POLYONE CORPORATION v. WESTLAKE VINYLS, INC. - Articles

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POLYONE CORPORATION v. WESTLAKE VINYLS, INC.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 6, 2019

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1:

ARGUED: Josephine Mason Petrick, HANSON BRIDGETT LLP, San Francisco, California, for Appellant. David A. Super, BRACEWELL LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellee.

Attorneys 2:

ON BRIEF: Josephine K. Mason, Gary A. Watt, Davina Pujari, Lawrence M. Cirelli, Samir J. Abdelnour, HANSON BRIDGETT LLP, San Francisco, California, Brent R. Baughman, Mark S. Riddle, BINGHAM GREENEBAUM DOLL LLP, Louisville, Kentucky, for Appellant. David A. Super, BRACEWELL LLP, Washington, D.C., Samuel D. Hinkle IV, Adam T. Goebel, Angela S. Fetcher, STOLL KEENON OGDEN PLLC, Louisville, Kentucky, for Appellee.

Judge(s): GUY, THAPAR, and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges.

Court Appealed: Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky at Paducah.

NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. PolyOne Corporation and Westlake Vinyls have long disputed their share of the cleanup costs at a Superfund site in Kentucky. So the parties entered a settlement agreement (“Agreement”) in 2007. Though that Agreement did not end the conflict, it provides some structure to the parties’ recurring disputes about the cleanup costs. Under the Agreement, PolyOne must reimburse Westlake for 100% of “allocable costs,” and every five years, either party may demand arbitration to modify the amount or allocation of costs.

We withhold judgment on whether PolyOne has waived its ability to challenge the Agreement’s arbitration provisions for all time. But by demanding the 2017 arbitration that led to this litigation, PolyOne has waived its ability to obtain declaratory and injunctive relief—at least for that arbitration. We AFFIRM the district court’s dismissal of PolyOne’s complaint.

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