An upstate hair care products company whose returned and obsolete products were deposited in a private landfill that it never owned is potentially liable for a portion of the clean-up costs under an “arranger liability” theory, a Western District judge has held.
In a lengthy application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2009 holding in Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway v. United States, 556 U.S. 599, Chief Judge William Skretny said that even though Zotos International did not dump hazardous materials on a site in Seneca County, it effectively “arranged” for the disposal and, under Burlington Northern, may be liable for a portion of the clean-up costs. Under Burlington Northern, a party that intends for and facilitates the disposal of hazardous substances is liable as an “arranger.”
