Environmental Litigation Case Study
Situation:
Our client discovered soil and groundwater contamination on its property when digging a foundation for a proposed structure. A site investigation traced the contamination to operations on an adjacent property. The Washington State Department of Ecology ("Ecology") agreed that the adjacent landowner was responsible for the contamination and directed the party to conduct a remedial investigation.
Challenge:
The contamination prevented our client from making improvements to its property necessary to carry out its business plan. The pollution also decreased the value of our client's property.
The situation was exacerbated by the adjacent landowner's dilatory tactics. Ultimately, the landowner informed Ecology that it did not have sufficient resources to continue an investigation or conduct a cleanup.
Solutions:
We brought a cause of action against the adjacent landowner for damages arising from the contamination, including lost profits, and to recover cleanup costs.
We intervened in an insurance coverage action between the adjacent landowner and its insurers to make certain that any proceeds from a settlement or judgment with the insurers would be applied to our client's claims.
We worked with Ecology to ensure that the proposed cleanup plan promptly and effectively addressed the cleanup of the client's property, including the use of interim actions before the cleanup of the entire site.
Results:
Marten Law Group attorneys helped our client obtain a settlement that reimbursed our client for its lost profits and required a comprehensive cleanup of its property. In addition, we secured tens of millions of dollars of insurance coverage for our client's damages and the cleanup of the site. The firm also protected our client in the event that Ecology ultimately determined that full remediation was impracticable, by providing for the payment of liquidated damages in the event that specified cleanup standards were not met within a specified time frame.