Many Superfund practitioners have spent years litigating cases in which a private plaintiff seeks to establish that defendants are liable for costs of responding to a Superfund problem and that they ought to bear some specific equitable share of the total responsibility. Often, the plaintiff has brought the case even though the plaintiff has not paid a very significant portion of the total costs, has not committed to pay a significant portion of the costs, and has not been adjudicated responsible for anything. Why does that private plaintiff get to trigger allocation litigation?

Continue reading the full article, published by The Legal Intelligencer Feb. 9, 2024. Reprinted with permission.