Opinion ID: 779057
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: MERLO's Burden of Proof for PRPs for Establishing a Defense to Liability

Text: 78 MERLO requires a defendant PRP seeking to apportion its liability to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that the harm is divisible, see MERLO § 8.24.040(E), whereas CERCLA and HSAA require a PRP to demonstrate only by a preponderance of the evidence that the harm is divisible. See 42 U.S.C. § 9607(b) and Cal. H & S Code § 25363(a). In other words, in order to avoid liability for the entire cleanup, under MERLO a defendant must prove by clear and convincing evidence its proportional responsibility for the hazardous wastes being cleaned. 79 For the same reasons that Lodi cannot legislatively insulate itself from contribution liability as a PRP under CERCLA, it cannot foist its share of liability onto others by imposing on fellow PRPs a higher burden of proof for apportionment. 80 Even if the district court finds that Lodi is not a PRP, this particular provision of MERLO conflicts with CERCLA and is preempted because it stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress. California Fed. Sav., 479 U.S. at 281, 107 S.Ct. 683. A fundamental purpose and objective of CERCLA is to encourage the timely cleanup of hazardous waste sites. Stanton Road Assoc. v. Lohrey Enter., 984 F.2d 1015, 1019 (9th Cir.1993). One of the greatest obstacles to the cleanup of properties that are, or are perceived to be, contaminated by hazardous substances is the risk of uncertain or overly strict regulatory demands. See generally U.S. Envtl. Prot. Agency, Handbook Of Tools For Managing Federal Superfund Liability Risks at Brownfields And Other Sites, EPA Publication Number EPA 330-B-98-001 (Nov.1998); see also U.S. Conference of Mayors, Recycling America's Land, A National Report on Brownfields Redevelopment — Volume 3 7 (2000) (tracing inability to clean up many contaminated sites to overly aggressive liability schemes); Nat'l Governors Ass'n, New Mission for Brownfields 13 (2000) (finding specter of liability as impediment to investigating and remediating soil and groundwater contamination). Congress, too, has recognized the widespread belief that fear of prolonged entanglement in[onerous] liability schemes has become an impediment to cleanup of contamination. S.Rep.No. 107-2, at 2 (2001) (accompanying the Brownfields Revitalization And Environmental Restoration Act of 2001 (codified in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.)). 81 Potential purchasers of abandoned or underutilized contaminated properties are often deterred from purchasing and cleaning up these properties by exposure to unbounded and uncertain liability. 17 See generally California Center For Land Recycling, Strategies For Promoting Brownfield Reuse In California (1998); see also S.Rep.No. 107-2, at 3. Many initiatives have been instituted by California and the federal government to expedite the cleanup of these `Brownfields', and reduce the cost and burden of returning such properties to beneficial use. Bancroft-Whitney § 3.80. Cleanups conducted pursuant to federal and California law have come to achieve some level of predictability, thus allowing for a reasonable estimate of exposure to liability and of the costs involved in taking on a cleanup. See, e.g., Robert P. Dalquist, Making Sense Of Supelocation Decisions: The Rough Justice Of Negotiated And Litigated Allocations, 31 Envtl. L. Rep. 11098, 11098-99 (2001). Such certainty, to the extent that it is available, greatly encourages prospective purchasers to rehabilitate contaminated property and put it back into productive use. 18 See, e.g., S.Rep.No. 107-2, at 4. 82 Moreover, environmental insurance, which was driven from the market by CERCLA's joint and several and retroactive provisions, has recently become available again because evolving case law and more recent state and federal legislation have restored a degree of certainty to exposure to environmental risk. See, e.g., California Center For Land Recycling, Creating Vibrant Communities: Redeveloping California's Brownfields § 5 (2002); see also, Marialuisa S. Gallozzi & Alice V. Stevens, Introduction To Environmental Risk Policies, SG006 ALI-ABA 549 (2002). The availability of environmental insurance may allow early settlement, even among large groups of PRP's, thus allowing energy and resources to be directed at site cleanup rather than protracted litigation. Creating Vibrant Communities § 5. 83 To allow literally thousands of different local governments to impose their own liability schemes (such as Lodi's) that make it more difficult to apportion liability than under CERCLA would foster uncertainty and discourage site cleanup. Indeed, Lodi's requirement that a PRP prove by clear and convincing evidence that it caused a divisible portion of the harm is greater than the burden of proof required by CERCLA or HSAA, greater than that normally required in a civil case (preponderance of the evidence), and seems both inefficient and inequitable. If we were to approve Lodi's standard of proof, other California cities could follow, adopting hundreds of different liability schemes all more onerous than CERCLA. The risk of overly strict and uncertain liability would thereby be compounded, thwarting CERCLA's goals. 84 On the other hand, municipal liability schemes equal to or less onerous than that imposed by CERCLA do not foster uncertainty or discourage cleanup but could, in many instances, make rehabilitation of contaminated property more feasible, thus furthering the objective of Congress. 85 We hold therefore that MERLO's requirement that a defendant PRP seeking to apportion its liability must demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that the harm is divisible is in conflict with CERCLA and is preempted. We reach this conclusion regardless of what determination the district court ultimately makes on the question of whether Lodi is, or is not, a PRP. 86