Environmental and Land Use Cases

Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management
Successfully intervened on behalf of hunters’ rights group in this lawsuit brought by environmental groups against the BLM to prohibit the use of lead ammunition for hunting in the Arizona Strip, a popular hunting area. Resulted in a favorable published decision on intervention standards. (266 F.R.D. 369 (D. Ariz. 2010).)

REV 973, LLC v. Mouren-Laurens Oil Company
Complex twelve-year cost recovery action under CERCLA involving multiple parties, properties, cross actions, and potential responsible parties (PRPs). All corporate officers were exonerated early in the proceedings.

City of Los Angeles v. San Pedro Boat Works, Inc.
San Pedro Boat Works, Inc. operated a marine ship repair and maintenance facility in San Pedro at the Port of Los Angeles for more than 70 years. The business was run by various owners and operators, who used different material and techniques over the years. Los Angeles filed this CERCLA action seeking damages, injunctive relief, and the recovery of costs incurred in connection with the alleged release of hazardous substances. Ongoing.

Trump National Golf Club v. City of Rancho Palos Verdes
Represented the golf club in a dispute with the City over the installation and display of a large United States flag on its property. Submitted briefing complaining that denial of the club’s Conditional Use Permit request was preempted by Government Code section 434.5, which provides that a government agency may not regulate the display of a United States flag based on aesthetic considerations. Faced with these claims, the City compromised. The flag continues to fly over the property and has become a regional landmark. The case received significant media attention:

Trump Gets OK for Illegal Flagpole, The Washington Post (Sept. 21, 2006)
Trump Gets Approval for Illegal SoCal Golf Course Flagpole, The Associated Press (Sept. 21, 2006)
Stern Agency Meets Unflappable Mogul, L.A. Times (Feb. 7, 2008)

Association for a Cleaner Environment v. Yosemite Community College District (YCCD)
We represented ACE in its petition for a writ of mandate to force YCCD to comply with CEQA in closing an on-campus shooting range facility and moving its operations to an off-campus range facility adjacent to a wetlands area. The Petition was denied. ACE appealed. The appellate court ruled in favor of ACE on all issues in a published opinion that has since been widely cited. (116 Cal. App. 4th 629 (Ct. App. 2004).) ACE then successfully moved to enforce the judgment requiring YCCD to comply with CEQA. YCCD settled.

Kay v. City of Rancho Palos Verdes
Represented homeowner in dispute with City over the use of a pre-existing, five-mast antenna array on homeowner’s residential property for commercial purposes. In a published decision, the court ruled that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibited the City from regulating commercial broadcasting on the antennas. (504 F.3d 803 (9th Cir. 2007).)

South Gate Rod & Gun Club, Inc. v. City of South Gate
South Gate Rod & Gun Club, Inc. operated a trap and skeet range on city-owned property on top of a landfill at the confluence of the Los Angeles and Rio Hondo Rivers in the City of Signal Hill. Lead shot accumulated on the property over the course of several decades. The City improperly canceled the Club’s lease, then sued the Club under CERCLA for range clean up. Obtained insurance coverage for club and negotiated an acceptable settlement.

Association for a Cleaner Environment v. City of Palos Verdes Estates
Palos Verdes Estates and Surfline, Inc. installed a webcam in a residential area to monitor surf conditions and shoreline activity. ACE contended the project was subject to CEQA review. The City Council voted unanimously to remove the camera.

Friends of Colorado Lagoon (FOCL) v. County of Los Angeles
FOCL sought a writ of mandate under CEQA to set aside the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ Mitigated Negative Declaration concerning the environmental impacts of the proposed Termino Avenue Drain Project. The project would have tripled the storm water drainage into the Colorado Lagoon and nearby water bodies in Long Beach. Prevailed at trial. Established that the approval of the Mitigated Negative Declaration was in violation CEQA and that an Environmental Impact Report was required.

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
Legal team member in defending Exxon against multiple civil and criminal claims relating to the 1989 oil spill in Valdez, Alaska. Developed law on use of dispersants and on medical monitoring, Native American subsistence lifestyle, and emotional distress damage claims. The case received significant media coverage:

22 Years Later, the Exxon Valdez Case Is Back in Court, New York Times (Mar. 3, 2011)
In the Wake of Exxon Valdez, National Public Radio (Mar. 11, 1999)
Federal Appellate Court Cuts Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Disaster Punitive Award to $2.5 Billion, Fog City Journal (Dec. 22, 2006)

Syntex Agribusiness / Times Beach Dioxin Contamination
In 1982 the EPA closed down the entire town of Times Beach, Missouri after discovering dangerous levels of dioxin present. Dioxin is an unwanted chemical byproduct of certain manufacturing processes. Years prior, oil recyclers had sprayed waste oil on town streets and parking lots to control dust. Some of that oil was contaminated with dioxin. EPA relocated 2000 people, demolished all of the homes and businesses in the town, and began one of the most extensive and expensive environmental cleanups in Superfund history.   Syntex Agribusiness Corporation assumed primary responsibility for the site’s cleanup in 1990. By the fall of 1997, all cleanup work at the site was completed, but litigation over clean up costs and insurance coverage issues continued for years thereafter.