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Environmental
Waller Lansden's Environmental and Toxic Tort Litigation practice combines the talents and resources of the firm's Environmental and Trial and Appellate practices to represent our clients efficiently and effectively in civil and administrative proceedings. Our attorneys use their substantive knowledge in all aspects of environmental law and litigation to defend clients confronted with regulatory enforcement actions and civil litigation brought by state and federal government agencies, attorneys general, district and city attorneys, and citizens' groups. We have successfully assisted clients on matters under all major federal environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Superfund Act (CERCLA), the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and many state and local environmental laws throughout the country.
Our team approach to complex litigation ensures that clients receive skilled development and proficient execution of a case strategy geared to the specific factual, technical, and legal issues presented. Our attorneys work with clients early in the litigation to identify the range of desired outcomes and strategies for attaining those outcomes. Our attorneys consistently re-evaluate strategies to make certain they remain consistent with client goals and expectations. With years of collective experience in complex environmental and toxic tort litigation, our attorneys develop proactive strategies to advocate vigorously for our clients in an efficient and cost-effective manner that always focuses on the clients' desired results.
In addition to representing clients in environmental administrative enforcement actions and civil litigation, our attorneys have extensive experience handling the complex issues that arise in toxic tort litigation, including challenging scientifically unsupported expert witness testimony and addressing questions of causation and damages. Our litigation experience in these matters allows us to help clients stay abreast of developing issues and prepare for—or avoid—further toxic tort litigation.
Waller Lansden's Environmental and Toxic Tort Litigation practice extends throughout Tennessee and the Southeast to California and other regions of the country.
Significant Matters
- Defended interstate natural gas pipeline company against 170-plaintiff lawsuit alleging personal injury from PCB exposure, obtaining a dismissal of the case after disqualification of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses. The case was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and review by the United States Supreme Court
- Defended county government against claims by national environmental group that landfill contaminated drinking water supplies of area residents
- Represented drinking water supply companies in Southern California in toxic tort litigation with thousands of customer-plaintiffs over groundwater contaminated by solvents and other contaminants from federal superfund site; the case resulted in five judicial decisions at three levels of California state courts
- Obtained a judgment from the Tennessee Water Quality Control Board, upheld by the Tennessee Supreme Court, that a constructed stream could be used to allow a $400 million Middle Tennessee retail development to proceed
- Represented a manufacturing company in litigation brought against it by a labor union concerning the issuance of air and water discharge permits to client's newly acquired facility and obtained judgment dismissing union's appeal on the grounds that the union lacked standing to sue
- Defended a West Tennessee mining company's environmental permits against challenges by neighbors before the Tennessee Water Quality Control Board and Davidson County Chancery Court
- Defended numerous regulatory entities in Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation enforcement actions based on water quality violations with allegations often including state natural resources damage claims
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