Environmental Cleanup and Recovery for Fraudulent Transfers

Clients faced with liability for legacy environmental harms must make a critical assessment of their exposure and the potential recovery from other parties. They have on their side the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (UFTA), which prevents debtors from transferring assets in an effort to frustrate creditors’ collection of debts, but they need to be aware in the very early stages of their evaluation that claims for fraudulent transfer have a short fuse. While a full-blown asset search on all potentially responsible parties is not necessary, clients should be mindful of facts and circumstances that may trigger their duty to investigate and discover potentially fraudulent transfers. The UFTA can be a powerful and effective tool, but only for those who act promptly to preserve their rights.