In the case of Louisiana v. Braselman Corporation, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana was presented with the question of when the period commences for the determination of the statute of limitations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act ("CERCLA"). The defendant signed a tolling agreement on December 8, 1995, which provided that if the statute of limitations had not run by that date, the limitation period would be tolled. Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company argued that the statute of limitations had run by that date because EPA had started the remediation of the Bayou Bonfouca Superfund Site by October 1989 or earlier. The statute requires that a suit for recovery of costs for a remedial action must be filed "within six years after the initiation of physical on-site construction of the remedial action." The railroad company argued that the installation of monitoring wells and of a groundwater extraction and treatment system constituted the beginning of construction of the remedial action. The court found, however, that the beginning of construction did not occur until early 1990. The monitoring wells were used as part of the investigation and design phases of the project. According to the court, 'construction' excludes preliminary and tentative activities that are related to the remedial action. . . Accordingly, neither the monitoring of the wells nor the pilot study were part of the 'construction.' "
The railroad also argued that it was not an owner as defined under CERCLA and therefore not a responsible party. It claimed that it only owned the railroad track on the site and not any of the property itself. The court, however, found that the definition of "facility" under the statute would include the track and therefore the railroad was an owner and a responsible party.