On November 10, 2020 Kanner & Whiteley filed a new Natural Resource Damage (“NRD”) lawsuit against Honeywell International, Inc. centered on a polluted site in Bergen County, New Jersey. The lawsuit arises from Honeywell’s status as the survivor corporation to various predecessor companies that ran industrial operations – and discharged vast quantities of contaminants into the ground and water – at and around a 15-acre site now known as the Quanta Resources Property along the Hudson River in Edgewater, New Jersey.
NRD is defined as damages for injury to, destruction of, loss of, or loss of the value of natural resources. NRD usually includes the costs incurred to determine the damage done to specific natural resources. The State is trustee for all natural resources, which in New Jersey are seen as surface and ground water, sediments, wetlands, and biota (living creatures other than humans).
The State’s five-count complaint alleges violations of New Jersey’s Spill Act and Water Pollution Control Act, as well as common law claims involving public nuisance, trespass and strict liability. The State seeks from Honeywell an award of cleanup and removal costs and compensation for NRDs resulting from decades of coal tar processing, manufacturing of paving and roofing materials, using the site for waste oil storage and recycling, as well as punitive damages. A copy of the complaint can be viewed here.