Practice Focus

Lester Sotsky heads Arnold & Porter LLP's environmental practice and specializes in toxic tort and environmental litigation. He has broad experience in all the major areas of environmental regulation. During his 30 years of practice he has also represented clients in a variety of other matters (e.g., securities, white collar, contract, and fraud litigation). 

• Lead defense counsel in numerous toxic tort cases involving varied contaminated media; metals, radioactive, organic and inorganic chemicals; drinking water, surface and groundwater, and air emissions; discontinued historical manufacturing operations and heavily regulated active facilities and businesses.
• Defends individual and class action suits and counsels clients regarding proactive means to mitigate exposure to environmental and toxic tort liabilities.
• Litigates enforcement cases and other environmental matters involving hazardous waste, Superfund, water pollution, and air pollution in numerous courts and administrative fora.
• Handles appellate, civil, and criminal litigation matters.
• Counsels numerous clients on regulatory compliance and environmental health and safety management matters.
• Advises in the design and implementation of environmental compliance programs.
• Headed numerous environmental due diligence teams, and negotiated (and litigated) contractual agreements on environmental and product liabilities in mergers, acquisitions, and other transactions.

Representative Matters

• PCB MassTort Litigation. Lead counsel in Los Angeles polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) class action toxic tort case involving more than 100 claimants alleging multiple adverse health effects and other damages.
• Successful Tampa Class Action Settlement. Successfully settled a purported class action against Honeywell allegedly on behalf of several thousand victims of organic chemical contamination of groundwater, with dramatically reduced settlement class, claims, and damages.
• Counsel Leading Pharma Company. Provides strategic counsel to leading pharma company regarding best practices, risk mitigation, and environmental compliance programs and procedures to minimize prospective liabilities, assure board of directors’ and senior management’s fulfillment of their legal and fiduciary obligations, and maximize opportunities to benefit from enforcement discretion policies; also counsels with respect to transactional, manufacturing, and product liability concerns.
• Internal Investigation Regarding Potential Criminal Clean Air Act Matter. Representing major foreign manufacturer in an internal investigation and self-disclosure to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding improprieties in the conduct and reporting of requisite emissions testing.
• Trichloroethylene (TCE) in Drinking Water Cases. Lead counsel for Foster Wheeler in class action, wrongful death, personal injury and individual property damage lawsuits in Northeastern Pennsylvania. All cases successfully resolved; representing client in negotiations with the EPA over further investigations and cleanup.
• National RCRA Enforcement Defense. Represents the Mosaic Company in defense of a “national initiative” by EPA and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking rigorous enforcement of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste requirements at mineral processing facilities subject to the Bevill Amendment, which excludes certain such activities and whose scope and applicability are the subject of dispute between the industry and the government.
• Pensacola, Florida Groundwater Contamination Cases. Represented Agrico Chemical Company in multiple litigations concerning alleged impacts to community, property values, water resources and health of residents from large groundwater plume associated with former fertilizer manufacturing facility. Defended two 7,500-person class actions seeking US$1 billion in damages; secured substantially reduced settlement and successfully prosecuted indemnification claims against predecessors to recover clients’ settlement share; handled lawsuit on behalf of a minor who allegedly contracted osteosarcoma from exposure.
• Nucor Steel. Advises leading steel manufacturer and recycling company on various environmental compliance, risk mitigation and liability matters.
• Leading Defense and Government Contractor. Provides product liability and litigation mitigation advice to leading manufacturer of high technology products involving potentially hazardous materials and/or pathways of exposure to third parties.
• Criminal Enforcement Matter. Representing mining company in a potential criminal enforcement matter arising under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act involving, among other things, whether or not the client took reasonable measures to prevent "takings" of migratory birds in and around lakes to which a complex facility discharges wastewater.
• Pesticides Class Action Litigation. Represented former chemical manufacturer in defense of large class action brought by neighbors of former facility, seeking massive damages for property and personal injuries associated with surface and groundwater migration of pesticides and other contaminants; case successfully settled for “cost of defense.”
• Wetlands and Army Corps Mine Permitting Dispute. Counsels client in connection with disputes and proceedings in multiple fora regarding challenges to mine permits issued in “Lake Belt” region of Florida, between Miami and the Everglades.
• North Carolina Public Nuisance Litigation. Provided strategic counsel to litigation team in connection with a novel, far-reaching, public nuisance action by the Attorney General of North Carolina, seeking to impose dramatic emissions reduction obligations on coal-fired power plants operating outside North Carolina.
• Louisville Class Action Air Pollution Cases. Successfully settled precertification (and well ahead of other, companion cases), a multi-hundred person class action brought by neighbors of a Hexion Specialty Chemicals manufacturing facility for alleged harms associated with routine air emissions.
• Clean Water White Collar Defense. Represented Chiquita Brands International and John Morrell Company in successful defense of criminal prosecution by DOJ for wastewater discharge recordkeeping and reporting violations under the Clean Water Act.
• New Source Review Enforcement. Lead counsel for a major utility in connection with EPA enforcement actions alleging violation of Clean Air Act “new source review” requirements, including failures to obtain PSD permits.
• DC Circuit Judicial Review Victory. Represented five independent aluminum producers in successful challenge to EPA’s “land band” standard for spent aluminum potliners, resulting in first judicial rejection of EPA’s reliance on the TCLP (Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure) as a basis for regulation; also successfully secured the first withdrawal of a “delisting” of a hazardous waste, by demonstrating to EPA Region 6 that it had erred in evaluating the waste stream resulting from a competitor’s technology (which assessment contributed to the agency’s rationale for the land band standard overturned by the DC Circuit).
• Safety Kleen Hazardous Waste Issues. Serve as national counsel to Safety-Kleen in connection with disputes with EPA and states concerning applicability of RCRA regulations to various recycling scenarios and recycled materials.
• Environmental Indemnification Dispute. Successfully represented The Mosaic Company in dispute with The Williams Companies to recover contractual indemnification in excess of US$20 million for liabilities suffered in defense of class action litigation arising from facility that was the subject of a federal Superfund cleanup.
• Railway Safety. Advises major rail carrier on confidential matter regarding risk mitigation, litigation, and liabilities associated with management and maintenance of certain system-wide assets.