Contract and Common Law Claims

Many environmental claims turn on complex contractual relationships and evolving common law.  Many of our litigation attorneys joined the firm after practicing in large law firms, and have brought to the firm a wealth of general litigation experience which continues to form the foundation of our approach to these cases.  Because our firm represents numerous clients in the purchase, sale and development of environmentally-impaired properties, we have an appreciation for the purpose and effect of the underlying transactions.  As a result, we are well-suited to assert and defend these types of claims, whether or not they involve contractual provisions expressly addressing environmental liability or pre-dating existing environmental laws, new theories of liability, or industry-specific business practices.    

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Our experience with contracts and common law includes:

• Defending subsidiaries of Tenneco, Inc. as both trial and appellate counsel in action brought by group of parties remediating a contaminated site in New Jersey; plaintiffs asserted statutory claims under the New Jersey Spill Act and common law contract claims; achieved successful summary judgment dismissal of statutory New Jersey Spill Act claims; proceeded to bench trial on remaining contract claims, and received judgment of no cause of action and dismissal of all remaining claims; successful defense of appeal before the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, which affirmed trial court judgment (AGIP USA Inc. et al., v. The Pullman Company et al., Union County, Dkt. No. L-3530-10, Appellate Div. Dkt. No. A-0173-16T1, 2020 WL 1908509, at *1 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. Apr. 20, 2020))
• Representing the seller of an incinerator facility in Illinois in a contract dispute with the buyer, which resulted in a substantial arbitration recovery for the seller in a case where the buyer had claimed damages.
• Defending a major corporation in a series of lawsuits, including a class action, filed in Pennsylvania's state courts by residents and local businesses alleging nuisances associated with our client's operations.
• Litigating and settling an action brought against a former industrial operator in northern New Jersey by the current owner of the property seeking contractual indemnification related to the environmental condition of the site.
• Representing a Fortune 500 company in responding to a contractual indemnification claim seeking millions of dollars in investigation and remediation costs.
• Representing a real estate owner and developer in litigation over a dry cleaning tenant’s contamination of shopping center property.
• Representing owners of a contaminated property in West Virginia seeking recovery of remediation costs under a settlement agreement with the prior property owners.
• Defending a Fortune 500 company in a complex contract dispute involving an easement agreement for the construction of a subsurface stormwater line, which the plaintiff alleged was the cause of a sinkhole that ultimately swallowed a restaurant building.
• Representing a national environmental consulting firm in a breach of contract action arising out of the discovery of live WWII munitions on the plaintiff’s property, causing the local municipality to issue an emergency order shutting down the property.
• Pursuing, on behalf of a scrap metal recycling company, contractual indemnification claims against the seller of the business to recover the costs of investigating and remediating environmental contamination.
• Obtaining summary judgment for a university on its claims for contractual indemnification and defense costs from a co-defendant in an environmental cost recovery action.
• Defending the seller of a gas station property in a fraud claim for alleged failure to disclose environmental contamination at the property.
• Representing a regional property services provider in litigation concerning allegations of negligent performance of services.