About the Course
Introduction
This CLE course will provide guidance and case studies for counsel on CERCLA statute of limitations (including removal vs. remedial measures and cost recovery vs. contribution claims), preemption, and allocation dynamics. The expert panel will also offer "in the trenches" strategies related to managing timing, choice of courts, and allocation challenges in Superfund and environmental litigation.
Description
Litigation to assign and apportion contamination cleanup costs among private and public parties under CERCLA raises some of the most complex issues in environmental law. Plaintiffs and defendants must navigate a growing and conflicting body of law regarding the timeliness of cost recovery and contribution actions to determine whether a three-year or six-year limitations period applies, and what event triggers which limitations period.
This webinar will explain the current state of the law on these issues and recent case law that underscores the challenge of classifying environmental work as removal or remedial in nature and the implications of such a classification on whether a lawsuit is timely.
Another fundamental timing issue under CERCLA is the extent to which the statute's preemption of state accrual dates for contamination lawsuits extends to state statutes of repose. The Supreme Court's ruling in Waldburger held that CERCLA does not preempt a state statute of repose, but only preempts state statutes of limitations in environmental tort cases.
Finally, allocation of liability and response costs among responsible parties remains a dynamic and fact-intensive process that will put litigation skills to the test. The panel will outline related foundational law and its nuances and detail case studies illustrating allocation opportunities and pitfalls.
Listen as our authoritative panel of environmental attorneys provides practitioners on both the plaintiffs' and defendants' sides guidance on how to approach CERCLA statute of limitations, preemption, and allocation issues.
Presented By
Kegan A. Brown develops and implements proactive, strategic solutions to the most complex environmental, health, and safety challenges companies face. He partners with clients to protect their interests and to advance business objectives throughout the full lifecycle of environmental and product liability litigations and regulatory matters.
His practice focuses on environmental litigation, environmental regulation, product liability, toxic torts, ESG, and transactional due diligence. He has successfully defended claims in numerous federal and state courts across the country, including the first two natural resource damage actions to ever go to trial in New Jersey (both of which resulted in complete defense verdicts). He also regularly counsels buyers, sellers, lenders, and underwriters on the full spectrum of environmental issues that may affect transactions.
Mr. Thurlow is an environmental litigator with significant experience in environmental matters brought under the Clean Air Act, CERCLA, Clean Water Act, and RCRA. He formerly served in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he acted as lead counsel on a variety of civil enforcement matters, including a major Clean Water Act case against the city of Memphis, Tennessee, several Superfund cases, and several Clean Air Act matters involving power plants and oil refineries. He is a frequent writer and speaker. Matthew D. Thurlow is an environmental and toxic tort litigator. He represents clients in state and federal courts across the country, including in multidistrict litigation, in high-stakes matters involving environmental, product liability, consumer product and advertising, and personal injury claims relating to chemicals, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ethylene oxide, dioxins, and PCBs. Matt frequently represents clients in civil enforcement and private party lawsuits brought under the Clean Air Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Clean Water Act, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and Toxic Substances Control Act.
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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Date + Time
- event
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
- schedule
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
I. Statute of limitations under Section 107
II. Statute of limitations under Section 113
III. Preemption of state statutes of limitation and repose
IV. Apportionment of liability and response costs
V. Practitioner takeaways
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- When should a response action be considered a remedial or removal action?
- What steps can counsel take to leverage the federal accrual date for an environmental tort claim, whether governed by a statute of limitations or repose, or both?
- What best practices can counsel employ to reduce CERCLA liability early in the litigation?
- How can the allocation battle be won from discovery through trial?
Related Courses
CERCLA Statute of Limitations, Preemption, and Allocation: Latest Developments in Superfund and Environmental Litigation
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
PFAS Contamination: Federal and State Regulatory Update, Scientific Developments
Available On-Demand
