Case Explained: HARRIS INVESTMENT HOLDINGS, LLC, a Georgia Limited Liability Company Plaintiff – v. BFJ OF USA, LLC; CHOUDRY BUTTAR, a North Carolina Resident; SHEHZAD QUAMAR, a North Carolina Resident; FAISAL M. YASIN, An Illinois Resident Defendants –

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-30 The fourth-circuit vacated the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants BFJ of USA, LLC and its members, and remanded the case for further proceedings. The court held that the district court erred in ruling that the CERCLA petroleum exclusion barred plaintiff Harris Investment Holdings’ claims as a matter of law. Under CERCLA, a defendant bears the burden of proving that released substances fall within the petroleum exclusion, which excludes unadulterated petroleum but not petroleum contaminated with non-petroleum hazardous substances. The appellate court determined that evidence of a leaking underground storage tank containing waste oil raised a genuine question of fact regarding whether the petroleum was contaminated with hazardous substances such as chromium, thereby preventing summary judgment on the CERCLA claims. Additionally, the court found that expert testimony establishing causation for state-law negligence, nuisance, and trespass claims survived summary judgment, noting that while the district court properly excluded certain late-disclosed portions of an expert declaration under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(c)(1), it should have reconsidered whether specific factual statements in that declaration constituted a proper supplementation under Rule 26(e)(1)(A). Consequently, the case is remanded for trial or further proceedings on both federal and state claims. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.