Opinion ID: 579513
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Beazer's Involvement in the Disposal of Hazardous Substances

Text: 21 J-H does not contest the district court's finding that it was obligated to indemnify Beazer for any liability Beazer incurred as a result of J-H's illegal acts. However, J-H claims that even if the indemnity provision can be read to apply to the violation of environmental laws, it requires that J-H indemnify Beazer only for damages Beazer incurs as a result of J-H's violation of laws, not Beazer's violation of laws. J-H therefore claims the district court erred in granting Beazer's motion for summary judgment because the court ignored this language in the agreement. 22 The language of the agreement and the evidence submitted by the parties suggest that the district court erred on this issue. The agreement requires J-H to indemnify Beazer for liability Beazer incurs as a result of J-H's own actions. There remains an issue of fact as to the level of Beazer's participation in waste disposal, and thus as to its own liability. 23 At the outset, the agreement recognized the possibility of spillage of the materials Beazer provided and of which it retained ownership; such materials would apparently include the toxic chemicals at issue. J-H officers testified that J-H relied on Beazer for information and instructions on the handling of Beazer's chemicals. Additionally, evidence suggests that Beazer's consultant, Dr. Stutz, may have been actively involved in the production process at J-H. J-H submitted the deposition testimony of several of its employees, who described Stutz' participation in the production of Beazer's materials. In particular, these employees described Stutz' supervision and awareness of the procedures for rinsing the tote bins returned by customers--procedure which resulted in the introduction of hazardous chemicals into the evaporation pond from which contamination occurred. 24 On the basis of evidence before the district court when it ruled on the summary judgment motions, a jury could reasonably find Beazer itself was responsible, at least to some extent, for the contamination for which J-H became subject to CERCLA liability. Thus, because it ignored language in the agreement limiting J-H's duty to indemnify to Beazer's liability arising out of J-H's own illegal acts, and failed to consider evidence indicating the existence of issues of material fact, the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Beazer. 25