In First-Time Ruling, Court Finds CERCLA Displaces Public Nuisance Claims

For the first time, a federal court has found that Superfund law, alone, is enough to displace federal common law public nuisance claims for damages, dismissing claims brought by Washington state residents living downstream and downwind from a Canadian metal smelter and fertilizer manufacturing facility. “Plaintiffs’ federal common law public nuisance claims have been displaced by [the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA)] and therefore, must be dismissed,” the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington...