Environmental Affairs in Bankruptcy: 2004

Authors

Michael G. Hillinger, University of Massachusetts School of Law - DartmouthFollow
Ingrid Michelsen Hillinger

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2004

Abstract

During the 1930s, it was said that Germany’s situation was serious but not hopeless whereas Austria’s situation was hopeless but not serious. The present treatment of environmental obligations in bankruptcy is serious and hopeless. It is treatment of environmental obligations in bankruptcy is serious and hopeless. It is not possible to treat all claims equitably and to give environmental claims special preference. It is not possible to give debtors a fresh start and make them pay for cleanups. The goals of bankruptcy conflict with the goals of environmental law, in particular, CERCLA. For years now, courts have noted the tension and its inevitable by-product, confusion. Courts and commentators have called on Congress or the Supreme Court to establish which should prevail. The silence has been deafening. Courts have had to do the best they could under difficult circumstances.

Comments

Originally published by the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review in 2004.

Recommended Citation

Michael G. Hillinger & Ingrid Michelsen Hillinger, Environmental Affairs in Bankruptcy: 2004, 12 Am. Bankr. Inst. L. Rev. 331 (2004).