Environmental Engineering Litigation Techniques for the Plaintiff

Abstract

Often times, when environmental class action is desired, the defendant is typically a large corporation or company with a strong financial base and excellent engineering resources. The environmental action for the plaintiff usually consists of a group of individuals who take action against some entity such as a chemical plant, a hazardous waste site, a strip mining operation, a quarry operation or a refinery operation. In some instances, these environmental action groups are interested in actually preventing location of these facilities. Even though the defendants in these types of litigations are extremely well financed with strong engineering support, there are means of using the information and data gathered by the defendants to their disadvantage in environmental litigation. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the avenues open to an attorney who desires to assist poorly financed plaintiffs in this type of class action environmental litigation.