Shell Oil Co.is urging the Supreme Court to overturn a 2007 ruling by the U.S.Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit limiting the use of a key defense against Superfund liability,arguing that the lower court misconstrued several key provisions in the Superfund law and extended the law's reach to unprecedented levels. At issue are the cases Shell Oil v.United States and Santa Fe Railway Co.v.United States,which the high court on Oct.1 agreed to hear as a consolidated case.The 9th Circuit last year found the companies jointly and severally liable for contamination at a Superfund site,rejecting Shell's defense it was not liable for contaminated releases because it only made "useful products" that inadvertently contaminated the railroad's property.
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