New Jersey Dep't of Envtl. Prot. v. Atlantic Richfield Co.

33 F. Supp. 3d 259, 2014 WL 2722002, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80361
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 11, 2014
DocketNo. 1:00-1898, MDL 1358 SAS, M21-88
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 33 F. Supp. 3d 259 (New Jersey Dep't of Envtl. Prot. v. Atlantic Richfield Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New Jersey Dep't of Envtl. Prot. v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 33 F. Supp. 3d 259, 2014 WL 2722002, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80361 (S.D.N.Y. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN, District Judge:

I. INTRODUCTION

This is a consolidated multi-district litigation (“MDL”) relating to contamination — actual or threatened — of groundwater from various defendants’ use of tie gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (“MTBE”) and/or tertiary butyl alcohol, a product formed by the breakdown of MTBE in water. In this case, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”), the Commissioner of the NJDEP, and the Administrator of the New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund allege that Defendants’ use and handling of MTBE has contaminated, or threatened to contaminate groundwater at service stations, refineries, and terminals throughout [261]*261New Jersey. Familiarity with the facts of this case is presumed for the purposes of this Order.

Currently before the Court is Plaintiffs’ motion for judicial approval of the Judicial Consent Order (“JCO”), which recites the terjns of their settlement with Citgo Petroleum Corporation (“Citgo”). The JCO resolves all claims against Citgo for $23.25 million. Several Defendants (“Non-Settling Defendants”)1 oppose the JCO on the grounds that it does not account for Cit-go’s proportionate share of liability.2 For the reasons stated below, Plaintiffs’ motion is DENIED.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Plaintiffs’ Claims

Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit to recover damages for alleged MTBE contamination in groundwater at 5,045 sites throughout New Jersey. Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amended Complaint (“Complaint”) alleges two statutory claims under the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act (“Spill Act”) and four common law claims against all Defendants.3 Pláintiffs request (1) the costs of restoring MTBE-contaminated groundwater (“restoration costs”), (2) the costs of past and future MTBE testing of all public water supplies, (3) the costs of past and future treatment of all drinking water supplies containing detectable levels of MTBE, (4) the costs of past and future monitoring of other waters to detect MTBE, (5) the costs of past cleanup and removal costs, and (6) attorneys’ fees and costs.4

B. The Focus Sites

The parties have not conducted site specific discovery at each of the 5,045 sites at issue.5 Instead, at the start of discovery, Plaintiffs and Defendants each selected ten focus sites.6 Plaintiffs’ experts submitted reports offering damages opinions for the ten Plaintiff-selected sites and one Defendant-selected site.7 As to the remaining Defendant-selected sites, Plaintiffs’ experts concluded that the costs of assessing damages would exceed the damages in[262]*262curred.8

Plaintiffs allege that Citgo is responsible for MTBE contamination at four of the ten Plaintiff-selected sites: (1) the Skyline Service Center, (2) the Maple Shade Citgo, (3) the 5-Points Site, and (4) the HP Delta Service Station.9 As such, Citgo is targeted at more Plaintiff-selected sites that any other Defendant.10

C. The Terms of the JCO

After six months of negotiation, Plaintiffs settled with Citgo. Under the JCO, Citgo would pay $23.25 million for contribution protection and a release from liability at all 5,045 sites in this case.11 The JCO also entitles Non-Settling Defendants to a settlement credit to be applied at trial.12 The JCO adopts the Spill Act’s credit scheme for Plaintiffs’ Spill Act claims and the common law credit scheme for Plaintiffs’ common law claims.13 In addition, the JCO grants Citgo contribution protection under the Joint Tortfeasors Contribution Law, the Comparative Negligence Act, and common law principles.14

D. Non-Settling Defendants’ Objections

Non-Settling Defendants’ objections are based on the- unique way that settlements are treated under the Spill Act.15 Under the Spill Act credit scheme, non-settling defendants receive a credit in the dollar amount of the settlement.16 However, under the common law credit scheme, non-settling defendants receive a credit based on the settling party’s percentage of liability as determined by the trier of fact.17

Hypothetically, a jury could award Plaintiffs three hundred million dollars for their common law claims and ten million dollars for their Spill Act claims. If the jury finds Citgo to be responsible for one-third of the total damages, Citgo would be liable for $103.3,3 million. Non-Settling Defendants would pay $210 million — the entire $10 million for the Spill Act claims and $200 million for their combined share of the common law claims. But they would receive a settlement credit of $23.25 million. In that scenario, Non-Settling Defendants would have no objection because the $23.25 million settlement credit exceeds the $10 million they would have to pay for the Spill Act claims.

If, however, the hypothetical is reversed, and the jury awards Plaintiffs ten million dollars for their common law claims and three hundred million dollars for their [263]*263Spill Act claims, damages for the Spill Act claims would far outweigh the settlement amount. Even though Citgo is found to be liable for one-third of the total damages, again $103.33 million, Non-Settling Defendants would have to pay $306.67 million dollars of the $310 million verdict. Even with the $23.23 million settlement credit, Non-Settling Defendants would be out of pocket $283.42 million dollars, which is far more than two-thirds of the total damages award.18

E. Plaintiffs’ Damages Calculations

On October 21, 2013, Plaintiffs published notice of the JCO in the New Jersey Register.19 Non-Settling Defendants then provided comments to the NJDEP. They objected to the JCO on the grounds that Plaintiffs had failed to disclose (1) their total alleged damages, (2) how they determined Citgo’s fair share of liability, and (3) how Citgo’s payment would be allocated among the four identified Citgo sites or any of the other sites.20

On December 20, 2013, Plaintiffs formally responded to the comments. First, Plaintiffs estimated their total damages for the 5,045 sites to be between $1.99 and $3.32 billion, plus out-of-pocket costs.21 To arrive at this estimate, Plaintiffs’ experts first calculated the average cost of restoration at the ten Plaintiff-selected sites to be $4,657,608 per site.22 Plaintiffs then multiplied that cost by 498 because — according to Plaintiffs’ recent groundwater sampling — 498 of the 5,045 sites contained MTBE above 700 parts per billion (“ppb”).23 Thus, damages at the 498 sites totaled approximately $2.32 billion.24 Plaintiffs then assigned an average damages value of $50,000 to each of the remaining 4,547 sites, resulting in an additional $227.35 million in damages.25

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Related

N.J. Dep't of Envtl. Prot. v. Exxon Mobil Corp.
181 A.3d 257 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
33 F. Supp. 3d 259, 2014 WL 2722002, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80361, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-jersey-dept-of-envtl-prot-v-atlantic-richfield-co-nysd-2014.