The Bankrupt Company's Environmental Tort Liability

This paper discussed the environmental liability of a bankruptcy corporation in tortlaw. The natural resources have been seriously destroyed as the rapid development ofindustry. Many corporations attempt to escape from environmental liability throughbankruptcy procedure and the society has to pay for the cost. The environment cannotbe protected effectively as the market price does not reflect the rareness of naturalresources. In China, the bankruptcy law and the environmental law do not regulatethis issue, neither does the academic field discussed this problems. Legislature overthe environmental liability of a bankruptcy corporation now has become an urgentneed. There are two basic scenarios involving this issue: one is how to deal with anenvironmental claim in the corporate bankruptcy proceeding. Is it necessary to treat itas priority claim? The second is how a bankruptcy corporation taking theenvironmental liability after liquidation? The writer compared the American law andcases with those of Chinese and put forward some legislative suggestions on thisissue.