Many Superfund practitioners have spent years litigating cases in which a private plaintiff seeks to establish that defendants are liable for costs of responding to a Superfund problem and that
Continue Reading Is One Dollar Enough Under CERCLA?
Insights and Commentary on Global Environmental and Energy Issues
David G. Mandelbaum represents clients facing problems under environmental laws. He regularly represents clients in lawsuits and also has helped clients achieve satisfactory outcomes through regulatory negotiation or private transactions. A Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers, David teaches Superfund, and Oil and Gas Law in rotation at the Temple University Beasley School of Law as well as an environmental litigation course at Suffolk (Boston) Law School.
Since United States v. Atlas Minerals, the first multi-generator Superfund contribution case to go to trial in 1993, Mr. Mandelbaum has been engaged in matters involving allocation of costs among responsible parties, especially under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). He has tried large cases and resolved others as lead counsel. He has written, spoken, and taught extensively on the subject. More recently he also has been engaged to assist lead counsel from this firm and others:
Concentrations
Many Superfund practitioners have spent years litigating cases in which a private plaintiff seeks to establish that defendants are liable for costs of responding to a Superfund problem and that…
Continue Reading Is One Dollar Enough Under CERCLA?
You are reading this column in the first days of 2024. This might be an apt opportunity in the “environmental practice” column to consider what we environmental lawyers ought to…
Continue Reading Some 2024 Resolutions for Environmental Lawyers
Intuitively, contamination reduces the value of property. But intuition does not count as evidence. The issues of how one proves that one ought to take a discount from a property’s…
Continue Reading Commonwealth Court Offers Another Take on Valuing Contaminated Property
I was asked earlier this month to condense into an eight-minute presentation what a particular group of senior environmental lawyers “ought to know about developments in Superfund since October 2022…
Continue Reading The Last Year in CERCLA: Practitioners Should Take Note
On Aug. 14, a trial judge in Montana issued findings of fact and conclusions of law after a bench trial in what has been called the Montana “Youth Climate Case.”…
Continue Reading The Montana ‘Youth Climate Case’ and the Pa. Environmental Rights Amendment
Cape Cod has a problem with nitrogen pollution of its embayments and waterways. The solution that Massachusetts began to implement on July 7 may offer some lessons for Pennsylvania practitioners.
Continue Reading Pa. Lessons From the New Massachusetts Rules for Cape Cod On-Lot Sewage Systems
Last month the U.S. Supreme Court restricted federal jurisdiction over filling and altering wetlands. See Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 21-454 (U.S. May 25, 2023). The president promptly…
Continue Reading Wetlands Regulation in Pennsylvania After ‘Sackett’ Ruling
I recently finished P. David Allen II’s and Susan Campbell’s new book Paper Valley: The Fight for the Fox River Cleanup (Wayne State Univ. Press 2023). Allen was a wildlife biologist in…
Continue Reading Lessons from Someone Else’s Book About a Big Matter I Handled
In February, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided that the Environmental Hearing Board could award attorneys’ fees and litigation costs to a prevailing third-party appellant under the Clean Streams Law. Clean…
Continue Reading Attorney Fees Awards Under the Clean Streams Law
A few weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in a tax case about attorney-client privilege. See In re Grand Jury, No. 21-1397 (U.S. arg. Jan. 9, 2023).
Continue Reading Uncertainty, No Guidance for Attorney-Client Privilege in Environmental Audits