Title. Phillip and Genevieve Carboy owned and operated Gold Hill Service Station in Fairbanks, Alaska. Gold Hill maintained underground storage tanks on its property to hold gasoline. When Gold Hill needed more fuel, Phillip placed an order with Petroleum Sales, Inc, which delivered the gasoline by filling the tanks. Gold Hill and Petroleum Sales were separately owned companies. Petroleum Sales did not oversee or operate Gold Hill and did not construct, install, or maintain the station's tanks, and Gold Hill did not tell Petroleum Sales's personnel how to fill the tanks. Parks Hiway Enterprises, LLC, owned the land next to Gold Hill. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation determined that benzene had contaminated the groundwater under Parks Hiway's property and identified the gasoline in Gold Hill's tanks as the probable source. Gold Hill promptly removed the tanks, but because of the contamination, Parks Hiway stopped drawing drinking water from its well. Parks Hiway filed a suit in an Alaska state court against Petroleum Sales, among others. Should the court hold the defendant liable for the pollution? Who had title to the gasoline when it contaminated the water? Explain.
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