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Eric is an associate in Reed Smith’s San Francisco office and is a member of the firm’s Environmental team within the Global Regulatory Enforcement Group.  Eric's practice focuses on environmental law, including litigation, permitting, regulatory compliance and transactional matters.  He represents a wide variety of both corporate and individual clients in CERCLA, RCRA, CWA, CEQA, Proposition 65, toxic tort, unfair competition and products liability–based lawsuits and administrative enforcement actions.  He also regularly advises clients on their obligations and compliance strategies concerning various federal, state and local environmental, safety and health regulations, and assists clients in the cleanup and sale of contaminated property.  In addition, Eric has represented residential developers, contractors, design professionals, businesses and individual landowners in land use, construction defect, real estate and insurance coverage litigation.

Representative Matters

• Soil & Groundwater Contamination - Represented numerous clients in connection with a federal Superfund site in Los Angeles County in which hundreds of companies were targeted by the EPA and the Los Angeles Regional Water Board as potentially responsible parties liable for investigation and remediation of VOC- and perchlorate-impacted groundwater; representation includes defense of underlying CERCLA action, as well as defense of several cost-recovery cross-actions filed by water purveyor entities.

• Water Quality & Clean Water Act - Represented a property owner located in the Guadalupe River watershed in San Jose in a CERCLA natural resource damages action brought by the Department of the Interior and the EPA; advocate client's position regarding San Francisco Bay Regional Board's TMDL development hearings undertaken pursuant to the CWA to address mercury accumulation in San Francisco Bay.

• Brownfield Reuse/Redevelopment - Represented the owner of a site formerly used by a defense contractor as a hazardous waste transfer and storage facility to assess environmental conditions, advise on filing cost recovery actions against former tenants and coordinate remediation efforts including agency oversight and obtaining no further action letter to facilitate sale of property.

• Proposition 65 - Defended the operator of college bookstores in a Proposition 65 action where the defendant sold drinkware allegedly containing lead and cadmium in sufficient quantities to constitute an exposure under the statute; resolved to client's satisfaction through a nuisance value settlement.

• Toxic Tort Litigation - Represented numerous clients in eight consolidated mass tort cases and performed liaison counsel duties for a large joint defense group. The discovery of contaminated groundwater beneath the 170 square-mile San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles prompted litigation involving more than 2,000 plaintiffs and hundreds of defendants, including industrial companies, landowners and water companies.  Plaintiffs sued for personal injury, emotional distress, property damage and related claims, based on allegations that releases of VOCs and perchlorate had contaminated groundwater and drinking water supplies.  After eight years of protracted litigation, nominal settlements were negotiated on behalf of twelve clients.

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Experience

Legal Education

Undergraduate Education

Professional Admissions / Qualifications

• California
• District of Columbia
• New York

Court Admissions

• All State Courts - California
• U.S. Court of Appeals - Ninth Circuit
• U.S. District Court - Central District of California
• U.S. District Court - Northern District of California

Professional Affiliations

• State Bar of California, Environmental and Real Property Law Sections
• District of Columbia Bar, Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Section
• Bar Association of San Francisco, Environmental Law Section
• American Bar Association, Environmental, Energy and Resources Law Section
• Environmental Law Institute