Strict joint-and-several liability made most Superfund sites effectively indivisible

Evidence

The standard of liability was strict, meaning that it did not depend on any showing that those responsible for creating the site had, at the time of their actions, acted negligently, recklessly, or in an otherwise legally culpable manner. As further interpreted by the courts, CERCLA also imposed liability on a “joint and several” basis in those circumstances in which the injury to be redressed was deemed legally “indivisible.” Joint and several liability allows a plaintiff to compel any one of several legally responsible parties to pay the entirety of damages—here, the cleanup cost of the site. Because, moreover, of the combined effect of deliberate mixing and leaking, poor recordkeeping at the sites, and the ways in which the forces of nature (namely, wind and water) further commingle contaminants, most Superfund sites were legally indivisible. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 486

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clean definitions of ‘strict’ and ‘joint and several’ liability, core Legal Systems terminology for this polyad.
• XREF: connects to: Strict 1970s waste-disposal laws perversely multiplied abandoned hazardous-waste sites — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 484; Contribution can rest on mutually exclusive liabilities rather than identical common liability — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1768; The site of the Haudenosaunee founding peace treaty is now a Superfund site — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1143

Broader Connections

• The site of the Haudenosaunee founding peace treaty is now a Superfund site #exemplifies (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1143
• Contribution can rest on mutually exclusive liabilities rather than identical common liability #expands (0.75) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1768