same liability ASARCO assumed in the 1989 Wickland Agreement, and is therefore time barred.