The letter came one day after loopholes in the law were outlined in a Daily News story about how some pop-ups in the city operate. By having multiple catering permits and partner bars, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's pop-up on South Street, for example, is able to stay open for 10 hours every day during the summer.but it contended that its bankruptcy erased that liability, even though that bankruptcy ended before Washington state passed the law that created the cleanup responsibility. As Georgetown Law professor Adam Levitin summed up the controversy:

In the 1970s, a railroad company, the “Milwaukee Road,” filed for bankruptcy. As part of that bankruptcy, Union Pacific purchased a rail yard in Washington State from the debtor. The purchase included an indemnification for environmental liability. The company that subsequently emerged from bankruptcy was called CMC Heartland.

A decade after the sale (and well after the conclusion of the bankruptcy), Washington State passed a new environmental law that required a cleanup of the rail yard. Union Pacific paid for the cleanup, but sought to have CMC Heartland—the reorganized debtor—foot the bill based on the