{"id":2476,"date":"2016-10-19T15:29:17","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T19:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/?p=2476"},"modified":"2019-12-23T18:20:24","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T23:20:24","slug":"equitable-defenses-spill-act-liability-god-war-sabotage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/equitable-defenses-spill-act-liability-god-war-sabotage.html","title":{"rendered":"Equitable Defenses for Spill Act Liability Other Than God, War or Sabotage"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New Jersey Supreme Court decision in 2015 settled the uncertainty regarding whether the statute of limitations was a valid defense to liability under the Spill Compensation and Control Act, N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.11, et seq. (the \u201cSpill Act\u201d). The Court in Morristown Assoc. v. Grant Oil Co.<\/em>, 220 N.J. 360 (2015) concluded that the statute of limitations did not act to bar such claims. This was based upon the fact that the statute of limitations was not one of three permissible enumerated defenses to Spill Act liability set forth in the Act itself. N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.11g(d). The Spill Act specifies that the only permissible defenses to liability are: 1) an act of God, 2) war, and 3) sabotage. Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This Supreme Court decision gave parties seeking contribution for cleanup costs under the Spill Act a powerful weapon in that they could bring their contribution claim against other responsible parties at any time, even many years later. A recent trial court decision, however, provides hope that despite the limiting and strict language of the Spill Act, various equitable defenses may still be applied to defeat a claim for contribution under the Spill Act under certain circumstances. 22 Temple Ave., Inc. v. Audino, Inc<\/em>., BER-L-9337-14, 2016 N.J. Super. UnPub. LEXIS 2226<\/em> (Law Div. Oct. 5, 2016).<\/p>\n

In 22 Temple<\/em>, the trial court ruled that the plaintiff\u2019s Spill Act contribution claim against the defendant was barred by the doctrine of laches, notwithstanding the fact that laches is not one of the three permissible defenses enumerated in the Spill Act. Id<\/em>. The doctrine of laches is an equitable defense that is a creation of the common law used to bar claims when the claimant has unreasonably delayed asserting its claim and that delay has prejudiced the defendant, most commonly by making it difficult or impossible for the defendant to mount a fair defense through the loss of evidence and\/or witnesses.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A New Jersey Supreme Court decision in 2015 settled the uncertainty regarding whether the statute of limitations was a valid defense to liability under the Spill Compensation and Control Act, N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.11, et seq. (the \u201cSpill Act\u201d). The Court in Morristown Assoc. v. Grant Oil Co., 220 N.J. 360 (2015) concluded that the statute of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,65,249],"tags":[],"coauthors":[173],"class_list":["post-2476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pierce","category-insights","category-real-estate-land-use-zoning-insights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEquitable Defenses for Spill Act Liability Other Than God, War or Sabotage — October 19, 2016 — Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A New Jersey Supreme Court decision in 2015 settled the uncertainty regarding whether the statute of limitations was a valid defense to liability under\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/equitable-defenses-spill-act-liability-god-war-sabotage.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Equitable Defenses for Spill Act Liability Other Than God, War or Sabotage — October 19, 2016 — Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. 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