Ivory v. International Business Machines Corp.

OPINION OF THE COURT

McCarthy, J.

Defendant owned a machine manufacturing facility in the Village of Endicott, Broome County between 1924 and 2002. From 1935 through the mid-1980s, defendant used the chemical trichloroethylene (hereinafter TCE) to clean metal parts in degreasers and in the production of circuit cards and boards. In 1979, defendant discovered that solvents, including TCE, had pooled in the groundwater beneath the facility and the contaminated groundwater appeared to be migrating. Defendant began remedial efforts, which have been ongoing. In 2002, defendant began investigating…