Peter Waldburger v. CTS Corporation

PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 12-1290

PETER WALDBURGER; SANDRA RATCLIFFE; LEE ANN SMITH; TOM
PINNER, IV, a/k/a Bud Pinner, IV; HANS MOMKES; WILMA
MOMKES; WALTER DOCKINS, JR.; AUTUMN DOCKINS; WILLIAM CLARK
LISENBEE; DAN MURPHY; LORI MURPHY; ROBERT AVERSANO; DANIEL
L. MURPHY; LAURA A. CARSON; GLEN HORECKY; GINA HORECKY;
RENEE RICHARDSON; DAVID BRADLEY; BYRON HOVEY; RAMONA HOVEY;
PETER TATUM MACQUEEN, IV; BETHAN MACQUEEN; PATRICIA PINNER;
TOM PINNER, III, a/k/a Buddy Pinner, III; MADELINE PINNER,

Plaintiffs - Appellants,

v.

CTS CORPORATION,

Defendant - Appellee.

-----------------------------------

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Amicus Supporting Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of North Carolina, at Asheville. Graham C. Mullen,
Senior District Judge. (1:11-cv-00039-GCM-DLH)

Argued: January 30, 2013 Decided: July 10, 2013

Before DAVIS, FLOYD, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge Floyd wrote
the majority opinion, in which Judge Davis joined. Judge Davis
wrote a separate concurring opinion. Judge Thacker wrote a
dissenting opinion.

ARGUED: Emma A. Maddux, Third-Year Law Student, WAKE FOREST
UNIVERSITY, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellants. Earl
Thomison Holman, ADAMS, HENDON, CARSON, CROW & SAENGER, PA,
Asheville, North Carolina, for Appellee. Daniel Tenny, UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Amicus
Supporting Appellee. ON BRIEF: John J. Korzen, Director,
Hillary M. Kies, Third-Year Law Student, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellants. Stuart F.
Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Thomas M. Bondy,
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.; Anne
Tompkins, United States Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, for
Amicus Supporting Appellee.

2
FLOYD, Circuit Judge:

In 2009, Appellants David Bradley and Renee Richardson

received unwelcome news: Their well water contained

concentrated levels of trichloroethylene (TCE) and cis-1,2-

dichloroethane (DCE), both solvents that have carcinogenic

effects. Not surprisingly, Bradley and Richardson, and twenty-

three other landowners (collectively, “the landowners”), brought

a nuisance action against Appellee CTS Corporation (CTS), the

alleged perpetrator. Concluding that North Carolina’s ten-year

limitation on the accrual of real property claims barred the

suit, the district court granted CTS’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion to

dismiss. Having reviewed the dismissal de novo, assuming that

the facts stated in the complaint are true, Lambeth v. Bd. of

Comm’rs, 407 F.3d 266, 268 (4th Cir. 2005), we hold that the

discovery rule articulated in § 9658 of the Comprehensive

Environmental Response, Liability, and Compensation Act

(CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9675, preempts North Carolina’s ten-

year limitation. Thus, we reverse and remand.

I.

In the 1960s and ‘70s, the United States witnessed the

repercussions of toxic waste dumping like it never had before.

3
The Valley of the Drums 1 and Love Canal 2 disasters made

headlines, urging Congress to pass legislation that granted some

measure of redress. In response, in 1980, Congress passed

CERCLA, an act aimed at promoting efficient and equitable

responses to the fallout from hazardous waste. Burlington N. &

Santa Fe Ry. Co. v. United States, 556 U.S. 599, 602 (2009).

Because Congress passed the legislation during the closing hours

of its ninety-sixth session, and only after it reached a

compromise reflecting the “blending of three separate bills,”

CERCLA is often criticized for its lack of precision. See,

e.g., State of New York v. Shore Realty Corp., 759 F.2d 1032,

1039–40 (2d Cir. 1985) (“In 1980, while the Senate considered

one early version of CERCLA, the House considered and passed

another. The version passed by both Houses, however, was an

eleventh hour compromise put together primarily by Senate

1
The Valley of the Drums is a twenty-three acre site near
Louisville, Kentucky, where a large number of waste-storing
drums were deposited in the 1960s. The drums’ leakage and the
lack of regulation at the site caused an environmental disaster.
NPL Site Narrative for A.L. Taylor (Valley of the Drums), Envtl.
Prot. Agency (Sept. 8, 1983), http://www.epa.gov/superfund/
sites/npl/nar447.htm.
2
Love Canal is an area near Niagara Falls, New York. In
the 1920s, it became a dumpsite for toxic chemicals. The extent
of the site’s contamination was brought to light in the mid-
1970s. Eckardt C. Beck, The Love Canal Tragedy, Envtl. Prot.
Agency (Jan. 1979), http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lovecanal/
01.html.

4
leaders and sponsors of the earlier Senate versions.” (citations

omitted)); Artesian Water Co. v. New Castle Cnty., 851 F.2d 643,

648 (3d Cir. 1988) (“CERCLA is not a paradigm of clarity or

precision. It has been criticized frequently for inartful

drafting and numerous ambiguities attributable to its

precipitous passage.”); see also Rhodes v. Cnty. of Darlington,

833 F. Supp. 1163, 1172–76 (D.S.C. 1992) (providing a thorough

recounting of CERCLA’s history). Regardless, it remains

undisputed that CERCLA is a remedial statute designed to (1)

“establish a comprehensive response and financing mechanism to

abate and control the vast problems associated with abandoned

and inactive hazardous waste disposal sites” and (2) “shift the

costs of cleanup to the parties responsible for the

contamination.” Metro. Water Reclamation Dist. v. N. Am.

Galvanizing & Coatings, Inc., 473 F.3d 824, 826-27 (7th Cir.

2007) (quoting H.R. Rep. No. 96-1016, pt. 1, at 22 (1980),

reprinted in 1980 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6119, 6120) (internal quotation

marks omitted); see also Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. v. Chevron

U.S.A., Inc., 596 F.3d 112, 120 (2d Cir. 2010) (“Enacted in

response to New York’s Love Canal disaster, CERCLA was designed,

in part, to ‘[ensure] that those responsible for any damage,

environmental harm, or injury from chemical poisons bear the

costs of their actions.’” (footnote omitted) (quoting S. Rep.

No. 96-848, at 13 (1980)).

5
 Evidently wary about the effectiveness of the Act’s final

version, Congress immediately established a study group to

examine the “adequacy of existing common law and statutory

remedies in providing legal redress for harm . . . caused by the

release of hazardous substances into the environment.” 42

U.S.C. § 9651(e)(1). The Group consisted of twelve members

designated by the American Bar Association, the American Trial

Lawyers Association, the Association of State Attorneys General,

and the American Law Institute. Id. § 9651(e)(2). Among other

“[r]ecurring [i]ssues in [h]azardous [w]aste [l]itigation,” it

considered the effect that state limitations periods have on

causes of action related to hazardous waste, noting that (1)

injuries from such waste generally have “long latency periods,

sometimes 20 years or longer” and (2) if a state decrees that a

cause of action will accrue upon a defendant’s last act or a

plaintiff’s exposure to harm, the statute of limitations often

will fully run and defeat a lawsuit before a plaintiff is aware

of his injury. Superfund Section 301(e) Study Group, 97th

Cong., Injuries and Damages from Hazardous Wastes-Analysis and

Improvement of Legal Remedies pt. 1, at 28 (Comm. Print 1982).

Purposing to “remove unreasonable procedural and other barriers

to recovery in court . . . , including rules relating to the

time of accrual of actions,” id. at 240, the Group issued the

following recommendation: “that all states . . . clearly adopt

6
the rule that an action accrues when the plaintiff discovers or

should have discovered the injury or disease and its cause,” id.

at 241. Worth noting is that the Group did not confine its

concerns simply to statutes of limitation: “The Recommendation

is intended also to cover the repeal of statutes of repose

which, in a number of states have the same effect as some

statutes of limitation in barring [a] plaintiff’s claim before

he knows that he has one.” Id.

Instead of waiting for individual states to amend their

respective statutes, in 1986 Congress chose to “address[] the

problem identified in the . . . study,” H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 99-

962, at 261, reprinted in 1986 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3276, 3354, by

enacting § 9658 of CERCLA:

(a) State statutes of limitations for hazardous
substance cases

(1) Exception to State statutes

In the case of any action brought under State law
for personal injury, or property damages, which
are caused or contributed to by exposure to any
hazardous substance, or pollutant or contaminant,
released into the environment from a facility, if
the applicable limitations period for such action
(as specified in the State statute of limitations
or under common law) provides a commencement date
which is earlier than the federally required
commencement date, such period shall commence at
the federally required commencement date in lieu
of the date specified in such State statute.

(2) State law generally applicable

7
 Except as provided in paragraph (1), the statute
of limitations established under State law shall
apply in all actions brought under State law for
personal injury, or property damages, which are
caused or contributed to by exposure to any
hazardous substance, or pollutant or contaminant,
released into the environment from a facility.

42 U.S.C. § 9658. Per the section’s definition section,

“‘applicable limitations period’ means the period specified in a

statute of limitations during which a civil action referred to

in subsection (a)(1) . . . may be brought,” id. § 9658(b)(2),

“‘commencement date’ means the date specified in a statute of

limitations as the beginning of the applicable limitations

period,” id. § 9658(b)(3), and “‘federally required commencement

date’ means the date the plaintiff knew (or reasonably should

have known) that the personal injury or property damages

referred to in subsection (a)(1) . . . were caused or

contributed to by the hazardous substance or pollutant or

contaminant concerned.” Id. § 9658(b)(4)(A). Thus, if a state

statute of limitations provides that the period in which an

action may be brought begins to run prior to a plaintiff’s

knowledge of his injury, § 9658 preempts the state law and

allows the period to run from the time of the plaintiff’s actual

or constructive knowledge. And if a minor or incompetent

plaintiff is involved, the period does not begin to run until

the plaintiff reaches majority or competency or “has a legal

representative appointed.” Id. § 9658(b)(4)(B).

8
 II.

During the twenty-seven years since Congress passed § 9658,

the amendment has no doubt served the goal of preserving claims

that otherwise would have been defeated by state statutes of

limitations. But it has also generated controversy. We address

one such area of dispute here—namely, whether § 9658 preempts

state statutes of repose.

A.

The site at issue in this case is in Asheville, North

Carolina, where CTS formerly operated a fifty-four-acre plant. 3

CTS “manufactures” and “disposes of” electronics and electronic

parts, and from 1959 to 1985, it operated the Mills Gap Road

Electroplating Facility (the Facility) in Asheville. At the

Facility, CTS stored notable quantities of TCE and manufactured

products using TCE, cyanide, chromium VI, and lead.

In 1987, CTS sold the Facility to Mills Gap Road

Associates. CTS had promised realtors that the property “ha[d]

been rendered in an environmentally clean condition,” that “[t]o

the best of [its] knowledge, no on-site disposal or otherwise

3
CTS was formed in 1959 as CTS of Asheville, Inc. In 1983,
CTS of Asheville, Inc., dissolved, but CTS continued to operate
the Asheville plant as CTS Corporation, Asheville Division until
1985.

9
wanton disposal methods were practiced at [the] facility,” and

that as soon as “the existing inventory of materials contained

in drums and other miscellaneous equipment within the plant

[was] removed from the premises, no threat to human health or

the environment [would] remain.”

Mills Gap Road Associates eventually sold portions of the

land to Bradley, Richardson, and others, and as noted above,

Bradley and Richardson learned subsequent to their purchases

that their land was contaminated. Thus, they joined with others

who “live in the vicinity of [their] residence” to bring a

nuisance claim. The other property owners claim that they “have

been and continue to be exposed to the CTS . . . toxins via

contact from air, land and water.”

The landowners cite damages such as “diminution in the

value of their real property” and fear “for their health and

safety and that of their family members.” They request (1) a

“judgment against [CTS] requiring reclamation of the 1,000,000

pounds of the toxic chemical contaminants” that belong to the

corporation, (2) “remediation of the environmental harm caused

by [CTS’s] toxic chemicals,” and (3) “monetary damages in an

amount that will fully compensate them for all the losses and

damages they have suffered, or . . . will suffer in the future.”

10
 B.

In North Carolina, real property actions are subject to a

three-year statute of limitations per the “Limitations, Other

than Real Property” section of the General Statutes. See N.C.

Gen. Stat. § 1-52; Crawford v. Boyette, 464 S.E.2d 301, 303

(N.C. App. 1995). A real property action accrues when “physical

damage to [a claimant’s] property becomes apparent or ought

reasonably to have become apparent.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-

52(16). Notably, however, a claimant’s actual or constructive

knowledge of damage is not the only factor that regulates

accrual. Nor does lack of such knowledge lend life to a claim

indefinitely. Rather, § 1-52(16) prohibits a “cause of action

[from] . . . accru[ing] more than 10 years from the last act or

omission of the defendant giving rise to the cause of action.”

Id. Accordingly, once ten years have passed since a defendant’s

last tortious act, claims for damages from such conduct become

nonexistent, regardless of whether a claimant had knowledge of

his harm within the ten-year window.

Here, the last act or omission of CTS occurred in 1987,

when it sold the Facility to Mills Gap Road Associates. Thus,

when the landowners filed their nuisance action in 2011, CTS

moved to dismiss, maintaining that North Carolina’s ten-year

limitation on the accrual of real property actions barred the

claim. The landowners countered, citing § 9658 of CERCLA as

11
preemptive of North Carolina’s limitation. The magistrate judge

rejected the landowners’ argument. The court reasoned that the

ten-year limitation is a statute of repose and that because

§ 9658 mentions only statutes of limitations, it is inapplicable

here. Thus, it recommended dismissal, and the district court

adopted the recommendation.

III.

Before analyzing the decision below, we briefly review the

concepts of limitations and repose. Statutes of limitations and

statutes of repose both operate as limits on the amount of time

that a plaintiff has to bring a claim. A statute of limitations

is a “law that bars claims after a specified period . . . based

on the date when the claim accrued (as when the injury occurred

or was discovered).” Black’s Law Dictionary 1546 (9th ed.

2009). As this Court has previously noted, such limitations

serve defendants by “encourag[ing] prompt resolution of disputes

by providing a simple procedural mechanism to dispose of stale

claims.” First United Methodist Church of Hyattsville v. U.S.

Gypsum Co., 882 F.2d 862, 866 (4th Cir. 1989). In contrast, a

statute of repose “bar[s] any suit that is brought after a

specified time since the defendant acted . . . even if this

period ends before the plaintiff has suffered a resulting

injury.” Black’s Law Dictionary 1546 (9th ed. 2009). Where

12
repose is concerned, “considerations of the economic best

interests of the public as a whole” are at play, and

“substantive grants of immunity based on a legislative balance

of the respective rights of potential plaintiffs and defendants

[are] struck by determining a time limit beyond which liability

no longer exists.” First United Methodist, 882 F.2d at 866.

Here, North Carolina’s ten-year limitation bars lawsuits

“brought after a specified time since the defendant acted,”

Black’s Law Dictionary 1546 (9th ed. 2009), without regard for

the plaintiff’s knowledge of his harm, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-

52(16). As such, although North Carolina does not explicitly

identify the limitation as a statute of repose (or, for that

matter, use the word “repose” anywhere in its statutes), we

think the court below properly categorized it as such. Cf.

Robinson v. Wadford, 731 S.E.2d 539, 541 (N.C. Ct. App. 2012)

(referring to the ten-year limitation in § 1-52(16) as a statute

of repose); Tipton & Young Constr. Co. v. Blue Ridge Structure

Co., 446 S.E.2d 603, 604 (N.C. Ct. App. 1994) (same).

A.

Determining whether § 9658 affects the operation of North

Carolina’s ten-year limitation is an exercise in statutory

interpretation. When we interpret statutes, our goal is to

effectuate Congress’s intent, United States v. Abdelshafi, 592

13
F.3d 602, 607 (4th Cir. 2010), and we accomplish this by first

examining the text of the statute, Holland v. Big River Minerals

Corp., 181 F.3d 597, 603 (4th Cir. 1999). If we find the

meaning of the text plain, we accord it that meaning

“[a]bsent . . . clearly expressed legislative intent to the

contrary.” Abdelshafi, 592 F.3d at 607 (quoting United States

v. Bell, 5 F.3d 64, 68 (4th Cir. 1993)) (internal quotation

marks omitted). If we determine that its meaning is ambiguous,

however, we “look beyond the language of the statute to the

legislative history for guidance.” Stiltner v. Beretta U.S.A.

Corp., 74 F.3d 1473, 1482 (4th Cir. 1996) (en banc). Moreover,

we determine whether a statute’s language is plain “by reference

to the language itself, the specific context in which that

language is used, and the broader context of the statute as a

whole.” Holland, 181 F.3d at 603 (quoting Robinson v. Shell Oil

Co., 519 U.S. 337, 341 (1997)) (internal quotation marks

omitted).

B.

Here, we interpret a statute that is ambiguous. As noted

by the district court, § 9658 uses the words “statute of

limitations.” Indeed, the phrase and its plural form appear

five times. See § 9658(a), (b)(2), (b)(3). Noticeably absent

is the phrase “statutes of repose.” Thus, a simple review of

14
§ 9658’s language could reasonably lead to a conclusion that its

application is limited only to statutes of limitations. We

agree with the court below that the text is susceptible to this

interpretation. But we also think that the text lends itself to

an alternate reading—one that includes repose limitations such

as North Carolina’s.

Per the text of § 9658, a state limitations period must

meet two conditions before the federally required commencement

date applies to a cause of action: (1) it must be an

“applicable limitations period” that is “specified in the State

statute of limitations or under common law” and (2) it must

“provide[] a commencement date which is earlier than the

federally required commencement date.” Id. § 9658(a)(1). For

the following reasons, we think North Carolina’s ten-year

limitation meets these conditions here.

First, the ten-year bar is located with the statutes of

limitations periods in a section titled, “Limitations, Other

than Real Property.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52. As such, it is a

limitations period “specified in the State statute of

limitations or under common law.” See 42 U.S.C. § 9658(a)(1).

Second, it is (1) a “period,” (2) “specified in a statute of

limitations,” (3) “during which a civil action . . . may be

brought”; thus, it comports with the definition of “applicable

limitations period.” See id. § 9658(b)(2). Finally, because

15
the period begins to run when the defendant commits his last

act, rather than when the plaintiff has knowledge of harm, its

“commencement date . . . is earlier than the federally required

commencement date.” See id. § 9658(a)(1). Accordingly, we

conclude that in spite of § 9658’s repeated use of the phrase

“statute of limitations,” the text is susceptible to an

interpretation that includes repose limitations such as North

Carolina’s. In sum, we reckon § 9658’s text capable of at least

two interpretations, preventing it from being straightforwardly

categorized as “plain and unambiguous.”

Lest we seem to be stretching to find ambiguity in the

text, we make two additional observations. First, the terms

“statute of limitations” and “statute of repose” have seen

considerable development in their usage and meaning. Indeed, a

historical analysis reveals that both scholars and courts have

often used the terms interchangeably. See McDonald v. Sun, 548

F.3d 774, 781 & n.3, n.4 (9th Cir. 2008) (collecting cases and

academic articles that demonstrate a historical lack of

distinction between the terms). Thus, in this context,

Congress’s choice to use “statute of limitations” is in no way

dispositive as to whether it intended § 9658 to apply to

statutes of repose. Rather, given the inconsistent manner in

which the term has been used, it is entirely probable that in

1986, when Congress added § 9658 to CERCLA, it intended “statute

16
of limitations” to include precisely the type of ten-year

limitation that we are dealing with here. Second, § 9658

manifests a lack of internal consistency in its reference to an

“applicable limitations period.” Subsection (a)(1) notes that

such a period is “specified in the State statute of limitations

or under common law,” but the definition of “applicable

limitations period” and “commencement date” make no reference to

common law. Thus, to the extent that a limitations period is

established only under common law, § 9658 fails to manifest a

plain meaning applicable in such a circumstance.

C.

When the text of a statute is ambiguous, we “look to other

indicia of congressional intent such as the legislative history”

to interpret the statute. CGM, LLC, v. BellSouth Telecomm’s,

Inc., 664 F.3d 46, 53 (4th Cir. 2011). As explained in Part I,

supra, § 9658 was adopted by Congress to “address[] the problem

identified in the . . . study [group report],” H.R. Conf. Rep.

No. 99-962, at 261, reprinted in 1986 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3276, 3354.

The study group report was equally concerned with statutes of

repose and limitations, and with their effect of barring

plaintiffs’ claims before they are aware of them.

Moreover, Congress’s purpose in enacting CERCLA was

remedial. Blake A. Watson, Liberal Construction of CERCLA Under

17
the Remedial Purpose Canon: Have the Lower Courts Taken a Good

Thing Too Far?, 20 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 199, 286 (1996) (“CERLCA

is not only more remedial than most legislative enactments, it

is arguably the most remedial of all federal environmental

statutes . . . .”). Indeed,

[t]he Act is distinctive in the spectrum of federal
environmental protection legislation in that the
principal focus is remedial and corrective rather than
regulatory. CERCLA does not set standards for
prospective compliance by industry but essentially is
a tort-like backward-looking statute designed to
[clean up] expeditiously abandoned hazardous waste
sites and respond to hazardous spills and releases of
toxic wastes into the environment.

Id. (quoting William Murray Tabb & Linda A. Malone,

Environmental Law: Cases & Materials 637 (1992)). Moreover,

§ 9658 resulted from Congress’s additional attempts to ensure

adequate remedies, and it furthers CERCLA’s remedial goals by

preempting state limitation periods that would otherwise bar

causes of action when harms lie dormant. We have observed that

“CERCLA, as all remedial statutes, must be given a broad

interpretation to effect its ameliorative goals.” First United

Methodist, 882 F.2d at 867.

When faced with a remedial statute, our interpretive charge

is simple: Employ a “standard of liberal construction [to]

accomplish [Congress’s] objects.” Urie v. Thompson, 337 U.S.

163, 180 (1949); see also Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., 596 F.3d

at 132 (recognizing the need to liberally construe CERCLA to

18
accomplish congressional objectives); see also Axel Johnson,

Inc. v. Carroll Carolina Oil Co., Inc., 191 F.3d 409, 416 (4th

Cir. 1999) (same). In light of this charge, we reject a reading

of § 9658 that excludes application of its provisions to North

Carolina’s ten-year limitation. Such an interpretation may seem

to be textually sound under one possible reading of the statute,

but it offers too narrow an approach and one that thwarts

Congress’s unmistakable goal of removing barriers to relief from

toxic wreckage. Refusing to apply § 9658 to statutes of repose

allows states to obliterate legitimate causes of action before

they exist. Because this is precisely the barrier that Congress

intended § 9658 to address, we will not read the statute in a

manner that makes it inapplicable in such a circumstance. Doing

so cannot be termed an honest attempt to “effectuate Congress’s

intent.” Accordingly, we hold that the federally required

commencement date in § 9658 preempts North Carolina’s ten-year

limitation on the accrual of real property claims.

In so holding, we join the view articulated by the Ninth

Circuit in McDonald v. Sun, in which the plaintiffs found

themselves in circumstances remarkably similar to those of the

landowners in this case. See 548 F.3d at 777-78, 783 (“[G]iven

the ambiguity of the term ‘statute of limitations at the time of

the adoption of § [9658], taken alongside the only evidence of

Congressional intent, it is evident that the term ‘statute of

19
limitations’ in § [9658] was intended by Congress to include

statutes of repose.”). Although the Fifth Circuit delineated an

opposing view in Burlington Northern & Sante Fe Railway Co. v.

Poole Chemical Co., 419 F.3d 355 (5th Cir. 2005), we are

unpersuaded by its reasoning. There, the plaintiffs had

knowledge of their claim prior to expiration of the state

statute of repose. Id. at 359-60, 364-65. Thus, as recognized

by that court, the “case [did] not involve the delayed

discovery . . . which § 9658 was intended to address.” Id. at

364-65.

D.

Our decision here will likely raise the ire of corporations

and other entities that wish to rest in the security of statutes

of repose, free from the threat of being called to account for

their contaminating acts. They likely will cite the well-known

policies underlying such statutes and asseverate that we have

ignored them. But we are not ignorant of these policies, nor

have we turned a blind eye to their importance.

Repose statutes do not exist simply to protect defendants;

they also ensure that cases are processed efficiently. See

United States v. Kubrick, 444 U.S. 111, 117 (1979) (“[S]tatutes

of repose . . . protect defendants and the courts from having to

deal with cases in which the search for truth may be seriously

20
impaired by the loss of evidence, whether by death or

disappearance of witnesses, fading memories, disappearance of

documents, or otherwise.”). And although our decision removes

one potential time barrier to a plaintiff’s claim, it does not

relax his burden of proof. In cases with latent harms,

necessary evidence will disappear as time passes, and

intervening causes will complicate efforts to pin costs on one

party. Even without the hindrance of an official repose

statute, plaintiffs may not be able to establish a cause of

action or recover damages. Furthermore, because our decision

does nothing to diminish North Carolina’s requirement that

plaintiffs bring claims within three years of discovery,

defendants will not necessarily be endlessly subjected to the

possibility of litigation. Finally, our stance goes no further

than that contemplated by the study group that Congress

commissioned. The Group foresaw that the “legislative balance

of the respective rights of potential plaintiffs and

defendants,” First United Methodist, 882 F.2d at 866, reflected

in statutes of repose might in this circumstance need to tip in

favor of plaintiffs: “The policy of repose expressed in the

statute of limitations may be outweighed by the policy of

affording the plaintiff a just opportunity to vindicate his

rights.” Superfund Section 301(e) Study Group, 97th Cong.,

Injuries and Damages from Hazardous Wastes-Analysis and

21
Improvement of Legal Remedies pt. 2, at 14 (Comm. Print 1982).

Accordingly, we reaffirm our conclusion that North Carolina’s

ten-year limitation on the accrual of actions is preempted by

§ 9658 of CERCLA. In so holding, we simply further Congress’s

intent that victims of toxic waste not be hindered in their

attempts to hold accountable those who have strewn such waste on

their land.

IV.

For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court’s

order and remand the case so that the litigation can proceed.

REVERSED AND REMANDED

22
DAVIS, Circuit Judge, concurring:

“Of course, determining whether a regulation or statute is

ambiguous presents a legal question, which we determine de

novo.” Humanoids Group v. Rogan, 375 F.3d 301, 306 (4th Cir.

2004). To say, as our good colleague says in dissent, that the

majority’s legal conclusion that § 9658 is ambiguous must be

“supported by the plain language of the statute itself,” post,

at 26, finds no support in Supreme Court or Fourth Circuit

authority. “Plain language” analysis does no such work. See

Watt v. Alaska, 451 U.S. 259, 266 (1981) (“[T]he plain-meaning

rule is rather an axiom of experience than a rule of law, and

does not preclude consideration of persuasive evidence if it

exists.”) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

Moreover, in any event, as the majority opinion makes clear,

“the meaning of statutory language, plain or not, depends on

context.” Holloway v. United States, 526 U.S. 1, 7 (1999)

(quotations omitted). Judge Floyd’s careful analysis is

faithful to this important, overarching principle, and I am

pleased to join his fine opinion in full.

23
THACKER, Circuit Judge, dissenting:

With all due respect to my friends in the majority, I must

dissent. The majority essentially concludes § 9658 preempts two

categories of state statutes: statutes of limitations and

statutes of repose. However, in my view the plain and

unambiguous language of § 9658 indicates only statutes of

limitations were intended to be preempted. Even if the

preemptive effect of § 9658 were susceptible to two

interpretations, a presumption against preemption would counsel

that we should limit § 9658’s preemptive reach to statutes of

limitations without also extending it to statutes of repose.

The relevant legislative history underscores this plain

reading of the statute, and a plain reading of § 9658 aligns

with general, deferential principles of legislative compromise

that counsel against a liberal reading of the statute.

Accordingly, I would affirm.

I.

Although this case arises in the context of federal

preemption, at its core, it is about statutory interpretation.

The key issue is whether the phrase “statute of limitations” as

used in the 1986 amendments to the Comprehensive Environmental

Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA”),

Act of Oct. 27, 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-499, 100 Stat. 1613 (“1986

24
Amendments”), and codified in 42 U.S.C. § 9658, preempts North

Carolina’s 10-year statute of repose.

A.

Plain Meaning

As in all matters of statutory interpretation, our starting

point is an analysis of the statutory text. Chris v. Tenet, 221

F.3d 648, 651 (4th Cir. 2000). We must begin by asking “whether

the language at issue has a plain and unambiguous meaning . . .

.” Robinson v. Shell Oil Co., 519 U.S. 337, 340 (1997). This

first step may also be our last: if the statutory language has a

plain and unambiguous meaning, “we must apply the statute

according to its terms.” Carcieri v. Salazar, 555 U.S. 379, 387

(2009).

In determining whether the language has a plain and

unambiguous meaning, “we consider the language itself, the

specific context in which that language is used, and the broader

context of the statute as a whole.” Johnson v. Zimmer, 686 F.3d

224, 232 (4th Cir. 2012) (internal quotation marks omitted). If

certain terms are undefined in the relevant statutory

provisions, they “are typically interpreted as taking their

ordinary, contemporary, common meaning.” Id. (internal

quotation marks omitted).

25
 1.

Language of Section 9658

CERCLA § 9658 governs actions under state law for damages

from exposure to hazardous substances, and provides that

generally, “the statute of limitations established under State

law shall apply . . . .” 42 U.S.C. § 9658(a)(2). But the

statute also provides the following exception to this general

rule:

[I]f the applicable limitations period for such action
(as specified in the State statute of limitations or
under common law) provides a commencement date which
is earlier than the federally required commencement
date, such period shall commence at the federally
required commencement date in lieu of the date
specified in such State statute.

Id. § 9658(a)(1). Of critical import here, the statute defines

the “applicable limitations period” as “the period specified in

a statute of limitations during which a civil action referred to

in subsection (a)(1) of this section may be brought.” Id.

§ 9658(b)(2) (emphasis supplied). Similarly, the statute

defines the state “commencement date” as “the date specified in

a statute of limitations as the beginning of the applicable

limitations period.” Id. § 9658(b)(3) (emphasis supplied). The

“federally required commencement date” provides an enhanced

version of the traditional discovery rule and is defined as “the

date the plaintiff knew (or reasonably should have known) that

the personal injury or property damages . . . were caused or

26
contributed by the hazardous substance . . . .” Id.

§ 9658(b)(4). 1 Thus, § 9658 will preempt state law where a state

statute of limitations begins to run before it would have run

under the federally required commencement date.

The key question then is whether the meaning of § 9658, by

its reference to “statute of limitations,” is plain and

unambiguous. The majority answers that question by concluding

that the phrase “statute of limitations” is ambiguous, and thus

encompasses both statutes of limitations and statutes of repose.

Ante at 16 (determining that “§ 9658’s text [is] capable of at

least two interpretations, preventing it from being

straightforwardly categorized as ‘plain and unambiguous.’”).

The majority’s conclusion, however, is not supported by the

plain language of the statute itself.

2.

Modern and Historical Context

The difficulty presented in this case springs from the

definitions of “statutes of limitations” and “statutes of

repose” in use today versus their historical understanding.

1
As opposed to a more traditional discovery rule that
requires simply knowledge of the injury, the “federally required
commencement date” requires both knowledge of the injury and its
cause. Therefore, this dissent at times uses the term “enhanced
discovery rule” to refer to the rule as expressed in the
definition of “federally required commencement date.”

27
 Today, we understand a statute of limitations, on the one

hand, to be “a procedural device that operates as a defense to

limit the remedy available from an existing cause of action.”

First United Methodist Church of Hyattsville v. U.S. Gypsum Co.,

882 F.2d 862, 865 (4th Cir. 1989); see also Black’s Law

Dictionary 1546 (9th ed. 2009) (defining statute of limitations

as “A law that bars claims after a specified period; specif., a

statute establishing a time limit for suing in a civil case,

based on the date when the claim accrued (as when the injury

occurred or was discovered).”). In other words, a statute of

limitations “extinguishes the right to prosecute an accrued

cause of action after a period of time.” Burlington N. & Santa

Fe Ry. Co. v. Poole Chem. Co., 419 F.3d 355, 363 (5th Cir. 2005)

(internal quotation marks omitted). Statutes of limitations

typically begin to run either on the date of the plaintiff’s

injury, or on the date the injury is first discovered or should

have been discovered with reasonable diligence. See id.

A statute of repose, on the other hand, “creates a

substantive right in those protected to be free from liability

after a legislatively-determined period of time.” First United

Methodist, 882 F.2d at 866; see also Black’s Law Dictionary 1546

(9th ed. 2009) (defining statute of repose as “[a] statute

barring any suit that is brought after a specified time since

the defendant acted (such as by designing or manufacturing a

28
product), even if this period ends before the plaintiff has

suffered a resulting injury.”). A statute of repose “abolishes

the cause of action after the passage of time even though the

cause of action may not have yet accrued.” Burlington, 419 F.3d

at 363 (internal quotation marks omitted). Statutes of repose

typically begin to run after “the occurrence of some event other

than the injury which gave rise to the claim[,]” McDonald v. Sun

Oil Co., 548 F.3d 774, 779 (9th Cir. 2008) (internal quotation

marks omitted), such as an act by a defendant or the manufacture

of a product, see Burlington, 419 F.3d at 363.

The motivations behind statutes of limitations and statutes

of repose are different as well. For example, “[s]tatutes of

limitations are motivated by considerations of fairness to

defendants and are intended to encourage prompt resolution of

disputes by providing a simple procedural mechanism to dispose

of stale claims.” First United Methodist, 882 F.2d at 866.

Thus, they can be equitably tolled where, for example, a

defendant fraudulently conceals a plaintiff’s injury. Id.

Statutes of repose are motivated by “considerations of the

economic best interests of the public as a whole” and reflect “a

legislative balance of the respective rights of potential

plaintiffs and defendants struck by determining a time limit

beyond which liability no longer exists.” Id. Thus, unlike

29
statutes of limitations, statutes of repose are substantive

grants of immunity from liability. Id.

But this clear distinction between statutes of limitations

and statutes of repose is of modern vintage. Historically, the

phrase “statute of repose” encompassed a broad range of time-bar

statutes that limited litigation, and “provided peace, or

‘repose,’ to potential litigants . . . .” Wenke v. Gehl Co.,

682 N.W.2d 405, 423 (Wis. 2004); see also id. (“Early treatise

writers and judges considered time bars created by statutes of

limitations, escheat and adverse possession as periods of

repose. As the courts began to modify statutory limitations by

applying the ‘discovery rule,’ legislatures responded by

enacting absolute statutes of repose.” (emphasis omitted)

(quoting Reynolds v. Porter, 760 P.2d 816, 819–20 (Okla.

1988))).

Indeed, the earliest reference to “statutes of repose” in

this circuit appears in Bartlett v. Ambrose, 78 F. 839, 842 (4th

Cir. 1897), in which we cited the Supreme Court’s language in

Pillow v. Roberts, 54 U.S. 472, 13 How. 477 (1851), proclaiming,

“[statutes of limitations] are statutes of repose, and should

not be evaded by a forced construction.”

Put simply, what we today would call statutes of

limitations were historically considered, along with other

statutory time-bars, to provide repose to litigants and were

30
thus, generally, statutes of repose. These overlapping

definitions, however, have evolved into the distinct definitions

we have today.

3.

“Statute of Limitations” in 1986

Using the dictionary definition of “statute of limitations”

available to Congress in 1986, it is clear that there is no

ambiguity as to the meaning of that term at the time § 9658 was

enacted. The Fifth Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary (the

“Fifth Edition”), the most recent edition available to Congress

in 1986 at the time CERCLA was amended to include § 9658, had

not yet adopted the separate, modern definitions for both

“statutes of limitations” and “statutes of repose,” but was

nonetheless in accord with our modern understanding where it

mattered.

The Fifth Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary defined

“statute of limitations” as follows:

A statute prescribing limitations to the right of
action on certain described causes of action or
criminal prosecutions; that is, declaring that no suit
shall be maintained on such causes of action, nor any
criminal charge be made, unless brought within a
specified period of time after the right accrued.
Statutes of limitation are statutes of repose, and are
such legislative enactments as prescribe the periods
within which actions may be brought upon certain
claims or within which certain rights may be enforced.
In criminal cases, however, a statute of limitation is
an act of grace, a surrendering by sovereign of its

31
 right to prosecute. Also sometimes referred to as
“statutes of repose.”

Black’s Law Dictionary 835 (5th ed. 1979). 2 This definition is

clearly restricted to time limitations that begin to run after

the right to bring the cause of action accrues, that is, after

the injury or its discovery, as opposed to after a pre-

determined period of time, regardless of whether the action

otherwise accrues. It, thus, confirms that statutes of

limitations were but a subset of statutes of repose and were

therefore “sometimes referred to as ‘statutes of repose.’” Id.

Notably, this definition does not adopt the inverse

proposition that all statutes of repose are also statutes of

limitation. Therefore, based on the definition available to

Congress at the time of the 1986 Amendments, it is clear that

Congress necessarily did not intend to include statutes of

repose as within the definition of “statutes of limitations.”

At the time of the enactment of § 9658 in 1986, then, the

only possible ambiguity may have been the meaning of “statute of

repose” and whether that term had fully matured into its modern

definition. But Congress chose not to include “statute of

2
As noted, we now define a statute of limitations as “[a]
law that bars claims after a specified period; specif., a
statute establishing a time limit for suing in a civil case,
based on the date when the claim accrued (as when the injury
occurred or was discovered).” Black’s Law Dictionary 1546 (9th
ed. 2009).

32
repose” in § 9658, and thus we need not trouble ourselves with

what Congress may have thought it meant. 3

B.

The North Carolina Statute

After discerning the plain meaning of § 9658, we must

decide whether that plain meaning preempts the application of

North Carolina General Statute § 1-52(16) to Appellants’ state

law claim. As explained, in 1986, statutes of limitations were

understood to be statutes that limited the right to maintain an

action based on when the injured party accrued the right. North

Carolina’s three-year statute of limitations is just such a

restriction and is preempted by § 9658. North Carolina’s 10-

year statute of repose is not; therefore, it survives beyond the

1986 Amendments.

North Carolina General Statute § 1-52(16) contains both a

statute of limitations and a statute of repose. The first

sentence of § 1-52(16) provides a three-year statute of

limitations for personal injuries and property damages based on

a traditional form of the discovery rule. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-

3
Indeed, the study group commissioned by Congress to
provide recommendations for the 1986 Amendments clearly
understood statutes of repose to be different and distinct from
statutes of limitations, as discussed infra, and other treatises
recognized the distinction at least as early as 1987. See
Black’s Law Dictionary 1546 (9th ed. 2009) (quoting 54 C.J.S.
Limitations of Actions § 4 (1987)).

33
52(16) (“Within three years an action . . . for personal injury

or physical damage to claimant’s property, the cause of

action . . . shall not accrue until bodily harm to the claimant

or physical damage to his property becomes apparent or ought

reasonably to have become apparent to the claimant, whichever

event first occurs.”).

Section 1-52(16) also clearly provides a substantive 10-

year statute of repose that declares “no cause of action shall

accrue more than 10 years from the last act or omission of the

defendant giving rise to the cause of action.” Id. § 1-52(16).

But only the three-year provision specifies a time period

to bring a cause of action after the right has accrued by

operation of the discovery rule. The 10-year provision

specifies a time restriction regardless of whether the right to

bring the cause of action could have otherwise accrued. Thus,

only the former three-year provision falls within the definition

of “statute of limitations” available to Congress in 1986. See

Black’s Law Dictionary 835 (5th ed. 1979) (defining “statute of

limitations” as “[a] statute . . . declaring that no suit shall

be maintained . . . unless brought within a specified period of

time after the right accrued”). Therefore, only the three-year

provision may be considered in order to determine North

Carolina’s “applicable limitations period.” See 42 U.S.C.

34
§ 9658(b)(2) (defining “applicable limitations period” as “the

period specified in a statute of limitations”).

Section 9658 preempts state law where state law does not

accord plaintiffs the benefit of the federally required

commencement date found in § 9658(b)(4). Because North

Carolina’s three-year provision imposes the earlier, traditional

discovery rule to commence the applicable limitations period,

and not the commencement date mandated by § 9658, § 9658

preempts North Carolina’s statute of limitations, but not its

statute of repose.

In contrast, although § 9658 is clearly applicable to

preempt the running of North Carolina’s statute of limitations,

any application to North Carolina’s statute of repose is

untenable. A simple attempt to map § 9658 onto the North

Carolina statute of repose illustrates the point. To trigger

§ 9658(a)(1), the state “commencement date” must be “earlier

than the federally required commencement date.” 42 U.S.C.

§ 9658(a)(1) (“[I]f the applicable limitations period for such

action (as specified in the State statute of limitations or

under common law) provides a commencement date which is earlier

than the federally required commencement date . . . .”).

Importantly, the commencement date is defined as the beginning

of the period in which a civil action may be brought. See id.

35
§ 9658(b)(2)–(3). 4 But the North Carolina statute of repose does

not provide a beginning or “commencement date” as that term is

defined. Rather, it provides an outer limit, after which no

cause of action may accrue. Because North Carolina’s statute of

repose does not create the beginning of the applicable

limitations period, § 9658 cannot graft neatly –– or at all ––

onto the North Carolina statute of repose so as to preempt its

enforcement.

C.

Legislative History

Given the plain meaning of the statute, we need not look to

legislative history. But, even if we did, the legislative

history of § 9658 also clearly supports the conclusion that

Congress was aware that statutes of limitations were a distinct

category of time-bar statutes and specifically chose only to

preempt those statutes and not other statutory time bars such as

statutes of repose.

As a part of the initial enactment of CERCLA in 1980,

Congress commissioned a study group of expert lawyers “to

determine the adequacy of existing common law and statutory

4
The North Carolina statute of limitations establishes the
beginning of that period as the point at which “bodily
harm . . . or physical damage . . . becomes apparent or ought
reasonably to have become apparent . . . .” N.C. Gen. Stat.
§ 1-52(16).

36
remedies in providing legal redress for harm to man and the

environment caused by the release of hazardous substances into

the environment . . . .” CERCLA, Pub. L. No. 96-510,

§ 301(e)(1), 94 Stat. 2767 (1980). The study group responded

with a detailed report and recommendations for improving

remedies under CERCLA. See Superfund Section 301(e) Study

Group, 97th Cong., Injuries and Damages from Hazardous Wastes––

Analysis and Improvement of Legal Remedies (Comm. Print 1982)

(the “301(e) Report”).

The 301(e) Report contained ten categories of

recommendations, the ninth of which included recommendations for

“Statutes of Limitations.” The 301(e) Report outlined the

rationale for implementing an enhanced discovery rule in CERCLA

actions, id. at 28–30, and provided its recommendation, id. at

240–41. The 301(e) Report’s recommendation with regard to

statutes of limitations, in its entirety, was as follows:

A small number of states still follow the so-
called traditional rule that the cause of action
accrues from the time of exposure. Another small
number of states has not as yet clearly adopted either
the traditional or the discovery rule. Since many of
the hazardous wastes are carcinogens, mutagens,
teratogens or substances with delayed impact on
different organs or the central nervous system, the
latency period for the appearance of injury or disease
is likely to be extended for thirty years or more. In
states that have not clearly adopted the discovery
rule (i.e., that the cause of action accrues from the
time the plaintiff discovered or reasonably should
have discovered the injury or disease) the cause of
action will usually be time barred when the plaintiff

37
 discovers his hurt. The Study Group recommends that
all states that have not already done so, clearly
adopt the rule that an action accrues when the
plaintiff discovers or should have discovered the
injury or disease and its cause. The Recommendation
is intended also to cover the repeal of the statutes
of repose which, in a number of states have the same
effect as some statutes of limitation in barring
plaintiff’s claim before he knows that he has one.

Id.

Two key takeaways can be culled from the 301(e) Report’s

recommendation: (1) an enhanced discovery rule should apply to

statutes of limitations; and (2) statutes of repose are separate

and distinct from statutes of limitations.

First, the 301(e) Report clearly informed Congress that an

enhanced discovery rule should apply to statutes of limitations

in all states for injuries caused by hazardous substances. In

essence, the 301(e) Report took the position that a plaintiff’s

statute of limitations should not begin to run until the

plaintiff both discovers or should have discovered the injury,

and realizes that his or her injury was caused by the hazardous

substance. 301(e) Report at 241 (“The Study Group recommends

that all states that have not already done so, clearly adopt the

rule that an action accrues when the plaintiff discovers or

should have discovered the injury or disease and its cause.”).

Congress agreed. In enacting § 9658, Congress implemented this

exact formulation of the discovery rule in its definition of the

38
“federally required commencement date.” 42 U.S.C. §

9658(b)(4)(A). 5

Second, the 301(e) Report put Congress on notice that

statutes of limitations are distinct time-bars, separate from

statutes of repose, even if they have the same effect. The

301(e) Report recommended to Congress not only that the

aforementioned enhanced discovery rule should be applied to

state statutes of limitations, but also recommended that state

statutes of repose be repealed. 301(e) Report at 241 (“The

Recommendation is intended also to cover the repeal of the

statutes of repose which, in a number of states have the same

effect as some statutes of limitation in barring plaintiff’s

claim before he knows that he has one.”). By the plain language

of § 9658, Congress disagreed.

Based on the 301(e) Report, Congress was clearly on notice

that statutes of repose, separate and distinct from statutes of

limitations, could prohibit recovery by certain plaintiffs, and

yet chose to leave § 9658 completely replete of any reference to

such statutes.

5
The “federally required commencement date” is defined, in
relevant part, as “the date the plaintiff knew (or reasonably
should have known) that the personal injury or property
damages . . . were caused or contributed to by the hazardous
substance or pollutant or contaminant concerned.” 42 U.S.C.
§ 9658(b)(4)(A).

39
 D.

Legislative Compromise

The majority notes that CERCLA is a remedial statute and

thus deserves broad construction to accomplish its objectives.

Ante at 17. This is true. But the plain meaning of the statute

and the role of legislative compromise restrain the application

of the remedial canon of statutory interpretation. See 3550

Stevens Creek Assocs. v. Barclays Bank of Cal., 915 F.2d 1355,

1363 (9th Cir. 1990) (noting that even if courts give CERCLA a

“broad interpretation to accomplish its remedial goals[,]”

courts must nonetheless “reject a construction that [CERCLA] on

its face does not permit, and the legislative history does not

support.”); Blake A. Watson, Liberal Construction of CERCLA

under the Remedial Purpose Canon: Have the Lower Courts Taken a

Good Thing too Far?, 20 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 199, 300–01 (1996)

(“It has been firmly established that the fact that a statute is

‘highly remedial in nature’ and ‘entitled to a liberal

construction’ nevertheless ‘does not justify ignoring plain

words of limitation.’”) (quoting MacEvoy Co. v. United States,

322 U.S. 102, 107 (1944)); id. at 301 (“[T]he remedial purpose

canon has diminished utility when the interpretive issue focuses

on provisions of CERCLA that are the product of compromise.

40
Such compromises can be found in both CERCLA’s text and its

enactment history.”). 6

In passing the 1986 Amendments, Congress did not arm toxic

tort plaintiffs with every possible advantage nor remove every

obstacle from their path to recovery. Rather, the 1986

Amendments reflected the process of legislative compromise

based, in part, on the 301(e) Report’s analysis and

recommendations. As mentioned, the 301(e) Report was

commissioned to evaluate existing statutory and common law

remedies for environmental harms caused by hazardous substances

and to provide corresponding recommendations. CERCLA, Pub. L.

No. 96-510, § 301(e)(1), (4), 94 Stat. 2767 (1980).

But Congress did not implement every recommendation

supplied by the 301(e) Report. In fact, quite to the contrary.

For example, in its “Ninth Recommendation,” the 301(e) Report

recommended a variety of changes to actions arising under state

law. 301(e) Report, 240–51. The 301(e) Report recommended

states adopt an enhanced discovery rule, id. at 241; repeal

statutes of repose, id.; adopt liberal joinder rules for

6
Even if CERCLA, as enacted in 1980, was the product of an
11th-hour compromise and, thus, also lends itself to a liberal
construction for that reason as the majority seems to imply,
ante at 4, 17–19, the provision at issue in this case, § 9658,
was passed years later in 1986 after careful study and
deliberation. The circumstances surrounding § 9658’s passage
certainly do not invite departure from its plain language.

41
plaintiffs, id. at 242; adopt a system of joint and several

liability with a de minimis exception, id. at 243; adopt liberal

joinder rules for defendants, id. at 244; implement their own

evidentiary presumptions, id. at 245; and adopt a theory of

strict liability for hazardous waste activities, id. at 245.

Congress could have drafted the 1986 Amendments to implement any

or all of the 301(e) Report’s recommendations by preempting

state law wherever it fell short of the 301(e) Report’s

recommendations. But the only revision affecting state law

Congress chose to implement in the section explicitly covering

state procedural reform was the enhanced discovery rule via the

federally required commencement date. See 1986 Amendments, Pub.

L. No. 99-499, § 203, 100 Stat. 1613 (1986). Notably, Congress

was given the opportunity to repeal statutes of repose, but

chose not to.

That § 9658 reaches state statutes of limitations but not

statutes of repose strikes a balance between harmonizing certain

procedural matters in toxic tort cases and allowing states to

continue to regulate their own substantive areas of law. It is

the prerogative of Congress to strike that balance. See Hanford

Downwinders Coalition, Inc. v. Dowdle, 71 F.3d 1469, 1484 (9th

Cir. 1995) (concluding that even when the application of a

CERCLA provision leads to “harsh results[,]” courts should not

disrupt Congress’s balancing of the interests involved).

42
 E.

Presumption Against Preemption

While at its most elemental this case concerns a matter of

statutory interpretation, that task arises in the context of

federal preemption. “Courts generally apply a presumption

against preemption in fields the states traditionally regulate.”

Nat’l City Bank of Ind. v. Turnbaugh, 463 F.3d 325, 330 (4th

Cir. 2006). Just as we presume “Congress does not cavalierly

pre-empt state-law causes of action[,]” Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr,

518 U.S. 470, 485 (1996), we should also presume that Congress

does not cavalierly preempt state substantive rights to be free

from those state-law causes of action. Even “[f]ederal laws

containing a preemption clause[,]” such as § 9658, “do not

automatically escape the presumption against preemption.” Id.

Rather, “[w]here the text of a preemption clause is open to more

than one plausible reading, courts ordinarily ‘accept the

reading that disfavors pre-emption.’” Id. at 335 (quoting Bates

v. Dow Agrosciences LLC, 544 U.S. 431, 449 (2005)).

Here, the ability of a state to create a substantive right

to be free from liability under its own state tort law is

unquestionably a traditional field of state regulation.

Therefore, the general presumption against preemption likewise

weighs against giving § 9658 overly broad preemptive effect.

See Barnes ex rel. Barnes v. Koppers, Inc., 534 F.3d 357, 363

43
(5th Cir. 2008) (discussing the preemptive effect of § 9658 and

noting that “[i]f the extent of Congress’s preemptive intent is

unclear, the presumption favors a finding of limited

preemption.”); see generally Marsh v. Rosenbloom, 499 F.3d 165,

178 (2d Cir. 2007) (concluding CERCLA did not preempt certain

Delaware statutes in part because arguments in favor of greater

monetary recovery “alone are insufficient to justify

displacement of state law”).

II.

CERCLA and the 1986 Amendments clearly put a thumb on the

scales in favor of assisting plaintiffs who may have suffered

injuries due to toxic substances. But where Congress by plain

and unambiguous language has indicated how much pressure it

wishes to apply in that regard, it is not the duty of this court

to press harder and shift that balance. Rather, it is the

prerogative of Congress to strike that legislative compromise.

In sum, because I believe the plain language of § 9658

preempts North Carolina’s statute of limitations, but not its

statute of repose, I would affirm the decision of the district

court.

44