Deep-Pocketed or Duty-Bound Defendant: The Evolution of 'Legacy Lawsuits' in Louisiana and the Impact of Acts 779 and 754

Abstract

Legacy lawsuits concerning environmental damage claims have affected nearly 1,500 oil-and-gas production companies in Louisiana in the last few years. Since the Louisiana Supreme Court’s decision in Corbello v. Iowa Production in 2003, production companies and landowners have hotly debated cleanup and remediation liability over contaminated land. After Corbello, the Louisiana Legislature passed Act 1166 to help provide additional procedural safeguards for legacy lawsuits, but the act met with criticism from landowners and oil companies alike. Later, Act 312 was passed in 2006 to help correct some of the perceived shortcomings of Act 1166. However, critics scrutinized it as well for its apparent failure to require faster litigation and quicker cleanup of the damaged land. Acts 779 and 754 were finally passed in 2012 to further correct the errors that critics found in the previous legislation. These two acts attempt to provide quicker remediation of the damaged land by allowing for a limited admission of liability and procedural safeguards such as the implementation of environmental management orders. This article outlines the history and evolution of legacy lawsuits as they developed in Louisiana over the years and further attempts to outline the substance of Act 779 and Act 754. Finally, this article discusses the key issues that this new legislation attempts to address, including quicker remediation of contaminated land and a sturdier procedural framework.