On October 14, 2025, the Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari by plaintiffs in Georgia-Pacific Consumer Prods. LP, et al. v. NCR Corp., leaving in place the May 12, 2025 Sixth Circuit decision finding that a party previously found liable under CERCLA Section 107 is not entitled to declaratory relief for future cleanup costs under Section 107, and instead must seek contribution under Section 113.

The decision involves a Superfund site consisting of a thirty-five-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River in southwest Michigan. In 1998, the district court found Georgia-Pacific liable for PCB contamination at the site, and, in a previous appeal, the Sixth Circuit had held that Georgia-Pacific’s claims against International Paper and Weyerhaeuser for contribution under CERCLA Section 113(f) were time-barred. The Sixth Circuit found that, after Georgia-Pacific was found liable under CERCLA Section 107 in 1998, all of Georgia-Pacific’s costs within the scope of that judgment were recoverable only by way of a contribution claim pursuant to CERCLA Section 113(f) and the fact that “Georgia-Pacific cannot proceed with a § 107(a) claim means it cannot obtain declaratory relief under that claim either.” This ruling was consistent with the rulings of the other circuit courts that have ruled on this issue. The Sixth Circuit decision can be found here.