No obligation for the appellant to bear the costs of investigating a contaminated site

Facts

The appellant, company B.A. AG, was obligated by the Office of Environment of the Canton of Thurgau to cover 17% of the investigation costs for a contaminated site in Salmsach. B.A. AG filed an appeal against this decision, which was rejected by the Department of Construction and Environment of the Canton of Thurgau and subsequently by the Administrative Court of the Canton of Thurgau.

B.A. AG then filed a public law appeal with the Federal Supreme Court. The contaminated site had been included in the suspected site plan since 1992 and was entered in the cantonal register of contaminated sites in 2012. The investigations revealed that the site required remediation with regard to the protection of the soil.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court upheld the appeal of B.A. AG and overturned the contested decision. It concluded that B.A. AG cannot be obligated to bear the costs of investigating the contaminated site.

While the Federal Supreme Court confirmed that in the case of a business takeover pursuant to former Art. 181 CO, the liability for costs of the causal party can be transferred to the legal successor, there must have been a legal basis for the liability at the time of the takeover. This…