El Paso Natural Gas Company LLC v. United States of America et al

Filing 223

ORDER - The parties' joint motion to clarify or amend the order and judgment (Doc. 221 ) is granted. The Court's Order filed April 16, 2019 (Doc. 217 ), is amended by the Court. The Clerk of Court is directed to amend the judgment in this case (Doc. 218 ) as set forth in this order. See document for complete details. Signed by Senior Judge David G Campbell on 5/16/2019. (RMV)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

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El Paso Natural Gas Company, LLC,

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Plaintiff,

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v.

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No. CV14-8165-PCT-DGC
ORDER GRANTING JOINT
MOTION TO CLARIFY OR AMEND
THE ORDER AND JUDGMENT

United States of America, et al.,

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Defendants.

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Upon review of Plaintiff El Paso Natural Gas Company, LLC’s (“El Paso”) and

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Defendant United States of America’s joint motion to clarify or amend the Order and

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Judgment (Doc. 221), the Court hereby finds that there is good cause to amend the Court’s

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decision regarding the 42 U.S.C. § 9607(n) defense and the corresponding provision in

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Judgment. Specifically, the 5% share that the Court allocated to the United States on the

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basis of CERCLA “owner” liability need not be satisfied out of tribal trust assets.

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Accordingly, the order (Doc. 217) is hereby amended to include the following

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footnote at the conclusion of the discussion in “Section IV. Application of § 107(n)” at

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page 52 of ECF No. 217:

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“After this decision, the Parties filed a joint motion to clarify or amend

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the order and judgment pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 59

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and 60 to address the Court’s application of the CERCLA § 107(n)

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defense. As set forth in the Parties’ joint motion, the United States’

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position is that no tribal trust assets may be used to pay the judgment in

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this case, and El Paso disagreed with the § 107(n) ruling for different

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reasons. It is not necessary to resolve those issues, however, as the Court

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has granted the Parties’ joint request to amend the judgment so the 5%

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share allocated to the United States on the basis of CERCLA “owner”

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liability will be paid by the United States, but need not be paid out of any

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tribal trust assets.”

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IT IS ORDERED:

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The parties’ joint motion to clarify or amend the order and judgment

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(Doc. 221) is granted. The Court’s Order filed April 16, 2019 (Doc. 217), is amended by

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the Court.

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2.

The Clerk of Court is directed to amend the judgment in this case (Doc. 218)

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to read as follows: With respect to El Paso’s claim for response costs of $1,393,448

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through August 2016, and $502,500 paid to the United States, 65% of the liability for these

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costs is allocated to El Paso and 35% to the United States. The United States shall

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reimburse El Paso for 35% of these costs, or $663,581.80.

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With respect to other response costs incurred to date and future response costs, 65%
of the liability for these costs is allocated to El Paso and 35% to the United States.
Dated this 16th day of May, 2019.

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