In United States, et al. v. NCR Corp., et al., case number 1:10-cv-00910, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, U.S. District Judge William Griesbach has rejected the government's renewed attempt to bring Appleton Papers, Inc. into the Lower Fox River Superfund Site cleanup, even after the Court's prior ruling that Appleton was not a liable party.
The U.S. wants Appleton and a few other PRPs to fund ongoing cleanup operations of the PCB-contaminated Lower Fox River in Wisconsin. Appleton holds a majority share in the LLC with NCR, a liable PRP, that is handling cleanup operations, giving Appleton control over cleanup to a certain extent. The U.S. asked the Court to revoke Appleton's shares in the LLC and grant NCR a proxy to vote the shares. This action would allow the Court to order NCR to move forward with cleanup efforts.
Judge Griesbach concluded that such relief was impossible. While the U.S. characterized the relief sought as ancillary and minor, the Court did not agree. The Court was unwilling to order Appleton to cede complete control of the NCR enterprise and concluded it simply did not have the authority to do so. In denying the U.S. request for preliminary injunction, Judge Griesbach concluded "I am not persuaded that I have the authority to order a non-liable party to give up the right to vote shares in a company over its objection."
In its filing, Appleton noted that "… the United States seeks to do through the back door what it could not do through the front door, i.e., force the company to comply with its proposed injunction, the very act that the Court said would be improper."