Lieff Cabraser's Environmental
Law &
Toxic Exposures Practice Area
Environmental Law and Toxic Exposures
The discharge of toxic chemicals and hazardous materials
into the environment can have a devastating effect on the health, livelihood,
and property values of those in the vicinity. Environmental pollution may occur
over an extended period -- such as the leaking of gasoline from
an underground storage tank that results in groundwater contamination -- or swiftly
and catastrophically from disasters and accidents at oil refineries, transportation
carriers, and coal mining operations, etc.
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, has prosecuted many environmental law lawsuits, obtaining compensation
for families and property owners harmed by toxic environmental exposures.
• Exxon Valdez Oil Disaster & Class Action lawsuit
The Exxon Valdez ran aground in March of 1989, spilling 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound and killing tens of thousands of wild creatures and fouling 1,300 miles of beaches and surface waters. Lieff Cabraser was co-counsel
for commercial fishermen, area businesses, property owners, and native Alaskans
who brought claims against Exxon Corporation arising out of the spill.
On June 25, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to permit the assessment of punitive damages in the Exxon Valdez maritime spill under maritime law. However, the Court held that the earlier punitive damages award against Exxon was excessive and should be limited to $507.5 million, an amount equal to the trial court’s calculation of appropriate compensatory damages. Learn more about the Exxon Valdez oil spill litigation.
• Kentucky Coal Sludge Litigation
On October 11, 2000, a coal waste impoundment (like a lagoon or a lake) near Inez, Kentucky, ruptured, resulting in the spill of 300 million gallons of coal sludge onto many of our clients' properties and into waterways running through the region. The impact of the spill was enormous. Black water and coal sludge surged out of the impoundment, eventually covering more than 75 miles of the area waterways.
According to officials from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, it was the worst environmental disaster of its type ever in the southeastern United States. In lawsuits arising out of the spill, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, along with local co-counsel, represented over 400 property owners in and around Inez. Learn more about the Kentucky coal sludge litigation.
• Toms River Childhood Cancer Cases
Over a period of several decades, chemical plants owned by Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Union Carbide, and other area business released industrial pollutants into the Toms River. Other industrial pollutants leached into the township's groundwater supply. In 1995, a state study found that the incidence of cancer among children in Toms River was higher than any other part of the state.
With co-counsel, Lieff Cabraser represented 69 families, each with children having cancer, that claimed the cancers were caused by environmental contamination in the Toms River area. Learn more about the Toms River childhood cancer cases.
• Louisiana Crawfish Crop Losses | Aventis ICON Class Action
With co-counsel, Lieff Cabraser represented crawfish farmers in Louisiana who suffered tremendous losses in their pond-grown crawfish crops, allegedly as the result of the use of ICON, a pesticide manufactured by Aventis CropSciences.
Plaintiffs charged that ICON was toxic to crawfish and caused a decline in the crawfish crop. In 2004, the Court approved a $45 million settlement of the class action lawsuit. Learn more about the Louisiana crawfish case.
• Sacramento River Spill Cases
On July 14, 1991, a Southern Pacific train tanker car derailed in northern California, spilling 19,000 gallons of a toxic pesticide, metam sodium, into the Sacramento River near the town of Dunsmir. The metam sodium mixed thoroughly with the river water, having a devastating effect on the river and surrounding ecosystem. In addition, many residents living along the river became ill with symptoms that included headaches, shortness of breath, and vomiting.
Lieff Cabraser served as Court-appointed Plaintiffs' Liaison Counsel, Lead Class Counsel, and chaired the Plaintiffs' Litigation Committee in coordinated proceedings that included all of the lawsuits arising out of this toxic spill. Settlement proceeds of approximately $16 million were distributed pursuant to Court approval of a plan of allocation to four certified plaintiff classes: personal injury, business loss, property damage/diminution, and evacuation.
Current Toxic Spill | Environmental Exposure Investigations
Lieff Cabraser is currently investigating the December 22, 2008, spill of more than a billion gallons of coal fly ash from a burst dike on a retention pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant (Kingston Steam Plant) in Eastern Tennessee. The spill is one of the largest of its kind ever in the U.S., covering 600 or more acres with sludge.
Contact National Environmental Law | Toxic Exposure Attorneys
Lieff Cabraser maintains offices in New York, San Francisco and Nashville. To contact
an environmental law attorney
at Lieff Cabraser, click here.
Important Note: This summary is intended to provide a basic overview
of typical cases of our firm. It is for informational purposes only and
does not constitute legal advice. Please read our disclaimer.
About Lieff Cabraser
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a sixty-plus attorney law firm that has represented plaintiffs nationwide since 1972. We have offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. We represent plaintiffs in class and group actions and in individual lawsuits in cases involving substantial losses. For the last seven years, The National Law Journal has selected Lieff Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in the nation.
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LLP.
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