United Artists Theatre Circuit, Inc. v. Regional Water Quality Control Board
Facts: A commercial landlord of a multiunit shopping center enters into a lease for a unit with a dry cleaning business that uses a chemical later found to be toxic in the course of their business. The landlord sells the property to a new landlord owner who continues to lease the unit to the tenant. Later, groundwater at the shopping center is found to have been contaminated by the chemical used by the tenant. The San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board issues an order for the cleanup of the chemical contamination which names the original landlord of the shopping center as liable for the contamination.
Claim: The landlord seeks to remove their name from the cleanup order, claiming they are not liable for the chemical contamination since they had no knowledge of the specific chemicals used in the course of the tenant’s dry cleaning business.
Counterclaim: The Regional Water Quality Control Board claims the landlord is liable for the chemical contamination since the landlord knew the tenant’s dry cleaning business might result in contamination and took no steps to oversee or mitigate that risk.
Holding: A California appeals court holds the landlord is liable for the chemical contamination since the landlord knew the tenant’s dry cleaning business might result in contamination and took no steps to oversee or mitigate that risk. [United Artists Theatre Circuit, Inc. v. Regional Water Quality Control Board (November 27, 2019)_CA6th_]
