556 U.S. 599 (2009)
Burlington Northern Railroad Co. v.
Can liability for environmental cleanup under CERCLA be apportioned among responsible parties, or are all parties jointly and severally liable?
Under CERCLA, joint and several liability can apply to environmental contaminations unless it can be demonstrated that a reasonable basis for apportionment of harm among the responsible parties exists.
The Supreme Court held that liability under CERCLA can be apportioned among responsible parties if the harm is divisible, and in this case, based on the evidence, apportionment of liability was appropriate.
This case is significant because it establishes that not all CERCLA cases involve joint and several liabilities; rather, courts must consider whether the harm is divisible and thus apportionable among parties. This precedent affects how environmental cases are litigated, potentially reducing the financial impact on parties that can successfully demonstrate limited contribution to the contamination. It offers clearer guidelines for businesses in managing environmental liabilities and aligns legal outcomes with principles of fairness and proportionality in assessing responsibility.