Opinion ID: 3066064
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: History of the Site and Its Contamination

Text: Maryland Square Shopping Center (“the Site”), a Las Vegas shopping center, was from 1969 to 2000 home to a dry cleaning facility responsible for environmental contamination. Maryland Square LLC (“Maryland Square”), the current owner of the Site, has owned it since 2005. The Site has had many prior owners, but only the Herman Kishner Trust, a non-appealing defendant, owned the Site during the contamination period. During that period two companies leased the Site and operated the dry cleaning facility. Shapiro Bros. Investment Co. (“SBIC”) operated it from 1969 until 1984. Johnson Group, Inc., the predecessor of DCI USA, Inc., (collectively “DCI”) purchased the dry cleaning business in 1984 and operated it until 2000. VOGGENTHALER V. MARYLAND SQUARE 15 The history is summarized in the following chart showing the owners, operators, and known or alleged chemical spills: Year Owners Operators Known/Alleged Incidents 1968 Herman Kishner N/A N/A 1969– Herman Kishner Shapiro Bros. Spill of ~100 gallons of 1984 Trust (w/ Maryland Investment Co. PCE in 1982. Occasional Square Shopping spills from a clogged Center LLC as button trap between successor-in- 1969–1984. interest) 1984– Herman Kishner DCI Alleged to have used PCE 2000 Trust (w/ Maryland in its operations. No Square Shopping confirmed spills. Center LLC as successor-in- interest) 2000– Herman Kishner N/A N/A 2002 Trust (w/ Maryland Square Shopping Center LLC as successor-in- interest) 2002– Clark County School N/A N/A 2005 District 2005– Maryland Square N/A Demolition of Site in 2006 Present LLC allegedly spread PCE. Herman Kishner constructed the Site in 1968 and transferred ownership to the Herman Kishner Trust the following year. Beginning in 1969, the Trust leased the dry cleaning facility to SBIC, and SBIC agreed in the lease to indemnify the Trust for all claims arising from SBIC’s 16 VOGGENTHALER V. MARYLAND SQUARE actions, omissions, or negligence. SBIC signed a replacement lease in 1982 in which it agreed to indemnify the Trust for violations of law. SBIC sold the dry cleaning business to DCI in 1984. As part of the sale, Melvin Shapiro, who formed and controlled SBIC with his brother Philip Shapiro, personally guaranteed DCI’s performance of the lease obligations, including the obligation to indemnify the Site’s owner for any future violations of law. The contamination at the Site was produced by a chemical commonly used in the dry cleaning industry and called tetrachloroethylene (“PCE”). PCE is a hazardous substance as defined by CERCLA and the Nevada Administrative Code. 42 U.S.C. § 9601(14); Nev. Admin. Code § 445A.3454. During its operation of the dry cleaning facility, SBIC used, and spilled, PCE. According to former SBIC employees, from time to time “a button trap would clog and amounts of PCE would spill onto the concrete floor.” SBIC also admitted that a spill of roughly 100 gallons of PCE occurred during a filter change in 1982. When PCE spilled, it fell onto a concrete floor equipped with a “trench style floor drain.” The PCE then went down the drain through the pipes beneath the floor and into the ground and groundwater. II. Entry of the State of Nevada and Its Clean Up Efforts The PCE discharge was first reported to NDEP on November 29, 2000, during a pre-purchase investigation by Clark County School District. When Maryland Square purchased the property from the School District in 2005, Maryland Square was aware of the contamination. Maryland Square demolished the building in 2006, including the contaminated floor, but made no efforts to remove any contaminant beneath it. VOGGENTHALER V. MARYLAND SQUARE 17 After the initial discovery, NDEP, on July 21, 2001, received a report from the environmental consultant performing Clark County’s pre-purchase investigation. NDEP oversaw further investigation of the Site that revealed the presence of PCE in the soil and groundwater. The highest PCE concentrations were found in and around the floor drain and drain pipes beneath the former dry cleaning facility. The investigation also revealed a plume of PCE-contaminated groundwater emanating from the Site and extending eastward into a nearby residential Las Vegas neighborhood. NDEP then began its lengthy clean up of the soil. The contaminated plume was a cause for concern. On the basis of a soil gas report submitted to NDEP in 2007, NDEP determined that there was a potential for PCE vapor intrusion into the neighborhood homes at concentrations that could materially increase the probability of cancer in exposed individuals. To address the risks posed by PCE evaporating into the air, NDEP offered to install subslab depressurization systems in the homes. NDEP recognized, however, that it also needed to reduce the PCE concentrations in the groundwater in order to prevent potential future exposures, because the plume was moving away from the Site. NDEP informed residents, property owners, and government officials of the PCE contamination in the groundwater and the possible health effects. NDEP also notified the current and former owners and operators of the Site that NDEP considered them to be potentially responsible parties under CERCLA for clean up costs. NDEP stated in those notices in 2008 that it already had expended approximately $160,000, that it intended to spend more funds to address human exposure to PCE, and that it planned to seek recovery of its expenses. NDEP has 18 VOGGENTHALER V. MARYLAND SQUARE continued its clean up efforts over the following years, and removed the contaminated soil in 2011.