ENVIRONMENTAL LITIGATION

Carmen D. Caruso was lead trial counsel in a private Superfund" action under the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Recovery Cost Liability Act (CERCLA),  in which he represented a family-owned die casting business that faced potential liability under state law for the cost of remediating the presence of PCBs that had accumulated on the site over a lengthy period of time, and which threatened to contaminate the Milwaukee River.

Mr. Caruso and his partners brought suit against a subsidiary of Monsanto Corporation that had been a previous owner & operator of the site.   Although this defendant had not acquired the site until after the PCB contamination had already occurred, Mr. Caruso established that the Monsanto subsidiary had assumed liability for the previous contamination by engaging in a "de facto merger" with the prior operator, who had introduced the PCBs onto the premises.

Because of the de facto merger, the Monsanto subsidiary was forced to accept a significant share of liability for the clean-up costs.