Intersects with Mass Torts (some include this in Mass Torts), pollution, PFAS, chemical fires, climate change.

Wildfire Insurance Coverage for Homeowners and Businesses with Anderson Kill

January 21st, 2025|Categories: ELP, Emerging Litigation & Risk, Environmental Torts, Insurance|Tags: , , , , |

The horrific wildfires unleashing carnage in Southern California underscore the need for reliable insurance protection both for businesses and homeowners. In this episode, three seasoned attorneys discuss the types of damages and losses typically covered under homeowner and commercial property insurance policies, policy limitations, navigating the claims process, and business interruption coverage. They also talk about a Jan. 10, 2025, ruling out of the Northern District of California in Bottega v. National Surety which held in a business interruption case that whether smoke damage caused the suspension of operations at the policyholders’ businesses is a genuine issue of fact. Check out our interview with Anderson Kill attorneys Dennis Artese, Marshall Gilinsky, and Joshua Gold. They know this area of the law inside and out.

When Chemical Crises Strike with Ed Gentle and Kip Benson

November 12th, 2024|Categories: Complex Business Litigation, ELP, Environmental Torts, Insurance, Mass Torts|Tags: , , , |

Soon after emergency response teams scramble into action to address chemical fires, explosions, or other toxic events, attorneys begin gathering and analyzing information either to mitigate corporate risk or to seek remedies for anyone impacted by such an event. Listen to our interview with Edgar C. "Ed" Gentle III and Katherine "Kip" Benson of Gentle, Turner & Benson LLC, about legal activity that goes on in the immediate aftermath of a toxic event. Ed and Kip draw on their deep experience resolving this type of litigation to discuss the flurry of activity that unfolds at law firms and inside legal departments within hours of a disaster.

The EPA’s New PFAS Safe Drinking Water Rule with John Gardella

November 12th, 2024|Categories: Corporate Compliance, ELP, Environmental Torts|Tags: , , , |

In this episode, we dive into one of the hottest topics in environmental law right now: PFAS. Specifically, our guest, John Gardella of CMBG3 Law talks about the EPA’s new PFAS Safe Drinking Water Final Rule, which mandates acceptable levels of PFAS in public water systems. John is a leading voice in PFAS litigation and a recognized thought leader, known for his expertise in environmental and toxic tort litigation. Tune in now!

The Medical Monitoring Tort Remedy: Advanced Level

August 29th, 2024|Categories: Class Actions, CLE OnDemand, Environmental Torts, Mass Torts|Tags: , , , , |

The medical monitoring tort remedy – allowing for medical monitoring without physical injury – is recognized in 14 states and not allowed in 23. The law is divided in two states while the rest have not specifically addressed the issue. States that allow medical monitoring to do so when a group of claimants is at increased risk of disease or injury due to exposure to a known hazardous substance or a dangerous product as the result of a defendant’s conduct. Under this tort remedy, claimants are tested periodically, for an agreed or decided period, usually between 10 and 40 years. In this CLE webinar, Gentle Turner & Benson LLC attorneys Edgar (“Ed”) C. Gentle III and Katherine (“Kip”) A. Benson discuss the evolution of the medical monitoring tort, related cases, tests to determine whether the tort should be applied, types of monitoring, and the arguments for an against medical monitoring.

Property Insurance Coverage for Emerging Risk of Underground Climate Change 

July 8th, 2024|Categories: CLE OnDemand, Environmental Torts, Insurance|Tags: , , , , |

In this CLE webinar, Anderson Kill attorneys, Dennis J. Artese, Ethan Middlebrooks, and Thomas Dupont and professional engineer, Kenneth R. Quigley discuss permutations of policy language and state law that may affect coverage for damage caused by underground climate change, including how state law treats anti-concurrent causation clauses, whether “human-caused” exceptions to earth movement exclusions may apply to underground climate change, and whether “abrupt collapse” exceptions to exclusions for building collapse may apply when undetected structural damage triggered by underground climate change triggers collapse.

PFAS Litigation: Predicted Trends Given Regulatory Changes

July 2nd, 2024|Categories: CLE OnDemand, Environmental Torts, Mass Torts|Tags: , , , , |

Every week, the PFAS litigation and regulatory landscape changes dramatically. The EPA presses forward full steam ahead with numerous PFAS regulations, while the states have proposed hundreds of pieces of legislation related to PFAS in the last three years. Meanwhile, class action litigation, environmental pollution litigation, and greenwashing suits are being filed against companies at a dramatically increasing rate year after year. In this CLE webinar, CMBG3 Law attorney John Gardella discusses the latest on regulatory and litigation issues related to PFAS and how they will impact corporations.

Mitigating Greenwashing Litigation Risks with Ramya Ravishankar

June 21st, 2024|Categories: Corporate Compliance, ELP, Environmental Torts|Tags: , , , , |

In this episode, we discuss mitigating greenwashing litigation risks with guest Ramya Ravishankar, General Counsel at HowGood, an independent research firm that helps the world’s largest food brands meet their sustainability commitments. Listen and learn more!

The Use and Abuse of the Pollution Exclusion by Robert D. Chesler, Dennis J. Artese, and Jamie O’Neill

April 19th, 2024|Categories: Emerging Litigation & Risk, Environmental Torts, HB Tort Notes, Insurance, Journal, New Featured Post for Home Page, News|Tags: , , , |

The authors, Robert Chesler, Dennis Artese, and Jamie O'Neill of Anderson Kill examine recent court decisions and ongoing cases that have brought to the forefront the critical issue of the reach of pollution exclusions in insurance policies.

Massive Mass Tort Settlements and Liability Forecasting

February 1st, 2024|Categories: Complex Business Litigation, ELP, Environmental Torts, Mass Torts|Tags: , , , , , , |

In this episode, we discuss Liability Forecasting and the role it plays in the administration of massive, sometimes multi-billion-dollar mass tort settlement trusts with guests Mark Eveland and Ed Silverman of Verus LLC, which provides litigation support services to law firms working on mass torts, such as case management and medical review services, settlement administration, business and advisory services, and analytics. Liability forecasting mechanisms were built to fairly and judiciously compensate current and future claimants for their injuries. Listen and learn more!

Property Insurance Coverage for Emerging Risk: Underground Climate Change

January 31st, 2024|Categories: Emerging Litigation & Risk, Environmental Torts, HB Tort Notes, Insurance, Journal, New Featured Post for Home Page, News|Tags: , , |

Studies have shown that “underground climate change” is affecting ground soil conditions, causing structural strains on buildings and exacerbating cracks and defects in walls and foundations. The authors, Dennis Artese, Ethan Middlebrooks, and Thomas Dupont analyze permutations of policy language and state law that may affect coverage for damage caused by underground climate change, including how state law treats anti-concurrent causation clauses, whether “human-caused” exceptions to earth movement exclusions may apply to underground climate change, and whether “abrupt collapse” exceptions to exclusions for building collapse may apply when undetected structural damage triggered by underground climate change triggers collapse. As the authors note, "there are numerous arguments in favor of coverage under all-risk property insurance policies for losses related to underground climate change".

PFAS Regulation, Litigation, and Differentiation

November 9th, 2023|Categories: ELP, Environmental Torts, Mass Torts|Tags: , , |

In this episode, we give you some history of the PFAS compounds, discuss some of their important differences, review what litigation we're seeing (including the various claims and defenses), note what we can learn from recent settlement structures, forecast the impact of any new regulation, and predict what litigation might be next. Listen to our guests David Marmins and Morgan Harrison of Arnall Golden Gregory LLP.

Natural Gas Bans and Bans on Bans

September 25th, 2023|Categories: Complex Business Litigation, ELP, Environmental Torts|Tags: , , , |

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently struck down Berkeley, California's ban on natural gas infrastructure in new buildings as a violation of federal law. As we will continue to see more such bans, our guest shares insights on how similar cases may be treated -- and much more.

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