Litigation

We routinely litigate complex matters against high-profile law firms involving multimillion-dollar claims. Skilled through all phases of litigation, we understand the value to our client of establishing a theory of the case early on that guides fact and expert discovery, motion practice, settlement discussion, and ultimately trial. We frequently engage with scientists and technical specialists in the development of expert testimony.

We litigate cases in state and federal courts and before administrative tribunals, including Ohio’s Environmental Review Appeals Committee (ERAC). Among other things, we litigate matters that include cost recovery claims, CERCLA contribution claims, environmental indemnity disputes, soil and groundwater contamination, citizen suits, sewer backup, wastewater treatment plant design issues, dam removal, Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act issues, construction claims, and environmental toxic tort claims. Our environmental litigation group represents several public and private clients in sophisticated matters which can involve the complexities of extensive corporate history and legacy insurance coverage, evaluating indemnification and other contract issues, specific pollution and hazardous waste issues, and Great Lakes and public trust issues.

Beyond our courtroom work, the firm brings our deep environmental experience to arbitration matters. Gregory DeGulis frequently serves as an American Arbitration Association panel member, most recently in a construction matter. Past arbitration matters include nearly one dozen FIFRA data compensation claims.

Our attorneys defend civil and administrative enforcement actions and negotiate resolution with federal, state, and local agencies. We also counsel clients on the development of supplemental environmental projects to take advantage of governmental policies that provide for reduction in penalties in exchange for beneficial activities for the community.

Recent experience includes state and federal enforcement actions relating to violations under the Clean Air Act, including Title V permit violations, exceedances of National Ambient Air Quality Standards, nuisance and odor claims, demolition activities involving asbestos, and refrigerant management. We also have significant experience defending against Clean Water Act claims, ranging from NPDES permit exceedances to wetlands mitigation to municipal wet weather consent decrees. MD is counsel of record in a pipeline matter involving an Ohio EPA complaint for injunctive relief and civil penalties related to drilling fluid releases during pipeline construction, as well as related state administrative proceedings.

The firm negotiated and litigated several complex cost recovery actions involving historical contamination at former landfills, waste oil and solvent recycling, foundries, manufactured gas plants and steel processing plants. Our cost recovery work involves investigating landfill generation, transportation, storage and disposal documentation; conducting discovery; developing contribution and cost allocation calculations; investigating the existence of historic corporate insurance policies; meeting and negotiating with Ohio EPA and other PRPs; negotiating settlement agreements; and conducting courtroom litigation. Our team is especially experienced in interviewing or deposing former site operators and workers to determine their credibility and the strength of their statements and testimony.

For a high-profile project, a combination of public funding and cost recovery dollars was used to redevelop a historically significant, urban waterfront destination in downtown Cleveland. The historical contamination dated back to the early 1900s, which created successor liability issues. MD successfully negotiated a significant settlement agreement that provided additional funding for remediation.

Environmental law issues often intertwine with complex business disputes. MD has a wealth of experience identifying and addressing related commercial matters, including corporate successor liability, breach of contract, sales of businesses, uniform commercial code disputes, intellectual property, non-compete contracts, contractual indemnity, landlord-tenant disputes, and corporate and real estate transactions. This experience is critical. While an environmental issue may be driving the dispute among the parties, MD utilizes commercial theories to achieve success which avoids the need for more lengthy environmental litigation.

We represent a number of clients in complex construction litigation in several venues in Ohio. The matters include WWTP upgrades, a dam removal project, and concrete replacement during a water infrastructure upgrade. The firm also represented a grain storage owner in litigation against the installer of grain storage equipment. These cases involve construction contracts, bid packages, fact investigations, and expert opinions.

MD attorneys develop and implement innovative legal strategies to obtain insurance coverage to reimburse clients for environmental remediation costs. We have found coverage under numerous types of policies, including commercial general liability, homeowners, property and business interruption, environmental impairment liability, errors and omissions, and builders’ risk.

Our insurance recovery group has successfully represented public and private corporations, private equity firms, commercial real estate owners, municipal entities, and individual policyholders. Our team also develops successful strategies to find lost policies, through the retention of insurance archeologists, and then to recover costs under those policies. For example, we obtained a defense commitment in a Superfund matter from a general liability insurer for policies from the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Successful litigation requires a well-trained support staff and cutting-edge technology. MD attorneys and paralegals are adept at selecting the right software for the matter at hand and developing matrices to efficiently organize and digitize documents, review content, and capture relevant data for reporting to both our clients and to the courts in a way that is accessible, useful, and flexible to support the goals of litigation.

The firm routinely handles complex scientific, medical, technical, insurance, construction, and financial documents relating to a variety of industries to support our clients.