TRANSTECH INDUSTRIES, INC. v. A & Z SEPTIC CLEAN

No. 92-5636.

5 F.3d 51 (1993)

TRANSTECH INDUSTRIES, INC., a Delaware Corporation; Kin-Buc, Inc., a New Jersey Corporation; and Filcrest Realty, Inc., a New Jersey Corporation v. A & Z SEPTIC CLEAN; AAA Tank; A Alfante; ABM Disposal Service; AM Environmental; A.E. Stanley Manufacturing Company; Absolute Fire Protection, Inc.; Accurate Forming; Active Oil Service; Adchem Corp.; Adron, Inc.; Aero Nutronics Ford; Aetna Chemical Corporation; Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.; AKZO Chemicals, Inc.; Alcan Aluminum Corporation; Alcolac Inc.; All County Septic; All County Service Corp.; Allied-Signal Inc.; Alpha Metals, Inc.; Amer. Book Stratford; Amerada Hess Corp.; American Cyanamid Co.; American Products Co., Inc.; American Standard Inc.; American Trailer; Anchor Motor Freight; Andy Fiore & Sons; ARCO Petroleum Products; ASARCO, Inc.; Ashland Oil Inc.; Associated Marble Co.; Astro Pak Corporation; AT & T Technologies, Inc.; ATI, Inc.; Atlas Paints; Automatic Connector, Inc.; Avante Products Corp.; Axton-Cross Co., Inc.; B & L Industrial Service; Bad Pallet Co.; Barclay Cleaning Co.; Baron Blakeslee; Barouh Eaton Allen Corp.; BASF Corp.; Bates Manuf. Co.; Baxter Healthcare Corp.; Baronne Barr. & Drum; Beacon Fast Freight Co., Inc.; Becton, Dickinson and Co.; Bendix Corp.; Benjamin Moore & Co.; Bergen Machine & Tool; Berkeley Chem. Co.; Best Disp. & Drum Serv.; Best Disposal; Best Foods Research Cntr.; BFT; Biddle Sawyer Corp.; Big 3 Truck Plaza; Biocraft Lab. Inc.; BOC Group Inc.; Borden, Inc.; Borg-Warner Chemicals, Inc.; Borough of Wallington; Bostitch Inc.; Brookdale Shop-Rite; Brown Stone Inn; Browning-Ferris Ind. of Eliz., NJ; C & R Trucking, Co.; CPS Chemical Co.; CJR Chemical Co.; CPC Inter'l, Inc.; Cadbury Co.; Can Meg Co.; Carboline Co.; Carpenter Tech. Corp.; Cecos Intern'l, Inc.; Central Jersey Assoc.; Central Jersey Disposal; Cesco Company; Chas. Petzer Inc.; Chem Cleaning Serv.; Chem Trol Pollution; Chemical Control Co.; Chemical Leaman Tank Lines, Inc.; Chemline Corp.; Chemquid Disposal Inc.; Chesebrough-Ponds; Chevron Chemical Co.; Chevron U.S.A. Inc.; Ciba-Geigy Corp.; City Serv. Oil Co.; Clairol, Inc.; Clark Haulers; Clean Water, Inc.; Cleveland Wrecking; Coastal Services, Inc.; Coastal Tank Lines; Coca-Cola Foods; Colgate-Palmolive Co.; Colony Furniture Co.; Columbia Corrugated; Columbian Ribbon; Con-Lux Coatings, Inc.; Continental Can Co., Inc.; Continental Chem Co.; Continental Oil; Cooper Industries, Inc.; Covino's Industrial Disp. Serv., Inc.; Crane & Co., Inc.; Curtis Nuclear; Curtiss-Wright Corp.; Custom Builders; Custom Disposal; D & C Contracting; Dart Industries; Darworth Co.; Data General Corp.; Delco Remy; Deleet Merchandising Corp.; Delmarva Ind. Corp.; Dibella Sanitation; Dock Watch Quarry; Donadia Brothers; Donald Hartman; The Dow Chemical Co.; Drew Chem Corp.; Duane Marine Corp.; Dubois Chemicals, Inc.; Duro-Test Corp.; EJ Gaisser Inc.; E.I. Dupont De Nemours and Co., Inc.; E.R. Squibb & Sons, Inc.; Eastcoast Pollution Control, Inc.; Eastern Ind. Corp.; Eastern Industries; Ecolab, Inc.; Edal Industries, Inc.; Egyptian Lacquer; Elizabeth Disposal; Elmwood Tank & Piping Corp.; Environmental Recovery; Equadorian Line, Inc.; Exxon Corp.; Fette Ford, Inc.; Fisher Scientific Co.; Flextrap; Flintkote Corp.; Flock Industries; Florence Ind. Reconto; Fluid Packaging Co., Inc.; FMC Corp.; Ford Motor Co.; Frank Foglia Jr.; Frank Muggid Builder; Freehold Cartage; Frisch & Co.; Fritszche D & D; FYN Paint & Lacquer; Gaess Environmental Ser.; GAF Corp.; Galaxy Chemical; Ganes Chemicals, Inc.; GATX Terminals Corp.; General Cable Corp.; General Ceramics Inc.; General Electric Co.; General Motors Corp.; Genral Sewer Service; General Warehouse; Glenwali; GM Assembly Div.; Goodall Rubber Co.; Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.; Gould, Inc.; Greyhound Corp.; Guard All Chemical Co., Inc.; Guardian, Inc.; Gulton Industries, Inc.; H & F Chemical Co.; H & S Chemical Co.; Hardman Inc.; Hatco Chemical Division; Hatfield Wire & Cable; Haven Chem.; Henkel Inc.; Hercules, Inc.; Hexcel Corp.; Hi-Pure Chemicals, Inc.; High Voltage Engin. Corp.; Highway Disposal; Hoechst Celanese Corp.; Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.; Holiday Inn Rest.; Howard Fuel Co.; Howmedica; HPH Construction; Hydrocarbon Research, Inc.; IBM Corp.; ICI Americas Inc.; ICI United States; Ilford Photo Corp.; Imperial Oil Co., Inc.; Importico, Inc.; IND Surplus Chemical Inc.; Industrial Silver Co.; Inmont Chemical; Inmont Corp.; Insflex Co.; Instel Corp.; Inter'l Flavors and Frag., Inc.; Interdata Corp.; Interstate Chem. Co.; Iron Oxide Corp.; ITT Corp.; J. Bass & Co., Inc.; J. Filtresto Sanit.; J.M. Huber Corp.; J.T. Baker, Inc.; Jameco Corp.; Jameco Industries; James P. Horan, Inc.; Jersey Sanitation; John Dusenbery Co., Inc.; John Errico Disposal Co.; John H. Cooney, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Johnson Matthey, Inc.; Kay-Fries, Inc.; Kerry Tire; Keuffel & Esser Co.; Key Oil Co.; Knoll Fine Chemical; Koppers Co., Inc.; Kraft Container; KTK Corp.; L & J Drum Co.; L.E. Carpenter & Co.; Lawrence McFadden Co.; Lawson Products, Inc.; Lehand Sales; Lehighton Elec., Inc.; Leksi, Inc.; Leland Industries; Leland Tube Co.; Lever Brothers Co.; Lincoln Metals Products; Linden Motor Frght. Co., Inc.; Liquid Removal Ser.; Lucas Industries, Inc.; Lumas Co.; M & F Chemical Co.; M & T Chemicals, Inc.; Maas & Waldstein; Macarthur Petroleum; Madison Township; Makar Trucking Inc.; Malla Inc.; Mallinckrodt Chem.; Mannon Excav. & Paving Co., Inc.; Marbun Division; Marisol, Inc.; Marpak Assoc.; Marvin Jonas Inc.; Mayco Oil & Chemical; McGillon Excavating; McKays Trucking; The Mearl Corp.; Mercer Rubber; Merck & Co., Inc.; Metro Container Co.; Metrol Oil & Chem. Corp.; Metrol Petro Chem. Co.; Michaels Industrial Disposal; Middlesex Container; Midland Proc., Inc.; Midwest Emery; Millmaster; Mobil Oil Corp.; Monarch Chemical; Monmouth Medical Ctr; Monroe Chemical Corp.; Monsanto Co.; Montval Labs; Morton Thiokol Inc.; Mutpie Trucking; N & N Trucking; N. Amer. Metal & Chem.; National Converters; National Gypsum Co.; National Starch & Chem. Corp.; Nepera, Inc.; Niagara Sanitation Co., Inc.; NL Industries, Inc.; Norton & Son, Inc.; Nutex Corp.; The Nutrasweet Co.; Oakite Products, Inc.; Occidental Chemical Corp.; The Okonite Co.; Olin Corp.; Organon, Inc.; The Ormand Shops, Inc.; Ortho Diagnostics; Pamarco, Inc.; Paquet Oneida, Inc.; Penn Central Corp.; Perk Chemical Co., Inc.; Personal Prod. Co.; Pfizer, Inc.; Pharmac. Labs Inc.; Phelps Dodge Corp.; Philip A. Hunt Chem.; Pioneer Roofing Co.; Piscataway Disposal; Pitney Bowes, Inc.; Point Pleasant Hospital; Polaroid Corp.; Polymer Materials, Inc.; Pope Chemical Co.; Portfolio One, Inc.; PQ Corporation; Princeton Nurseries; Procedyne Corp.; Procter & Gamble Manf. Co.; Public Serv. Elec. & Gas Co.; PVO International, Inc.; Quaker Chemical Corp.; Quality Container; R & R Sanitation; R.W. Eaken, Inc.; Radiac Research Corp.; Ray Guys Trailer; RCA Corp.; Reagent Chemical & Research; Reichhold Chemicals, Inc.; Reiter Drum & Barrel; Revere Copper & Brass, Inc.; Reynolds Metals Co.; Reheem Manufacturing Co.; Richards Trucking; Riverview Hospital; Rollins Env. Serv. (NJ), Inc.; Rupaco Paper Corp.; Russell Reid Corp.; Russell Reid Co.; Russell-Stanley Corp.; Rutgers-The State University; Rycoline Products, Inc.; S & W Trucking; Sam Trucking Co.; SB Penick Company; SSS Construction; SAB Nife, Inc.; Safety Light Corp.; Safety-Kleen Envirosystems Co.; Samson Tank Cleaning; Sandoz Chemicals Corp.; Santy; Schering Corp.; Scientific Chem. Proc.; Scott Paper Co.; Sealand Envrnmtl.; Sealed Air Corp.; Sen-Dure Products, Inc.; Sequa Corp.; Seton Hall University; Shell Chemical Co.; Shulton Inc. Consumer; Siegfried Chemical; Sika Corp.; Sinclair Valentine; Smith Kline Beckman Corp.; Solvents Distillers; Solvents Recov. Serv. of NJ, Inc.; Southern Calif. Chem. Co., Inc.; Spectraserv, Inc.; St. Barnabas Me. Cntr.; St. Joe Paper Co.; St. Thomas Aquinas Cl.; Staley Chemical Co.; Standard Tank Clean; Standard Tool & Mfg. Co.; Stanley Chemical Co.; The Stanley Works; Starch Container Co.; Starlight Trading; Stauffer Management Co.; Stepan Company; Sun Rise Fashion Inc.; Sybron Transition Corp.; Tappan Tanker; Tau Laboratories; Tenneco Resins, Inc.; Texaco Butadiene Co.; Texaco, Inc.; Textron, Inc.; Time-DC; Tizon Chemical Corp.; Toms River Chem. Corp.; Tuck Industries, Inc.; U.S. Metals Refining; Union Camp Research; Union Carbide Corp.; Union Textile; Uniroyal Chem. Co., Inc.; Unisys Corp.; United Carting; United States Lines; United States Metals Refining Co.; United Technologies Corp.; Universal Sanit.; UOP Chem.; The Up-john Co.; US Samica Corp.; Vamp Chem; Vanguard Ventron Chemical; Village Cesspool; Vineland Chem. Co., Inc.; W.W. Andress Co.; Wall Trends Inc.; Walter Kidde; Waltz Enterprises; Western Union; Westinghouse Electric Corp.; Weston Chemical; Westron Chemical Co.; White Chemical Corp.; White Rose Tea; Whitmoyer Labs; Winchester Westron; Witco Chemical Co.; Woodstein & Klurman; Z & W Enterprises, Inc.; John Doe (1-500) Standard Spill; Aluminum Billets; Macarthur Petroleum & Solvent Co. Inc.; Central Jersey Cleaners; Clean Spray; James E. McNulty; LCP Chemical & Plastics; Lester Summers; Sand Gravel-Stone Co.; Meadows Facility Post O; Tenneco Chem; Western Chemical Co.; German Shepard; Z & W Mazda; Sybron Chemicals; United States Metal Refining Co.; General Sewer Service, Mayco Oil & Chemical Company; Astro Pak; AT & T Technologies Inc., by its successor American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Inc.; Biocraft Laboratories, Inc.; Chesebrough-Pond's USA Co.; CPC International, Inc., including Best Foods division and Penick Corporation successor to S.B. Penick Company; Fluid Packaging Co., Inc.; FMC Corporation; Ganes Chemicals, Inc.; General Electric Company; Hexcel Corporation; Huls America Inc.; IBM Corporation; John H. Cooney, Inc.; J.T. Baker, Inc.; Lever Brothers Co.; Marisol, Inc.; Mobil Oil Corp.; Occidental Chemical Corporation; Phelps Dodge Corporation; Procedyne Corporation; Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company; Reynolds Metals Company; Russell Reid Company; Safety-Kleen Envirosystems Company; Saft Nife, Inc. (sued as SAB Nife Inc.); Sequa Corporation (formerly Sun Chemical Corporation); Siegfried Chemicals; Smithkline Beecham Corporation; Spectraserv, Inc. (formerly Modern Transportation Co.); Stroh Brewery Company; Sybron Transition Corp.; Sybron Chemicals, Inc., including as trade names Gamlen Chemical and Tanatex; and Witco Corporation (collectively "Settlor-Defendant Appellants"), Appellants.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Decided September 17, 1993.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

George M. Newcombe, David B. Smallman, Elizabeth A. Fuerstman, Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, New York City, Steven L. Lapidus, Robinson, St. John & Wayne, Newark, NJ, for Mayco Oil & Chemical Co., appellant.

Henry B. Fitzpatrick, Stephen P. Chawaga, Fitzpatrick & Tanker, Philadelphia, PA, for Astro Pak, appellant.

Joseph J. Strelkoff, Basking Ridge, NJ, for AT & T Technologies, Inc. by its successor American Tel. and Tel. Co., Inc., appellant.

Stephen P. Kramer, Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, New York City, for Biocraft Laboratories, Inc., appellant.

Daniel M. Steinway, Catherine J. Serafin, Carl A. Salisbury, Anderson, Kill, Olick & Oshinsky, Washington, DC, for Chesebrough-Pond's USA Co. and Lever Bros. Co., appellants.

Steven A. Kunzman, Bivona, Cohen, Kunzman, Coley, Yospin, Bernstein & DiFrancesco, Warren, NJ, for CPC Intern. Inc., including Best Foods div. and Penick Corp. successor to S.B. Penick Co., appellant.

Steven J. Eisenstein, Lum, Hoens, Conant, Danzis & Kleinberg, Roseland, NJ, for Fluid Packaging Co., Inc., appellant.

John F. Stillmun, Philadelphia, PA, for FMC Corp., appellant.

Tod W. Read, Edward A. Kurent, Gilberg & Kurent, Washington, DC, for Ganes Chemicals, Inc. and Siegfried Chemical, appellants.

Langley R. Shook, Sidley & Austin, Washington, DC, for General Elec. Co., appellant.

David B. Graham, John W. Kampman, Steven L. Leifer, Howrey & Simon, Washington, DC, for Hexcel Corp., appellant.

George S. Flint, Jackson & Nash, New York City, for Huls America, Inc., appellant.

Ezra D. Rosenberg, Fox, Rothschild, O'Brien & Frankel, Lawrenceville, NJ, James K. Guerin, Senior Counsel, IBM Corp., Stamford, CT, for IBM Corp., appellant.

John A. Boyd, Harris, Dickson, Buermann, Camp, Ashenfelter, Slous & Boyd, Upper Montclair, NJ, for John H. Cooney, Inc., appellant.

Nan Bernardo, Shanley & Fisher, Morristown, NJ, for J.T. Baker, Inc., Marisol, Inc., and Procter & Gamble Mfg. Co., appellants.

Thomas Richichi, Beveridge & Diamond, P.C., Washington, DC, for Mobil Oil Corp., appellant.

Michael M. Gordon, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, New York City, for Occidental Chemical Corp. and Safety-Kleen Envirosystems Co., appellants.

John S. Agar, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Washington, DC, for Phelps Dodge Corp., appellant.

James Bickford, Princeton, NJ, for Procedyne Corp., appellant.

Renata M. Manzo, Reynolds Metals Co., Richmond, VA, for Reynolds Metals Co., appellant.

Lila Wynne Williams, Slimm, Dash & Goldberg, Westmont, NJ, for Russell Reid Co., appellant.

William F. Paquin, Haronian, Paquin, Bramley & Harrington, Inc., Warwick, RI, for Saft Nife, Inc. (sued as SAB Nife, Inc.), appellant.

Richard J. Kagan, Leonard & Butler, Parsippany, NJ, for Sequa Corp. (formerly Sun Chemical Corp.), appellant.

Patricia A. Barald, Covington & Burling, Washington, DC, for Smithkline Beecham Corp., appellant.

Max Spinrad, Miele, Cooper, Spinrad & Kronberg, Millburn, NJ, for Spectraserv, Inc. (formerly Modern Transp. Co.), appellant.

Leonard R. Charla, Diane B. Carley, Butzel Long, Detroit, MI, for Stroh Brewery Co. (successor in interest to Jos. Schlitz Brewery Co.) and/or Stroh Container Co., improperly named as Starch Container, appellant.

Donald K. Joseph, Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, Philadelphia, PA, for Sybron Transition Corp. and Sybron Chemicals, Inc., including as trade names Gamlen Chemical and Tanatex, appellants.

Edmund R. Papazian, Witco Corp., New York City, Samuel D. Bornstein, Paramus, NJ, for Witco Corp., appellant.

Dante J. Romanini, Richard M. Cohen, Kozlov, Seaton, Romanini & Brooks, P.C., Cherry Hill, NJ, for Transtech Industries, Inc.; Kin-Buc, Inc.; and Filcrest Realty, Inc., appellees.

Myles E. Flint, Acting Asst. Atty. Gen., Anne S. Almy, Catherine R. McCabe, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Environmental Enforcement Section, Washington, DC, for U.S., amicus-appellee.

Before: SCIRICA, NYGAARD, and WEIS, Circuit Judges.


Submitted Pursuant To Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) August 20, 1993.

OPINION OF THE COURT

WEIS, Circuit Judge.

In this case brought under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the district court rejected appellants' contention that, having entered into a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency, they were relieved of responsibility for cleanup expenses incurred by the owners of a landfill.

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