Federal District Court Says Chemical Company’s Restoration of Property to Regulatory Standards Sufficient To Avoid Damages for Release of Wastewater on Plaintiff’s Property
Following a 2011 pipeline rupture and wastewater spill, a Louisiana federal district court granted in part and denied in part a chemical company’s motion for summary judgment in a case for alleged damages. As owner of the pipeline, the court found that under Louisiana law, the chemical company would be liable for any damages that the plaintiff’s land had incurred as a result of the spill.
While the chemical company argued that it was not liable for damages because the property (1) had been cleaned to regulatory standards; (2) restored to its pre-spill condition; (3) contained no residual damage; (4) exhibited no proof of crop yield loss; and (5) had no evidence of other damage, the court found that material issues of fact precluded a grant of summary judgment on all but one of the company’s arguments. Specifically, the court found that the plaintiff was “not entitled to recover damages based on the release of unacceptable levels of constituents onto [the] property.” It stated that the undisputed evidence showed that after the spill, the chemical company had restored the property to regulatory standards, and that the Louisiana regulatory agency overseeing the spill had not ordered any further corrective action. The court noted that neither of the parties’ experts had recommended additional action. Therefore, the court found that this was sufficient to preclude the plaintiff from recovering damages on this ground.
The court allowed the plaintiff’s other damage claims to proceed to trial, including the plaintiff’s claims that (1) the chemical company is liable for the costs of plaintiff hiring a consultant to monitor the cleanup; (2) the property is now unsuitable for farming; and (3) that the property sustained additional damage due to the subsequent clean up. These claims are set to be heard in a bench trial set for April 8, 2014.
