Tonkon Torp attorneys Owen Blank and Max Miller represented the buyer in a recent purchase of Portland area property that was previously the site of a gas station and had contaminated soil that presented potential liability and development risk issues.
While the seller held a contractual indemnity for the cost of cleanup from a major oil company, it was unclear whether the buyer would be directly protected under that indemnity. Because of the uncertainty about eventual cleanup costs, it would have been very difficult for the parties to accurately account for that risk as part of the purchase price. The Tonkon Torp team helped to negotiate a solution whereby the buyer and seller split the cost of a pollution liability insurance policy to cover cleanup costs not picked up by the indemnity. Without such an agreement, the sale would likely have not occurred.
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