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Environmental

Practices

Environmental Litigation

We represent clients in civil lawsuits, criminal and administrative enforcement actions, permit disputes and appeal proceedings. Our environmental litigation experience includes citizen suits, toxic tort claims, common law tort claims, federal and state statutory claims, class actions and cost-recovery cases.

Members of our Environmental practice have defended cases and advised on high-profile enforcement actions involving all major federal environmental regulations including:

  • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA, or Superfund Act)
  • Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA)
  • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
  • Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA)
  • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
  • Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
  • Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
  • Clean Air Act
  • Clean Water Act

Thompson Hine has been named by Best Law Firms® as a Tier 1 national firm in Litigation - Environmental in 2024.

  • Defending citizen suits brought under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) against such diverse entities as a municipal airport, a rubber products manufacturer and a sanitary landfill.
  • Defending chemical manufacturing and aerospace companies in environmental, toxic tort and employee exposure cases.
  • Serving as common counsel in numerous Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) cases involving groundwater, surface water and stream sediment contamination.
  • Defeating proposed national class actions involving the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and other claims.
  • Defending and settling a federal court class action involving persistent chlorinated hydrocarbon contaminating 20 miles of a nearby stream.
  • Representing one of two defendants in the White River (Indiana) fish kill case involving federal, state and class action claims seeking civil damages and penalties exceeding $50 million and federal criminal prosecution under the Clean Water Act.
  • Defending chemical, manufacturing and utility companies in federal and state enforcement actions under EHS laws.
  • Siting of landfills and defeating opposition by neighbors.
  • Defending claims relating to odor, noise, traffic and migrating offsite methane gas allegations made by hundreds of citizens living near a landfill.
  • Assisting a large manufacturer with structuring its reorganization plan to maximize the discharge of prepetition environmental liabilities resulting from confirmation of the plan.
  • Advising a major unsecured creditor during a Chapter 11 proceeding regarding appropriate valuation of the debtor’s prepetition environmental liabilities.
  • Defending natural resource damage claims in numerous states involving sediment, groundwater and related contamination
  • Defending and prosecuting multiphase CERCLA litigation, as well as litigation involving state equivalents of CERCLA.
  • Defending white-collar criminal cases involving plating and refinishing plants, the scrap and drum recycling industries, heavy manufacturing and chemical-handling facilities.
  • Representing a major air pollution control device manufacturer in response to third-party subpoenas in cases involving coal-fired power plants.