Environmental
Cox Castle Nicholson LLP has a comprehensive environmental law practice with the depth and breadth of experience necessary to help clients achieve creative, business-oriented solutions to complicated environmental problems. We specialize in assisting clients with environmental risk management strategies, transactional due diligence and negotiations, the regulatory processes attendant to site evaluation and remediation, and all aspects of brownfield redevelopment. We are experienced in a wide variety of environmental litigation, including cost recovery, administrative and criminal enforcement proceedings, insurance coverage, and Proposition 65 actions.
Our clients include purchasers, owners, developers, and managers of all types of real property; redevelopment agencies and other local government entities; lenders; and technology, chemical, and industrial companies.
Our Environmental attorneys focus on the following areas:
Evaluating potential liabilities associated with contaminated property and developing and implementing strategies to control and minimize such liabilities.
Negotiating and documenting environmental risk management provisions in emerging forms of first- and third-party insurance policies, loan documents, purchase and sale agreements, deed restrictions, operation and maintenance agreements, leases, construction contracts, abstracts of settlements, building rules and regulations, and tenant communications.
Obtaining funding for site investigations and cleanup through alternative sources such as California’s Underground Storage Tank Fund, the Cleanup Loans and Environmental Assistance to Neighborhoods (CLEAN) Program, the California Environmental Redevelopment Fund (CERF), the federal Brownfield Revitalization Act, and historical liability insurance policies.
Litigating a wide range of environmental issues before state and federal courts (including both trial and appellate matters) and through administrative enforcement proceedings before local, regional, state, and federal regulatory agencies, with particular emphasis on cost recovery and insurance coverage litigation associated with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Federal Tort Claims Act, the Polanco Redevelopment Act, the Hazardous Substances Account Act, the Porter-Cologne Act, and common law doctrines such as nuisance, trespass, negligence, and strict liability.
Counseling clients in connection with cleanup plans, environmental audits, and disclosure requirements under state and federal Right-to-Know laws, including California’s Proposition 65.
Transactional Counseling
Environmental Risk Management, Due Diligence, and Insurance. Our attorneys provide practical advice in the management of environmental risks through “due diligence” counseling in connection with real estate, banking, and corporate transactions, including advice on compliance with state property transfer laws and the use of environmental insurance products. We are experienced in drafting and negotiating the critical environmental provisions of purchase, sale, and loan agreements in both asset and entity transactions. Our environmental lawyers also assist clients in developing comprehensive risk management strategies for specific corporate and real estate transactions and as part of general management strategies. We have extensive experience in evaluating and obtaining environmental insurance policies necessary to mitigate the risk of potential environmental claims. Additionally, we are keenly familiar with the shortcomings of many of the standard environmental insurance policies and have drafted new policy language and endorsements to secure better coverage for our clients.
Brownfield Redevelopment. We have developed a preeminent brownfield redevelopment practice. Our attorneys have handled numerous complex projects before the Regional Water Quality Control Boards (RWQCBs), the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and numerous other local, state, and federal agencies. Our attorneys have developed relationships with regulatory authorities cultivated over many years to help clients navigate the regulatory processes and achieve solutions that are cost-effective and consistent with their development objectives. We have counseled numerous clients in connection with remedial investigations, feasibility studies, remedial action plans, and a wide spectrum of administrative cleanup orders. Because we have worked with leading consultants on sites involving human and ecological risks, soil contamination, groundwater contamination, and a wide variety of chemical impacts, we are able to provide realistic and practical advice across a broad spectrum of sites. We also assist clients with obtaining financing for cleanups, regulatory closure, statutory immunities, and insuring against residual risks. Through various professional and trade organizations our attorneys play leading roles in developing innovative approaches to the challenges posed by brownfield redevelopment.
Development and Land Use Projects. Our environmental attorneys work closely with the Firm's land use attorneys to help clients obtain the complex set of permits and other governmental entitlements required for new residential, industrial, and public infrastructure projects.
Litigation
Governmental and Private Cost Recovery Litigation. We routinely represent landowners and companies that may be potentially responsible for remediating environmental contamination under CERCLA, RCRA, and other federal and state laws. We have defended owners and operators, waste generators, transporters, and lenders in state and federal Superfund proceedings, cost recovery actions, and environmental cleanups involving contamination from manufacturing facilities, hazardous waste storage and disposal facilities, shopping centers, and other commercial properties. We also routinely represent parties seeking to recover cleanup costs, interest, and attorneys' fees from responsible parties and insurance companies. We litigate in state and federal court at both the trial and appellate level and have extensive experience in mediation, arbitration, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
Proposition 65 and Other “Right-To-Know” Laws. We regularly advise clients on numerous compliance issues and enforcement matters involving California’s Proposition 65. We have significant experience defending clients in Proposition 65 litigation, including claims arising from secondhand smoke exposure, auto emissions in parking garages, and the presence of lead in various consumer products. We also counsel clients on requirements under the Emergency Planning and Community Right To Know Act (EPCRA); the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA); and other federal and state laws concerning the disclosure or warnings required in the use or presence of hazardous materials.
Insurance Coverage Advice and Litigation. We provide insurance coverage advice and participate in insurance litigation in connection with remediation and toxic tort matters. Our attorneys have aggressively pursued and obtained insurance coverage for defense costs, remedial expenses, and other damages incurred by our clients in environmental matters. We are well versed in all of the principal coverage issues that arise under Comprehensive General Liability (CGL) primary and excess policies and environmental insurance policies.
Toxic Mold Litigation. Our environmental attorneys have defended numerous clients in litigation arising from the presence of allegedly toxic molds. To minimize the risk of such claims, we have counseled clients on mold screening procedures that can be incorporated into the due diligence process. We have also addressed the treatment of mold-related claims under various insurance products.
Regulatory Compliance Counseling
Air Quality Regulation. Our extensive experience with air quality issues encompasses both the federal Clean Air Act and state and local air quality laws and includes legislative and regulatory services, compliance counseling, and enforcement proceedings. We often represent clients in hearings to establish emissions limitations, assist in obtaining air quality permits, and provide advice on new-source review, emissions trading, and toxic air contaminant issues. We also defend clients in the context of Notices of Violation and other enforcement or civil penalty actions alleging violations of air quality regulations.
Water Quality Regulation. We have handled numerous matters arising under the Clean Water Act, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act, and other water quality laws and advise clients in connection with permitting requirements under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), pretreatment requirements, and stormwater regulations. Additionally, we frequently represent clients in administrative proceedings relating to waste discharge requirements for groundwater extraction and reclamation systems, and hearings before the Regional Water Quality Control Boards and the State Water Resources Control Board.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Regulation. Our clients often have concerns about a variety of OSHA matters. We are frequently consulted concerning obligations under the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard and the Asbestos Standard for General Industry. Our attorneys work with clients affected by OSHA rules on workplace health standards and have handled a variety of OSHA compliance and enforcement proceedings.
Solid and Hazardous Waste Regulation Compliance. We have substantial expertise in the siting and permitting of RCRA solid and hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities under RCRA and related state laws. Our practice includes defending civil penalty actions for alleged violations of permit requirements and of state and federal hazardous waste control laws, advising clients on a wide variety of complex waste characterization issues (such as the RCRA status of materials that are recycled or reused), advising clients who conduct hazardous material audits, and evaluating real estate development contiguous to inactive landfills.
Environmental Criminal Matters. Because federal and state authorities increasingly are turning to criminal sanctions as an enforcement tool, many clients seek our advice concerning the avoidance of criminal penalties in business operations, including pitfalls presented by the California Corporate Criminal Liability Act.
