Environmental

The Firm has considerable expertise defending and prosecuting environmental cost recovery and contribution actions in state and federal courts nationwide. Our lawyers have served as counsel to PRPs and as common counsel to large PRP groups in Superfund actions, and have expertise negotiating and overseeing the implementation of investigation and remediation plans and settlements with federal and state agencies. Our lawyers have significant experience defending potentially responsible parties in cases brought under the Comprehensive Response Control and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and analogous state statutes. They are also skilled in counseling clients on insurance coverage issues in connection with environmental claims, in analyzing successor liability issues, in responding to federal and state agency requests for information, and in managing clients’ internal investigation efforts in responding to such requests.

Recent Successes

Representing an international chemical company in connection with neighboring landfill Superfund sites in Delaware;
Representing a pesticide wholesaler in a dispute with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation over the distribution of restricted use pesticides;
Representing a specialty chemical company in a putative class action in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Essex County) brought on behalf of homeowners alleging historical groundwater contamination;
Favorably resolving a $25M cost recovery action on behalf of a publicly traded petrochemical company involving 50-year old petroleum releases at a bulk storage terminal in New York State;

Representing service station owners and operators in claims related to the historic discharge of petroleum products from leaking underground storage tanks;
Representing a publicly traded chemical company against CERCLA, RCRA, and common law claims brought by property owners in the United Stated District Court for the Middle District of Florida;
Defending a national insurer in an environmental coverage action brought by a multi-national manufacturer seeking coverage and reimbursement of costs incurred in connection with the cleanup of various Superfund sites around the country;
Successfully resolving cost recovery claims against a publicly traded petrochemical company related to the historical discharge of gasoline from underground storage tanks located at the site;
Serving on the common counsel team to a PRP group involved in the investigation of one of the most contaminated urban waterways in the country;
Representing a group of PRPs in a 200-party allocation proceeding concerning a contaminated landfill site in New Jersey;
Representing a natural gas transporter in a dispute with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection concerning natural resource damages related to contaminated waterways and wetlands;
Representing a chemical company in a private allocation proceeding over remediation costs and natural resource damages in connection with contaminated waterways in Ohio and Michigan;
Counseling a chemical company on successor liability issues related to numerous sites around the country;
Investigating claims concerning contamination from abandoned drums at a chemical plant in South Carolina;
Favorably resolving claims on behalf of a manufacturing client in a multi-party allocation proceeding over a contaminated landfill in New Jersey;
Representing numerous parties in a cost recovery action related to a contaminated urban waterway in New Jersey;
Favorably resolving, on behalf of a natural gas transporter, stigma and property diminution claims arising out of alleged groundwater, soil contamination, and vapor intrusion issues from a pipeline release;
Representing manufacturer clients in connection with alleged contamination stemming from the disposal of transformers at a Superfund site in North Carolina; and
Favorably resolving claims on behalf of a manufacturer in an expedited allocation proceeding in connection with a Superfund disposal site in Massachusetts.