(September 16, 2020, 8:10 AM EDT) -- SEATTLE — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 14 vacated in part a ruling by a federal judge in Montana ordering Atlantic Richfield Co. LLC to pay 25 percent of a $111.4 million settlement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the former owner and operator of a lead smelting facility, finding that the full amount of the settlement is not automatically subject to contribution under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (ASARCO LLC v. Atlantic Richfield Co. LLC, et al., No. 18-35934, 9th Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 29048)....