Joint liability

In the event that the evidence warrants it, the imposition of joint liability on the trade association and its members should in no way be interpreted as punishment for the establishment of industry-wide institutions. Such liability would represent rather the laws s traditional function of reviewing the risk and cost decisions inherent in industry-wide safety practices, whether organized or unorganized. 

The most common of the organizations operating in today s industrial scene is the joint stock company with limited liability. In different countries there exist variants of this format, but there is a wide spread of organizations based upon broadly similar principles. 

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Aet (CERCLA) [42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq ], as amended by the Superflind Amendments and Reauthorization Aet (SARA) [Pub. L. 99-499], requires that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) develop jointly with the US. Enviromnental Protection Agency (EPA), in order of priority, a list of hazardous substances most commonly found at facilities on the CERCLA National Priorities List (NPL) prepare toxicological profiles for each substance included on the priority list of hazardous substances and assure the initiation of a research program to fill identified data needs associated with the substances. 

The darker side to this issue concerns malpractice. Malpractice claims against nonmedical practitioners of alternative medicine are generally low (Studdert et ai. 1998). Although referring a patient to another physician does not generally expose a physician to liability for malpractice, there are exceptions when the referral is negligent or when there is joint treatment. Therefore, referrals to alternative medicine can potentially carry risk. 

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) requires the EPA to "clean up" chemical disposal sites. The cleanup funds are raised through a combination of tort suits against companies that have had some connection with either the disposal site or the chemicals (joint-and-several strict liability) and taxes on petroleum production, hazardous-waste facilities, and chemical products. When judgments go against landowners, trucking firms, container corporations, or other firms less directly connected with the site, the defendants ask their insurance companies to pay these judgments. Courts, then, must decide whether liability insurance contracts cover such claims. 

Under CERCLA and similar state hazardous waste laws, liability for contamination at a site is strict, joint and several, as well as retroactive. Anyone who was ever involved with the site—generators of hazardous substances, transporters of materials to or from the site, and any past or present owner—can all be held liable for the costs of cleanup. A fear of perpetual liability kept many private buyers, developers, lenders, and potential future owners of contaminated properties from investing in brownfields sites. 

Consultations with other practitioners should be scheduled and documented in the same manner as referrals. Consultation creates a joint venture in which liability for negligence may be shared. For this reason consultants should be selected with due care. Patients records should contain any correspondence to consultants, the consultants written recommendations, and accounts of the action taken based on consultants findings. 

Joint and several liability is defined as any one PRP is potentially liable for all costs of the cleanup no matter how much of the total contamination is directly due to their disposal activities. 

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