On January 26, 1996, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey held that a donee of a contaminated property could not obtain reimbursement from the New Jersey Spill Fund for the cost of remediation because the donor knew or should have known of the contamination. In Marsh v. N.J. Spill Compensation Fund, the plaintiff's parents owned property that had been leased for use as a gasoline station for many years. In 1991, almost 20 years after the property had ceased being leased for that purpose, plaintiff received the contaminated property as a gift from her mother. The plaintiff then incurred over $40,000 in cleanup costs and, thereafter, made a claim against the New Jersey Spill Fund for reimbursement of those costs.
The Court found, as a policy matter, that, because the donor was clearly a responsible party, "[w]e will not interpret the Spill Act to permit a property owner who has profited by contaminating or permitting the contamination of property to obtain public financing for cleaning up the pollution by the expedient [sic] of making a gift of the property to her daughter or other close family member." The Court held further that "a donee's right to receive reimbursement from the Spill Fund is no greater than her donor would be entitled to."
Importantly, the Court refrained from expanding the definition of a "responsible" party under the Spill Act to include all donees of contaminated property.
