California Cleanup Defendant Argues CERCLA Not Retroactive Prior To 1980

The lead defendant in a landmark Superfund cost-recovery case in California is urging a federal judge to rule the law cannot be applied retroactively prior to 1980, when the federal cleanup law was enacted, citing findings by an appellate court in a ruling from earlier this year in an immigration-related case. Lawyers for NL Industries, the lead defendant in litigation filed by California regulators seeking to recover millions of dollars for cleaning up a former lead battery-recycling plant, argue in...