BLACK HORSE LANE ASSOC., L.P., a New Jersey limited partnership; UNITED STATES LAND RESOURCES, L.P., a New Jersey limited partnership; UNITED STATES REALTY RESOURCES, INC., a New Jersey Corporation; and LAWRENCE S. BERGER v. DOW CHEMICAL CORPORATION; ESSEX CHEMICAL CORPORATION, a wholly owned subsidiary of DOW CHEMICAL CORPORATION, a Michigan Corporation; Black Horse Lane Associates, L.P., United States Land Resources, L.P., United States Realty Resources, Inc. and Lawrence S. Berger, Appellants, 228 F.3d 275

Summary

The plaintiffs sought judicial relief on the basis that the defendants had breached a sales contract by failing to detoxify environmentally distressed property within a reasonable time after conveying the property to the plaintiffs. Affirming the trial court, the appellate court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient evidence that the length of time that the defendants had taken to detoxify the property was unreasonable under the circumstances or breached contractual duties of good faith and fair dealing. Consulting fees the plaintiffs had expended in preparing for litigation were not recoverable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C.S. § 9601 et seq., or a state act. The trial court properly imposed discovery sanctions against the plaintiffs for producing an unprepared witness for deposition, which was tantamount to a failure to appear under Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(d), and properly dismissed a counterclaim without ...