(September 21, 2015, 10:37 AM EDT) -- PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A federal judge in Rhode Island on Sept. 17 concluded at the end of the first phase of a trifurcated trial that Emhart Industries Inc. is jointly and severally liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for contamination at the Centredale Manor Superfund site in North Providence, R.I., and that the company is liable as an operator for the purposes of the government’s cost recovery claim under the statute, but deferred ruling on whether the plaintiff company failed to comply with a CERCLA cleanup order (Emhart Industries Inc. v. New England Container Corporation, et al., Nos. 06-218, 11-023, D. R.I.; 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125293)....