John’s experience serving clients across the country covers the full spectrum of established and emerging environmental law issues. He is currently serving as both primary and national counsel for a defendant in the Aqueous Film Forming Foam Multi-District Litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina—PFAS litigation from around the country that involves claims of environmental contamination, property damage, medical monitoring, and personal injury.

Representative matters include:

• Defending the City of Frederick, Maryland in a Clean Water Act action commenced by the Potomac Riverkeepers based on alleged nitrogen pollution violations at the city’s wastewater treatment plant
• Defending a manufacturer at the largest Superfund site (Passaic River) in the U.S. with respect to alleged ground and water contamination at two distinct sites
• Defending a Fortune 500 company—whose subsidiary designed and manufactured the USTs, piping, and leak detection system under a large commercial shopping center — in a petroleum discharge matter involving damage to the environment, real property, and the surrounding community
• Defending Fortune 500 Company in CERCLA/Superfund action involving environmental contamination from tannery in upstate New York
• Successfully representing a defendant in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia against product liability, nuisance, negligence, and trespass claims arising from alleged PFAS water contamination; dismissed on lack of personal jurisdiction grounds (Weirton Area Water Board and City of Weirton v. 3M Company, et al.– 5:20-cv-102)
• Representing the interests of a well-drilling company in Oklahoma involving a pipeline leak and resultant contamination to environment and waterways
• Defending personal storage facility owner in NJ Spill Act cost recovery action involving historic contamination and eminent domain and condemnation issues
• Representing national recycling company in CERCLA cost recovery action involving CRT waste disposal at e-waste recycling facility in Ohio
• Representing interests of school system involving historic environmental contamination and alleged exposure at site in upstate New York
• Obtaining dismissal of New York Navigation Law cause of action on behalf of remediation company involving allegations of exacerbation of oil contamination during cleanup and remedial operations

John regularly handles matters pertaining to toxic exposures, lead paint poisoning, mold, asbestos, beryllium, repetitive stress injury, and more. He also litigates matters involving contamination and exposure to chemicals and substances such as PFAS, 1,4-Dioxane, TCE, and benzene.

Representing numerous property owners/managers, product manufacturers/distributors, and remediation companies in actions concerning lead exposure to children, adults, and surrounding neighborhoods.

• Acting as counsel to environmental testing professionals at Nassau Coliseum in matters involving alleged airborne chemical exposure
• Representing multinational chemical company in a train derailment investigation in Wisconsin wherein the local water supply was threatened
• Obtaining dismissal of action on behalf of gasoline station / property owner involving allegations of groundwater contamination to New York municipality’s drinking water supply, and upheld by the Supreme Court of New York Appellate Division

John has more than 25 years’ experience litigating and counseling clients on issues of liability and damages in state and federal courts around the country. His finely honed legal counsel offers clients remarkable insight into how best to defend complex, high-exposure liability claims. He acts as counsel for owners, construction managers, contractors, subcontractors, and architects and engineers on large-scale construction projects and advises on contractual and insurance matters and issues pertaining to labor law. In addition, John defends premises liability and security-related matters on behalf of hoteliers and restaurant chains, and represents local and national motor carriers/truck insurers in matters involving personal injury and wrongful death. Representative matters include:

• Representing the manufacturer of machines involved in dry cleaning in a matter involving allegations of defective design pertaining to causal link between exposure to dry-cleaning solvent PERC and alleged disease
• Coordinating product litigation for a heavy machinery manufacturer
• Acting as counsel for an international engineering and environmental consulting firm facing multimillion-dollar exposure due to a building collapse
• Acting as counsel for a component provider of an allegedly defective boiler, which purportedly caused a carbon monoxide leak that resulted in the wrongful deaths of three individuals
• Defending an electrical contractor in a dispute arising from the explosion of a high-voltage cable system at a power generation facility in Connecticut, which resulted in property damages; claims included negligence, breach of contract, breach of warranty, and the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act
• Representing a large construction entity with city-wide contracts that routinely faces a high volume of labor law and premises liability exposure

John’s varied practice also include work in the pharmaceutical arena, where he assists major pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers in product liability actions, asset purchase agreements/joint development agreements, and the interpretation of FDA regulatory provisions. His successes include:

• Defending a pharmaceutical company and its subsidiary in federal litigation and arbitration against claims of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent misrepresentation, and equitable claims arising out of a joint venture relationship. After a merger between the pharmaceutical company and its newly owned subsidiary, the plaintiff company asserted claims for multiple millions of dollars in exposure based on the acquisition of the subsidiary and purported ownership interest in a drug developed by the joint venture
• Representing a pharmaceutical company in qui tam action under the False Claims Act, the Medicare and Medicaid Patient Protection Act, anti-kickback statutes, and various state laws
• Representing a pharmaceutical company in an action against a former employee and a competing manufacturer for theft of trade secrets, computer fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty