Environmental Due Diligence

More Prominent Role for Environmental Risk Management in Revised OCC Handbook

Environmental Due Diligence, Lender Liability / By

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has been updating its Comptroller’s Handbook to reflect changes to supervisory policy as well as to implement the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The Comptroller’s Handbook is a collection of booklets divided into five handbook series that contain OCC procedures for […]

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Confusion On Role of VI in New ASTM E1527-13 Standard

Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence / By

You may have seen newsletters by some law firms suggesting that the revised ASTM E1527-13 will REQUIRE evaluation of vapor intrusion as part of a phase 1. These statements are simply incorrect. Since vapor intrusion became a concern a decade or so ago, there has been much confusion in the environmental consultant community if vapor

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EPA Proposes to Approve E1527-13 As AAI

Brownfields, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence / By

EPA has published a notice in the federal register proposing that the E1527-13 will satisfy the All Appropriate Inquiries. EPA believes (mistakenly in our opinion) the proposed action is non-controversial. However, just in case the agency published a final direct rule and a proposed  rule . If EPA does not receive adverse comments by September

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9th Circuit Finds Shopping Center Owner Did Not Establish BFPP Status for Dry Cleaner Contamination

CERCLA, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence, Hazardous Waste / By

We have previously discussed the series of district court rulings in Voggenthaler v Maryland Square LLC where homeowners and the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP) sued past and former owners of a shopping center and operators of a former dry cleaner because of a mile-long groundwater plume resulting from PCE spills from the dry cleaner

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Failure to Identify Dry Wells and Review Building Dept File at Heart of Consultant Malpractice Case

common law, consultant malpractice, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence / By

Southern Wine & Spirits of New York vs. Impact Environmental Consultants, 2013 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2081(App. Div.-1st Dept 3/28/13) involves a common source of contamination in Long Island and other suburban areas of New York City-dry wells and septic systems. The parties have yet to begin discovery but based on the motion papers filed

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Mass Ct Rules Contractual Limitation Period Unenforceable

consultant malpractice, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence / By

When hiring an environmental consultant, clients are often asked to execute an engagement letter that typically addresses the pricing for the Phase 1 and other logistical information. Attached to the engagement letter will be what often looks like a pre-printed form of terms and conditions that govern the performance of the services to be provided

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SC Appeals Ct Affirms Judgment To Golf Course Developer But Reduces Damages Award

Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence / By

A South Carolina appeals court affirmed a jury verdict that a seller of a 239-acre golf course in Blythewood, South Carolina had breached an environmental indemnity but reduced the damages award by the jury in Ginn-LA University Club Ltd. v. Amelia Capital III, LLC,2013 S.C. App. Unpub. LEXIS 95 (Ct. App. 2/13/13). In this case,

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Ct Says NJ Brownfield Agreement Not Enough to Establish Innocent Party Status

bankruptcy, Brownfields, CERCLA, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence, NJ Spill Act / By

The brownfield reforms that swept the country in the 1990s created new tools for developers of contaminated sites to help minimize their liability. Some of the reforms like the CERCLA Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser (BFPP) liability protection are self-implementing while others such as prospective purchaser agreements, covenants not to sue or letters stating that the developer

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NJ Ct. Vacates NJDEP Denial of Innocent Party Grant

Brownfields, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence, NJ Spill Act, vapor intrusion / By

During the early years of New Jersey’s remediation program, challenging decisions of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) bordered on Quixotic mission. Times have changed, though, and courts are no longer intimated by NJDEP and we have discussed a number of cases where courts have overruled the agency’s decisions. See dry cleaner case and

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Fifth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Bond Counsel in Bombing Range Case While Other Parties Settle

Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence / By

We have previously discussed the complex litigation involving a planned development on a portion of a World War 2 bombing range in Louisiana . In the latest installment of this saga, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a legal malpractice claim filed against bond counsel in Coves of the Highland Community

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