Opinion ID: 2552631
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The private cause of action created in subsection .822(a) extends to potentially responsible parties.

Text: In arguing that the only remedy available to FDIC is a subsection .822(j) action for contribution, the defendants place great weight on FDIC's status as a potentially responsible party. They contend that potentially responsible parties should not be allowed joint and several recovery, but should be limited to contribution from other potentially responsible parties. Any entity that may be required to take financial responsibility for cleaning up a contaminated site is a potentially responsible party. Alaska Statute 46.03.822(a)(3) imposes strict liability on the owners of a facility that releases hazardous material. Insofar as FDIC stands in the shoes of the owner of the contaminated property at the time of the release  allegedly Sun Savings  FDIC is a potentially responsible party and, as such, is theoretically subject to the same liability as those who caused the contamination. [19] The defendants maintain that allowing one potentially responsible party to claim direct damages under subsection .822(a) from other potentially responsible parties would give the claimant an unfair advantage over the defending parties, because the claimant's joint and several recovery under subsection .822(a) might include compensation for damages caused by absentee or judgment-proof polluters; the claimant would then receive full compensation despite being a potentially responsible  and possibly culpable  party, whereas the defending parties might be left with a worthless claim for contribution under subsection .822(j). The defendants reason that, in these situations, cleanup costs should be borne by all potentially responsible parties equally. This argument seems to assume that courts cannot distinguish among potentially responsible parties to avoid inequitable results. But federal case law shows that courts can. In Rumpke of Indiana, Inc. v. Cummins Engine Co., the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals found that when a potentially responsible party sues for direct damages under the federal counterparts to subsections.822(a) and (j), the federal statutes allow the claim, but leave room for equitable distinctions upon conclusion of the litigation. [20] Thus, the court approved a direct action for joint and several liability by Rumpke  a potentially responsible party that denied actual responsibility for the contamination: [W]e see nothing in the language of § 107(a) [the subsection .822(a) analog] that would make it unavailable to a party suing to recover for direct injury to its own land, under circumstances where it is not trying to apportion costs ( i.e., where it is seeking to recover on a direct liability theory, rather than trying to divide up its own liability for someone else's injuries among other potentially responsible parties). [21] But the court went on to observe: If the facts show, contrary to Rumpke's protestations, that it was partially responsible for the mess ..., it can proceed only under § 113(f)(1) [the subsection .822(j) analog] in a suit for contribution. [22] We agree with Rumpke that the possibility of inequitable results need not bar a potentially responsible party who denies responsibility from pursuing a direct cause of action for joint and several strict liability against other potentially responsible parties. Insofar as a plaintiff is an innocent potentially responsible party, that is, one who ultimately would not be liable for contribution, that plaintiff should recover jointly and severally. On the other hand, if a plaintiff ends up being among those responsible for the damage, the court may recast the direct claim as a claim for contribution upon conclusion of the litigation.