Outside Counsel

The Court of Appeals of New York, this past summer, resolved for the first time the issue of whether a “faultless” landowner on whose property petroleum has discharged may be held liable for clean-up costs under the New York Navigation Law. State v. Green, 96 N.Y.2d 403 (2001). The law prior to State v. Green was unclear, and conflicting in different jurisdictions, on whether the Navigation Law imposed liability based on a person’s status as a property owner.

State v. Green clarified that the Navigation Law does not impose liability based on a person’s status as an owner of land on which a discharge has occurred, id. at 405, Whitesell v. Walchli, 237 A.D.2d 953 (4th Dep’t 1997), an issue that the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, Third Department, had made unclear with at least two decisions suggesting to the contrary. Art-Tex Petroleum, Inc., v. New York State Dep’t of Audit & Control, 248 A.D.2d 901, 902 (3d Dep’t 1998); State v. Tartan Oil Corp., 219 A.D.2d 111, 114 (3d Dep’t 1996). Nevertheless, the decision still seems to suggest that, as a practical matter, ownership of land will be sufficient to impose liability under the Navigation Law except in the relatively rare instances in which the activities or events that resulted in the discharge were entirely without the landowner’s knowledge or consent.