Sorting Out a Liability Mess

By Stephen N. Goldberg

In State of California v. Allstate Insurance Company, 2009 DJDAR 3425 (March 9, 2009), the California Supreme Court reversed a trial court's grant of summary judgment for a handful of insurance carriers who refused to defend the state against and indemnify it for liabilities arising from an infamous toxic waste site - the Stringfellow Acid Pits. Neither this opinion, nor another in the same matter handed down by the 4th Appellate District in January, finally resolves the state's claims. Instead, both courts sent two groups of insurance carriers back to the trial court for further proceedings. In both, the insurers lost significant battles but will no doubt continue the fight on yet another day.

The Stringfellow Acid Pits began operations in 1956, six years before Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" presaged the modern environmental movement. More than 30 million gallons of industrial waste were deposited there between its first day of operation and its closure by state authorities in 1972. Eight years later, the federal government enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act to clean up industrial pollution and require potentially responsible parties to reimburse the government for its efforts.

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