Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
Economic theory developed in the prior literature indicates that under the joint and several liability imposed by the federal Superfund statute, the government should recover more of its costs of cleaning up contaminated sites than it would under nonjoint liability, and the amount recovered should increase with the number of defendants and with the independence among defendants in trial outcomes. We test these predictions empirically using data on outcomes in federal Superfund cases. Theory also suggests that this increase in the amount recovered may discourage the sale and redevelopment of potentially contaminated sites (or “brownfields”). We find the increase to be substantial, which suggests that this implicit tax on sales may be an important deterrent for parties contemplating brownfields redevelopment.
Keywords
Environmental Law, Torts, Litigation and Settlement, Real Estate, Economics
Publication Title
Journal of Empirical Legal Studies
Repository Citation
Chang, Howard F. and Sigman, Hilary, "An Empirical Analysis of Cost Recovery in Superfund Cases: Implications for Brownfields and Joint and Several Liability" (2014). All Faculty Scholarship. 318.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/318
Included in
Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Law and Economics Commons, Law and Society Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons, Political Economy Commons, Public Law and Legal Theory Commons, Real Estate Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons
Publication Citation
11 J. Empirical Legal Stud. 477-504 (2014)