Environmental Litigation

Orrick attorneys represent public and private clients in civil and criminal litigation, under federal and state environmental laws and regulations, and in related insurance disputes. We represent clients across a broad spectrum of industries, including heavy manufacturing, chemical production, electronics manufacturing, food production and distribution, cosmetics, cleaning agents, over-the-counter medicines, land development, power production, and waste disposal. The following are some of the clients for which we have recently handled environmental litigation:

• American Premier Underwriters, Inc. Orrick has represented American Premier, which is the successor to the company that emerged from the Penn Central railroad bankruptcy, in a variety of cases and proceedings by federal and state governments and private parties relating to environmental contamination from railroad operations.
• American Home Products. We are defending AHP’s over-the-counter skin medications in a combined public and private enforcement action concerning the use of coal tar in the products.
• Area II Farmers. We represented a class of Central Valley farmers in the largest water district in California in litigation to determine their rights to Central Valley Improvement Act water from the Bureau of Reclamation. The case was successfully settled in a unique proceeding that included a joint federal and state court class action settlement approval hearing.
• Aventis CropSciences USA. Orrick represents Aventis (and its predecessor Rhone-Poulenc) in a variety of administrative proceedings and private actions arising out of a contaminated site in East Palo Alto, California.

We also provide litigation-avoidance counseling, work with our clients to develop compliance protocols, and handle environmental due diligence involving mergers, acquisitions, and other business transactions. In addition to identifying potential environmental risks, we negotiate with the appropriate public or private entities to resolve outstanding problems prior to or in conjunction with the closing of the transaction; negotiate and draft purchase, lease, and financing agreements to minimize and/or allocate ongoing environmental liabilities; and structure transactions so as to limit environmental risk. Our clients in these matters have included bank lenders, Silicon Valley electronics companies, grocery chains, and investment funds, among others.