The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA”) has been a prodigious generator of litigation for decades. First, the government sought to compel potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) to clean up contaminated sites. Then, those PRPs who were found liable or who settled with the government sought contribution from other PRPs. Now, even after these interminable disputes over liability for remediation costs are resolved, the implementation of costly remedies can give rise to yet more litigation if those remedies fail. A recent decision by the federal district court in Philadelphia in Cottman Avenue PRP Group v. AMEC Foster Wheeler Environmental Infrastructure Inc., arising from one of the earliest CERCLA Superfund sites, is an example of this last type of case and offers important lessons both for parties responsible for remediation and the contractors they hire to fulfill those obligations. Read more.…