## Facts

- CTS Corporation operated an electronics manufacturing facility in North Carolina from 1959 to 1985 and stored hazardous solvents on the site.
- In 1987, CTS sold the property, representing it was environmentally safe.
- In 2009, current and neighboring landowners discovered groundwater contamination affecting well water.
- In 2011, the landowners filed state-law tort claims (including nuisance) in federal court seeking damages and injunctive relief.
- CTS asserted North Carolina’s 10-year statute of repose for real-property actions, measured from CTS’s last act (the 1987 sale), as a complete time bar.
- The landowners argued that CERCLA § 9658 preempted the state repose period by requiring a discovery-based commencement date.

## Issues

1. Whether CERCLA § 9658, which imposes a federally required discovery rule for certain state-law actions, preempts state statutes of repose in addition to state statutes of limitations.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the Fourth Circuit, holding that CERCLA § 9658 does not preempt state statutes of repose.
- Because North Carolina’s 10-year statute of repose ran from CTS’s last culpable act in 1987, the landowners’ 2011 claims were barred.
- The district court’s dismissal was effectively reinstated.

## Legal Principles

- Statutes of limitations and statutes of repose are distinct: limitations periods generally run from claim accrual, while repose periods run from the defendant’s last culpable act and are not subject to equitable tolling.
- CERCLA § 9658 repeatedly refers to “statutes of limitations” and defines the “applicable limitations period” in limitations terms; it does not mention statutes of repose.
- When Congress creates a limited preemption “exception,” courts will not extend it beyond the statutory text to cover additional state-law time bars absent clear language.
- A general remedial purpose cannot override a statute’s specific language where Congress chose not to include statutes of repose within the preemption provision.

## Conclusion

CERCLA § 9658 modifies state statutes of limitations by substituting a discovery-based commencement date, but it does not displace state statutes of repose; therefore, North Carolina’s 10-year repose period barred the landowners’ toxic-contamination tort claims filed more than 10 years after CTS’s last act.


CTS Corp. v. Waldburger, 573 U.S. 1 (2014)