Despite its limitations, most commercial and industrial property transactions rely on the Bona Fide Purchaser Defense (BFPD) to CERCLA as the principal means of protecting new owners from environmental liability. While EPA has adopted the “All Appropriate Inquiry” (AAI Rule) to provide some clarity to the steps necessary to qualify for the defense, there is still aspects of the AAI Rule that are open to interpretation. Therefore, court rulings on applicability of the BFPD can be very instructive to practitioners, developers and property owners. There have been very few court rulings interpreting application of the BFPD to CERCLA liability. The most notable prior ruling, PCS Nitrogen Inc. v. Ashley II of Charleston, limited the BFPD based on the defendant’s failure to establish certain required elements of the defense. In a decision issued last month, Von Duprin LLC v. Moran Elec. Serv., Inc., No. 116CV01942TWPDML, 2019 WL 535752…
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