Environmental Claims Discharged in Bankruptcy

The issue of determining when a bankruptcy claim arose is particularly complex when dealing with environmental contamination claims. Environmental contamination can exist for years – even decades – before damage or injury even occurs. As a result, courts have developed various tests to determine when an environmental claim arises for the purpose of determining whether they are discharged in bankruptcy.

In their most recent article for The Legal Intelligencer, titled “Environmental Claims Discharged in Bankruptcy,” Chairman and CEO Andy Kassner and Senior Attorney Joseph Argentina review how the dischargeability of environmental claims was recently addressed by Judge Kevin J. Carey of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in his decision in the Exide bankruptcy case.