United States v. General Battery Corporation, Inc., Exide Corporation Exide Corporation

SCIRICA, Chief Judge.

This appeal addresses successor liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq., for environmental response costs incurred by the United States at a lead-contaminated Superfund site. The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of the United States on a “de facto merger” theory of successor liability. We will affirm.

I

The matter begins with a now defunct company, Price Battery Corporation. From the 1930s through 1966, Price Battery manufactured lead acid batteries at a plant in…