Mystic Landing, LLC v. Pharmacia Corp.

443 F. Supp. 2d 97, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47273, 2006 WL 1914067
District Court, D. Massachusetts·Decided June 5, 2006·No. Civil Action 04-10180-NMG·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

GORTON, District Judge.

This case involves liability under the Massachusetts Oil and Hazardous Material Release Prevention and Response Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 21E (hereinafter, “Chapter 21E”), for contamination of a parcel of approximately 35 acres in Everett and Boston, Massachusetts (“the Property”). Pursuant to Chapter 21E, § 4A, the current owner of the Property seeks contribution and reimbursement from a prior owner for past and future costs of remediating contamination of the site. The defendant has counterclaimed against the current owner and an affiliated party on the grounds that those parties are also liable under Chapter 21E and should, therefore, contribute to any remediation costs.

The parties appeared for a bench trial before this Court on April 10, 11 and 18, 2006. The Court now publishes its findings of fact and conclusions of law.

I.Findings of Fact

A. Parties

1. Plaintiff, Mystic Landing, LLC (“Mystic”), is a Massachusetts limited liability company that was formed in June, 2001, for the sole purpose of holding title to the Property.

2. Defendant, Pharmacia Corporation (“Pharmacia”), is a Delaware corporation that was known as the Monsanto Company or Monsanto Chemical Company (“Monsanto”) while it owned the Property between 1929 and 1983.

3. Third-party defendant, Modern Continental Construction Company, Inc. (“Modern”), is a Delaware corporation and an affiliate of Mystic.

*100 B. The Property

4. The Property is a 35-acre parcel located primarily in Everett, Massachusetts and bordered on the north by a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority facility, on the west by railroad tracks, on the south by the Mystic River and on the east by State Highway 99.

5. Development and use of the Property began in the 19th century. From 1929 to 1975, Pharmacia used the Property in connection with its chemical manufacturing operations which included production, storage of raw materials and research. Activity on the Property included a) the production of sulfuric acid, nitric acid and acid salts, b) storage of sulfur, bauxite, iron oxides and salt and c) disposal of aluminum sulfate.

6. In 1979, 1980 and 1982, environmental testing of the Property was performed on behalf of Pharmacia. Those tests focused on the site’s groundwater and indicated that there was some contamination.

7. Boston Edison Company (“Boston Edison”) purchased the Property from Pharmacia in 1983. Prior to that conveyance, Boston Edison was informed of the suspected contamination and hired a private firm to conduct an environmental assessment of the site. Results from that assessment indicated the presence of contaminants including sulfur, sulfates, aluminum, iron and lead.

8. Chapter 21E was enacted and became effective in 1983 and was substantially amended in the early 1990s.

9. O’Donnell Sand & Gravel, Inc. (“OS & G”) bought the Property from Boston Edison in 1995 and shortly thereafter sold it for $1 to its president, Mary O’Donnell (“O’Donnell”).

10. During the 1990s, earth materials excavated in connection with development of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority tunnel in Boston Harbor were transported to the Property and deposited across it in varying levels of thickness (hereinafter, “the tunnel muck”).

11.O’Donnell was notified by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) in 1996 that the Property was likely contaminated and, if so, O’Donnell was legally responsible for assessing and remediating any such contamination.

' 12. Modern began using the Property as a “lay-down facility” in 1996 in connection with the Central Artery/Tunnel (“Big Dig”) project pursuant to subcontract and lease agreements that it entered into with O’Donnell.

13. Although not fully documented in writing, an agreement between Modern and O’Donnell provided Modern with an option to lease or buy the Property. Pursuant to that agreement, Modern paid O’Donnell between $4 million and $7 million from 1996 until 2001.

14. The purchase option was assigned by Modern to Mystic and Mystic exercised that option and bought the Property from O’Donnell in June, 2001, for a recited purchase price of $300,000.

15. At the time of the purchase, the principals of Mystic and Modern knew that the Property was contaminated as a result of, among other things, an environmental site assessment that had been completed on their behalf in the Spring of 2001.

16. A bank loan of approximately $10 million, secured by a mortgage on the Property, was obtained by Mystic/Modern.

17. Activities conducted on the Property from 1996 to the present include the breakdown and storage of steel and the storage of some petroleum products. Asbestos-containing materials were stored on *101 the Property while it was owned by Mystic and occupied by Modern.

18. As a result of certain incidents beginning in 2002, the DEP alleged that Modern had failed to comply with Massachusetts regulations relating to solid waste. Modern agreed with the DEP to the entry of an administrative consent order in August, 2005, by which Modern agreed, without conceding liability, to clean up the Property in certain respects and to pay an administrative penalty of $35,000. In November, 2005, the DEP notified Modern that it had not complied with certain aspects of the consent order and, pursuant to the terms of that order, imposed an additional fine.

19. The Property has been and is currently contaminated with hazardous material and oil and requires remediation. More specifically, contamination of the Property includes, but is not limited to, a) the presence of dissolved metals in the groundwater caused by low pH levels and b) contaminants in the soils including lead, arsenic, sulfate, petroleum hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

20. Although the tunnel muck has assisted in separating contamination of the surface of the Property from contamination below that material, the tunnel muck was neither impermeable nor uniformly spread across the Property. Consequently, intermixing of soils and at least some pollution above and below the tunnel muck has likely occurred.

21. Pursuant to Chapter 21E, the role of a licensed site professional (“LSP”) is to supervise and administer activities for compliance with the statute and regulations promulgated thereunder. LSPs render opinions to the DEP with respect to the existence and extent of environmental contamination, the necessity of remediation and the implementation of cleanup activities. After any necessary remediation has been performed, the LSP files a Response Action Outcome (“RAO”) with the DEP to document his/her determination that necessary cleanup has been completed and no further remediation is required.

22. An LSP-of-Record for the Property (not Mr. Hughto) was designated by the DEP when the Property was owned by O’Donnell.

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Mystic Landing, LLC v. Pharmacia Corp., 443 F. Supp. 2d 97, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47273, 2006 WL 1914067 (D. Mass. 2006).

443 F. Supp. 2d 97 (Mystic Landing, LLC v. Pharmacia Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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