The ELA Statute of Limitations: A Legislative Response to Cooper Industries

By Seth Thomas, Ice Miller LLP
As first appeared in the April 2014 Res Gestae

In the past several years, the Indiana legislature, like many other states, enacted statutory causes of action to address the recovery of environmental costs. One statute, Ind. Code § 13-23-13, the Underground Storage Tank Act ("USTA"), was enacted in 1987 and then amended in 1991. The USTA permits parties to clean up sites voluntarily and then seek reimbursement of the cost of a corrective action.[i] After the 1991 amendment, the USTA permits a contribution action regardless whether the third party was "solely liable for the contamination."[ii] The USTA, however, only addresses contamination caused by underground storage tanks; thus it is limited in its applicability.

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