Managers and the Legal Environment 7th Edition by David Madsen, Constance Bagley

Exercise 10

A Colorado silver mine was owned by a company that went bankrupt. The three main creditors of the bankrupt firm formed the Raytheon Mine Company (RMI) as part of the plan of reorganization. RMI ran and operated the mine and gave each creditor a percentage of its stock commensurate with the original bankrupt company. Biller Company was one such minor creditor and never owned more than 20% of RMI. Years after the money owed Biller Company was repaid and Biller had sold its interest in the mine, the government assessed serious environmental cleanup costs under CERCLA. Biller's former partners in RMI brought a claim for contribution against Biller as a successor in interest to the tainted land to recover part of the cleanup costs. Will their claim be successful? [Raytheon Construction Inc. v. Asarco Inc., 368 F.3d 1214 (10th Cir. 2003).]