Suppose a family is heading south on the interstate for vacation. As a tanker truck passes, the windshield of the family car is sprayed from the leaking tanker. A chemical odor becomes evident in the car. Mom jots down the license number of the truck and they stop at the next exit to clean the windshield. It is immediately obvious that the material spilled on the car has started to cause paint damage.
Is this a simple case of property damage? Could it be much more serious? Who is liable?
It could involve parties other than the transporter.
This scenario is based on an actual event involving six cars. The truck was hauling a hazardous chemical -- used polychloride biphenyls (PCB's), being transported for disposal. This material is used as a cooling oil in most old transformers and is a suspected carcinogen. Thus, aside from property damage, a concern arises for potential health effects of the persons inside the car and for damage to the environment.
A number of state and federal regulators govern the transport of waste chemicals, including the state environmental agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Transportation. Several different complex environmental laws and regulations may be involved, potentially bringing liability to bear not only on the transporter but also on the waste generator (owner) and contractors arranging for shipment and disposal.
In this case, the owner of the chemical was also the owner of the tanker truck, so determination of liability was simple.
Of course, each person potentially exposed to this chemical was concerned about future health impacts. Consequently, the negotiated settlement required compensation for these concerns. The settlement additionally covered property damage to the vehicle, which involved the purchase of each vehicle exposed on the highway and extensive decontamination before their resale. As you can imagine the cost to resolve this incident was very high.
Cases of this type involving environmental laws can be complex. The engineers at The Warren Group are experienced in these areas and would be happy to assist with the investigation.