UPDATE: Supreme Court to Review Fourth Circuit CERCLA Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will review a Fourth Circuit decision holding that a provision of CERCLA preempts a North Carolina statute of repose. As we first reported in July, the Fourth Circuit reasoned that 42 U.S.C. Section 9658, which expressly preempts certain state statutes of limitation, also preempts North Carolina’s ten-year statute of repose for actions for damage to real property.    The Defendant in the case filed a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court, and the court granted the petition on January 10.  This means the case will likely come up for oral argument in April, with a decision expected before the Court goes into recess at the end of June.  We will continue to track this case on Environmental Matters.  In the interim, the briefs in this case can be accessed here as they become available.