Environmental and Land Use Litigation

Day Pitney's Environmental and Land Use Litigation professionals offer well-honed legal skills and a practiced sensitivity to our clients' business needs. This assures a resourceful and cost-efficient result.  Our track record reflects more than 70 years in our business, demonstrating a proven ability to work with and realize the expectations of our clients, both public and private. Day Pitney's Environmental and Land Use Litigation clients are international, national, regional and local. They represent a broad spectrum of industries.

The Full Universe of Environmental and Land Use Litigation
Whatever the environmental or land use challenge you are facing or looking to pursue, our nationally recognized litigation group is ready and able to assist you. For decades, our environmental litigators have successfully defended clients in major toxic tort cases, including large class action and multi-party suits. Active in national Superfund cases since 1981, when the first Superfund cases were filed, we often have a leading role in defending Potentially Responsible Parties, whether as PRP common counsel or as counsel to an individual entity in complex cost-recovery and allocation litigation.

We have been helping clients with environmental issues since the 1970s. Areas of focus and specialty include the following:

• Disputes among current site owners, tenants and former owners over responsibility for cleanup actions and related costs
• Land use litigation, including real property tax appeals, riparian rights, tax foreclosures, condemnation, eminent domain and valuation litigation
• Regulatory enforcement, including actions involving air, water, storm water, hazardous and solid waste, spill prevention, toxic release reporting, chemical importing and labeling and related penalty assessments
• Federal and state claims for natural resources damages due to soil, surface water, groundwater and sediment contamination
• Criminal environmental enforcement matters, including matters with potential criminal implications
• Litigation associated with all aspects of property acquisition and development, including zoning, planning and permitting
• Prosecution and defense of personal injury, property loss and business interruption claims relating to environmental conditions, including mass tort actions
• Citizens' suits for all environmental media
• Matters involving wetlands and water allocation issues

With clients ranging from large, multi-national corporations to local businesses, Day Pitney's attorneys practice at the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts as well as in arbitration proceedings and in other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

Practical, Strategic and Efficient
That sums up our approach. Cutting-edge environmental and land use matters are a specialty. We are problem solvers, prepared to navigate the path to an innovative and economical resolution for our clients.

Depending upon a client's needs, we can assist with a discrete aspect of a matter or we can assemble a team, rich in experience and resources. Whether alone or as a member of a team servicing our clients' needs, our environmental and land use litigation counsel are resourceful and cost-efficient.

Your Best Litigation Strategy Not an Off-the-Shelf-Item
Our clients benefit from Day Pitney's litigation skills, as well as the ability to match these skills to your business needs and practical considerations. We can assure the compatibility of your business and litigation strategies. Our professionals leverage an in-depth knowledge of complex environmental and land use laws.

Working closely with environmental consultants and other experts, we evaluate liability, damages and the full scope of a client's options. We frequently negotiate settlement agreements, including cost-sharing allocations among parties for cleanup work.  

Responsive, Informed and Creative Client Service
Sometimes you can't wait until tomorrow for advice regarding your environmental and land use issues. Our lawyers pride themselves on their responsiveness; you are assured attention that meets, and even anticipates, your needs. Our depth of bench and geographical reach provide an ability to deliver on this commitment, quickly and comprehensively.

Our lawyers are frequent speakers on environmental and land use topics of national significance. In addition, Day Pitney professionals are active contributors to trade and industry groups that focus on environmental and land use issues, including related litigation. This visibility extends to participation in efforts to shape the laws and regulations in areas impacting our practice and our clients' interests.

We draw on our close working relationships with federal, state and local environmental and land use agencies and our tracking of current developments to maximize our value to you. We look for a creative solution to a persistent problem or an uncommon fix to a common complaint. Sometimes the problem can be the solution in disguise.

Representative Matters

• Argued successfully before the Third Circuit on behalf of a multi-national entity for the reversal of a trial verdict in excess of $100 million in an environmental action.
• Filed amicus curiae brief as counsel to the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and 31 other state municipal leagues in Kelo v. New London, the landmark eminent domain case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Defended a developer's land use approvals to construct a $10 million parking garage in New Haven, CT.
• Represented an outlet mall developer in successful defense of a suit to invalidate project's wetlands and site plan approvals.
• Defended a global specialty chemical company in actions by regulators and private parties relating to pollution abatement and related remediation costs.
• Defended national pesticide and pharmaceutical companies in product liability and toxic tort litigation.
• Represented a water utility in an action to recover remediation costs and diminution in property values.
• Defended international manufacturer in EPA enforcement action involving allegations of CFC violations.
• Represented a global corporation in the successful settlement of actions by nearby residents, claiming personal injury and property damage attributable to past manufacturing operations.
• Represented a developer of a $150 million mixed-use project in multiple actions by private opponents, including zoning appeals and litigation raising land use claims.
• Defended the owner and operator of a nuclear facility in actions by third parties alleging environmental claims.
• Represented a municipality in a series of administrative proceedings, as well as related state court litigation, involving the emissions of a plastics manufacturing facility.