Superfund Section 301(e) Study Group Report as 'Legislative History': Implications for Supreme Court Deliberations in CTS v. Waldburger

Abstract

The U.S. Supreme Court, in CTS Corp. v. Waldburger, is set to determine whether the Superfund discovery rule should be interpreted to apply to state statutes of repose in addition to state statutes of limitations. In this BNA Insight, Prof. Alfred R. Light says the text of the law isn’t clear, but the Superfund Section 301(e) Group created in the 1980 version of CERCLA did not recommend that Congress preempt features of state statutes of limitations, much less statutes of repose. The author says principles of federalism and the avoidance of retroactive federal legislation suggest that the discovery provision, Section 9658 of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, should be construed to preempt statutes of limitations that provide only "a remedy, not a right, and not to affect substantive limitations on liability within state law such as statutes of repose."

Keywords: Superfund, statute of limitations, toxic torts, statute of repose