Environmental & Toxic Tort Litigation
Overview
The Environmental and Toxic Tort Practice Group has long been one of the most active practice groups in our litigation endeavors in the states of Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio and New York. Our environmental and toxic tort defense attorneys focus on the legal representation of defendants in toxic tort personal injury actions, environmental property damage claims, environmental remediations and insurance coverage disputes arising out of environmental or toxic tort matters.
Since the inception of toxic tort litigation, we have been heavily involved in a wide variety of such matters. Beginning in the mid-1970s, we represented Johns Manville Corporation, the largest manufacturer of asbestos products in North America, in all asbestos litigation in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. Since the establishment of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust in the late 1980s, we have served as Northeast Region Consulting Counsel for the Trust.
Personal Injury & Property Damage Asbestos
In addition, we have represented other major corporations in both personal injury and property damage asbestos matters. We also have defended numerous clients in cases arising from exposure to:
- TCE
- PCBs
- Welding fumes
- Adhesives
- Pesticides
- Epoxies
- Asphalt fumes
- Silica
- Lead paint
- Toxic dusts
- Formaldehyde
- Gasoline
- Commercial lubricants
- HVAC contaminants
- Other allegedly toxic materials
We have actively participated in class action and multi-district litigation in the toxic tort field.
In addition, our toxic tort litigation attorneys have handled numerous environmental matters. We have represented a great number of clients in litigation arising out of Superfund landfill clean-ups, private cost recovery actions, soil or ground water contamination, drinking water contamination, leaking underground storage tanks, indoor air pollution (sick building syndrome) and others.
In conjunction with our firm's Insurance Coverage and Appellate Advocacy practice groups, we also represent insurance carriers in insurance coverage matters which arise out of underlying environmental or toxic tort cases and in which a thorough knowledge of the environmental and toxic tort areas is crucial to proper handling of coverage issues.
An understandable concern of every client in significant environmental and toxic tort cases is the extent of legal fees and costs. Our firm began as an insurance defense firm, and, although we have expanded our practice areas considerably, we have never lost our sensitivity to our clients' desire to control legal expenses. This is especially true in the environmental and toxic tort areas where multi-party, complex cases make control of expenses all that more important. We always handle cases with a practical, results-oriented approach which balances strong representation of our clients with realistic cost containment. Not only do we offer a competitive fee structure, but we also work with our clients to develop innovative, alternative approaches to normal file handling which result in considerable savings without sacrificing quality legal representation.
