Representative Matters

Environmental Cost Recovery Representative Matters

  • Representation of a paper company at the Lower Fox River and Green Bay Superfund Site, a PCB “Mega Site” in Wisconsin.  This matter included several trials, including presentation of expert witnesses on topics ranging from industry-specific PCB release pathways to fate and transport and cost allocation to human health and environmental impacts of PCBs. 
  • Representation of a metal casting company in cost-recovery litigation concerning extensive PCB contamination in Anniston, Alabama, where the Monsanto Chemical Company manufactured PCBs.  We successfully resolved the matter with a summary judgment determination that our client had no liability for the contamination.
  • Representation of the owner of a former scrapyard, the General Waste site in Evansville, Indiana, and the subsequent remediation trust to recover costs from the parties who generated and arranged for disposal of the PCB-containing waste at the site.  Resolution of this matter required presentation of expert testimony on liability allocation based on spatial distribution of different PCB Aroclors at the site.  We successfully negotiated settlement of the cost recovery claims after motions practice and expert disclosures.
  • Representation of a former waste oil recycler regarding PCB and other contamination at the Breslube Penn NPL Superfund site outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The representation included successful settlement of EPA enforcement claims, as well as subsequent insurance recovery.
  • Representation of a New York City mortgage holder seeking to redevelop industrial property that had been contaminated by a waste oil recycling facility.  We sought cleanup and response costs under CERCLA, RCRA, and common law.  Resolution of this matter required identification and pursuit of numerous generators of the waste oil disposed at the site.  The property was entered into the New York Brownfields Cleanup Program.
  • Representation of the owner of a property in Long Island City, New York that was contaminated with several feet of waste oil on top of the groundwater utilizing cost recovery claims under CERCLA, RCRA, and state laws.  This case involved complex settlement negotiations with over fifty parties, including numerous Fortune 50 companies, which were successfully concluded after motions were decided in our client’s favor.
  • Representation of an oil refinery in Yorktown, Virginia, including cost recovery claims against a prior owner under the sales agreement, and defense of claims for cost recovery and damages associated with the gasoline additive MTBE in the multi-district litigation in the Southern District of New York, and ongoing litigation of claims brought by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  We were lead counsel in litigation against the former owner to assign responsibility for remediation of historical contamination at the refinery.
  • Representation of a current property owner in a CERCLA cost recovery case against a dissolved Delaware corporation that operated an industrial dry cleaner in the Sacramento area in the 1970s and early 1980s. We established on summary judgment that the dissolved corporation had all of the CERCLA liability of the operator by virtue of the mergers and established that the liability insurance of the prior operator applies as a matter of California law to the dissolved corporation.
  • Representation of owners of an oil production facility in Southern California facing environmental claims under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) brought by state and federal agencies following an oil spill into local surface waters. After the insurer initially refused to provide coverage for the Governments’ claims, we successfully obtained payment of costs incurred by the client to respond to the claims. 
  • Representation of a former dry cleaning property owner in Fairfield, California in complex litigation involving a commingled plume resulting from releases of VOCs from at least three separate contributing sources. We defended the client in the litigation, pursued a fixed-cost proposal for addressing all of the contamination in the commingled plume and resolved the litigation by obtaining a settlement fully funded by the parties’ insurers.
  • Representation of a local business facing tens of millions of dollars in exposure in two separate regional groundwater plumes contaminated by VOCs in Chico, CA. We defended the environmental claims against the client and supervised the site investigation and remedy selection work. Our client was able to reach a global settlement for each plume and we were able to persuade the client's liability insurers to pay for the defense and settlement of the claims.

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