Environmental & Land Use

Environmental Audits & Compliance Assessment

Environmental Criminal Defense

Environmental Due Diligence

Environmental Enforcement and Citizens Suits

Facility Siting

Hazardous Waste Management and Cleanup

Land Use and Environmental Impact

Proposition 65 and Environmental Marketing Claims

Water Quality 

Food and Drug Safety

Proposition 65 Product Audits

Proposition 65 Compliance

Defense of Proposition 65 Citizens Suits

Representation in Regulatory Matters

Environmental Audits

School Audits and Investigations

School Construction Audit and Investigation

False Claims Act Recovery and Litigation

Environmental Audits & Compliance Assessment  

Compliance with environmental regulations is an ongoing process for every regulated facility. Internal audits -- comprehensive assessments of a facility's compliance performance -- have rightfully gained a reputation as valuable management tools. At the same time, audits raise serious enforcement, reporting and liability issues that must be analyzed before starting an auditing program. As with any tool, auditing must be used strategically.

The Carrick Law Group can assist clients in developing and implementing environmental management programs, including systematic auditing, in a way that improves compliance performance without unduly exposing clients to potential liability for discovering and correcting instances of noncompliance. We closely monitor, and have often helped to shape, state legislation and federal policy that helps ensure that certain audit information is not used against a facility that corrects problems when discovered.

Environmental Criminal Defense

Federal and state authorities have dramatically increased the number of indictments brought against companies and their officers, directors and managers for a wide variety of alleged criminal conduct. We have defended corporations and corporate officers against various charges, including illegal disposal of hazardous wastes, record keeping and reporting violations, conspiracy, and mail and wire fraud.

Most corporate counsel are sufficiently familiar with criminal laws to avoid more traditional criminal violations. Prosecutors are indicting corporations and individuals for unintentional conduct such as the negligent maintenance of facilities. We counsel clients on how to minimize criminal liability through environmental compliance programs.  We also provide advice on how best to protect a corporation's or individual's interests during the government's search of a facility for records or other evidence, grand jury investigations and plea negotiations.

Environmental Due Diligence

Many companies are affected by environmental issues. These include workplace hazards, air or water discharge permits or ownership of a potentially contaminated piece of real property. When a company is acquired by or merged with another, or is acquiring real estate assets, the acquiring company, and often any financing entity, will typically require knowledgeable investigation and analysis of the nature and potential cost of such environmental issues.

Courts have been willing to impose environmental liabilities on successor corporations; therefore, evaluation of legal risks often affects the attractiveness of a given transaction.  Potential liabilities may be contained if they are addressed in the preparation of merger or acquisition agreements. We have experience in several of these types of transactions. We routinely assist property developers, lenders and asset managers in the following areas:

• Providing regulatory advice, including analysis of whether current practices conform to regulatory requirements.
• Drafting appropriate protective covenants in purchase and sale documents, loan documents and leases, including representations, warranties and indemnities.
• Working with environmental consultants to evaluate and minimize potential liabilities in real estate transactions and other business transactions.
• Reviewing and revising lease provisions to ensure that they contain protective provisions, such as rights of inspection and termination.
• Defending against enforcement actions brought by environmental agencies.
• Defending against actions brought by adjoining landowners, former tenants and other private parties.
• Obtaining contributions from parties responsible for contaminating property, including former owners and tenants.
• Educating real estate professionals about environmental liabilities through seminars, videos and manuals.

Environmental Enforcement & Citizens Suits

The Carrick Law Group has the rather unique and substantial experience of both prosecuting and defending clients against civil and criminal environmental enforcement and citizen suits.

Facility Siting

The Carrick Law Group has helped to site several complex public and private projects. In siting these facilities, we help clients anticipate and avoid problems before they impede a project and, whenever possible, work to resolve existing problems (often through creative solutions) before they result in litigation.

Hazardous Waste Management & Cleanup

The Carrick Law Group represents corporations in hazardous waste matters.  We have broad experience in:

• Negotiating and litigating with government agencies under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA), RCRA and equivalent state laws.
• Negotiating and litigating cost sharing agreements with potentially responsible parties.
• Advising  private and public policyholders in insurance coverage disputes.
• Assisting in numerous, often complex, RCRA permitting, closure and enforcement problems.
• Natural resource damage litigation under CERCLA and the Clean Water Act.
• Obtaining grant funds and cost sharing among parties to reduce our clients' costs and liabilities.
• Defending criminal actions brought under the Clean Water Act and RCRA.

Land Use & Environmental Impact

Nearly every public or private proposal for development raises land use issues. The proponent must satisfy zoning and shoreline requirements, and the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Acts (NEPA) as well as complying with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the Endangered Species Act. Attorneys at the Carrick Law Group have many years of experience in:

• Successfully representing clients before hearing examiners, city and county councils, the California Coastal Commission, California State Lands Commission and other administrative agencies.
• Preparing permit and environmental documents that are legally defensible.
• Developing and drafting mitigation plans.

California Proposition 65 & Environmental Marketing Claims

California Proposition 65 - officially the Safe Drinking Water & Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 - requires that the public be notified when any of over 600 chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects are present in products. After giving 60 days notice to companies, private groups or public prosecutors can bring civil action against companies that produce chemicals listed under Prop. 65.

Unlike standard litigation, the burden of proof rests on defendants under Prop. 65. Companies are required to prove their existing warning systems are sufficient or chemical exposures are not high enough to cause harm. Offending companies can face penalties of up to $2,500 per violation, per day, and each product unit can be considered a separate violation.

The Carrick Law Group has an extensive, long-standing Proposition 65 practice, staffed by practitioners who are among the most experienced and knowledgeable attorneys working with this controversial statute. Representative matters include:

   Represented the California Retailers Association in drafting the original Prop 65 warning regulations.

   Specially selected by the Los Angeles City Attorney to litigate a case related to warning labels on the dangers of second-hand smoke.

   Represented the first pharmaceutical companies sued over the use of Prop 65-listed chemicals in pharmaceutical-grade materials (the ethylene oxide cases).

   Special counsel on the first Prop 65 case taken to trial (Citizens for a Better Environment v. Sawyer of Napa). Firm attorneys prevailed in a bench trial by persuading the judge to use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US/EPA) regulatory risk standards in lieu of the far more stringent Prop 65 "safe harbor" standard.

In addition, the firm has handled extensive litigation in prosecuting Proposition 65 claims for numerous clients under, as well as handling sensitive investigations involving several over-the-counter pharmaceutical products.

Environmental Marketing Claims

The Carrick Law Group also offers extensive knowledge in the regulation of environmental, or "green" marketing claims, which advertisers employ to tout the environmentally superior attributes of their products. 

Water Quality

The Carrick Law Group can help clients with all aspects of the complex set of water quality regulations and standards. We have successfully represented airports, food processors, dairies and feedlots, wastewater and sewage treatment facilities, electric generating facilities, rail yards, regional retail centers, sand and gravel operators, cement facilities, seafood processors, and business parks. Some of our recent projects include:

• Obtaining National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, Storm water permits, and State Waste Discharge permits
• Negotiating and litigating Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) issues
• Obtaining Section 401 Certifications
• Negotiating pretreatment requirements
• Negotiating reclamation and reuse of wastewater effluent
• Appealing water discharge permits
• Defending against citizen and agency enforcement actions
• Obtaining § 404 (dredge and fill) permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• Representing clients in aquatic sediments issues
• Facility siting and approvals

Food and Drug Safety

Proposition 65 Product Audits

The unique requirements of Proposition 65 impose additional standards on food and drug products marketed in California.  The Carrick Law Group has substantial experience in determining if  products are at risk for a Proposition 65 action, and how those risks can be avoided.  Product audits are the first step in a continuing compliance program as outlined below.

Proposition 65 Compliance

The Carrick Law group can help companies wishing to comply with Proposition 65 by helping them identify ways in which their products or services might expose persons to listed chemicals, and helping them minimize those potential exposures.  

Defense of Proposition 65 Citizens Suits

Our lawyers have extensive experience defending enforcement suits, and have represented an array of clients against most of the plaintiffs lawyers now practicing Proposition 65 law. We have secured favorable results from clients in industries as diverse as water filtration and over-the-counter drugs and diet supplement manufacturers.

Representation in Regulatory Matters

Our lawyers have represented clients before local, state and federal agencies including the federal Food and Drug Association, California EPA, and several water boards throughout California.  

False Advertising

We represent clients in a variety of matters before state and federal courts and regulatory agencies, involving claims of false advertising, deceptive packaging and unfair business practices.  We offer continuing advice on packaging and warning requirements for consumer products, with an emphasis on the requirements of California Proposition 65.

School District Audit & Investigation  

School District Audits and Investigation   

The Carrick Law Group has experience in auditing the due diligence and facility siting  process of school districts with potential environmental liabilities.

School Construction Audit and Investigation

Our attorneys also have experience working with auditors and law enforcement officials investigating potential over billing by school district contractors.

False Claims Act Recovery and Litigation

Our attorneys have worked with clients in the identification and prosecution of False Claims Recovery sections.