Environmental

Instrumental in the approval of the exchange and sale of Port of Oakland public trust land to Oakland Harbor Partners, LLC. The $35 million development will support a mixed-use residential development of more than 3,000 units of market-rate and affordable rental and for-sale housing, 200,000 square feet of retail and commercial space and two new marinas. The transaction includes finding exchange parcels, conducting the necessary negotiations and the passage of precedent-setting legislation to facilitate the deal.

Assisted a number of residents in San Francisco in negotiations with a utility and the Department of Toxic Substances Control over the remediation of historical contamination beneath their homes and compensation for the associated losses.

Lead counsel for a scrap metal company’s purchase of a facility in San Leandro, California, negotiating provisions to indemnify client, which was taking over and industrial site with known environmental issues.

Worked with a closely held trust to meet difficult deadlines for the remediation and sale of a 1-acre parcel to a county transit district for expansion of its maintenance facilities. The firm negotiated an agreement in which the former operator of the property conducted a significant portion of the environmental work without the need for litigation.

Assisted a national retailer with environmental issues, including response to Polanco Act demands, from a California redevelopment agency, resulting in the successful sale of the multi-million dollar property to a third party.

Assisted a national cold storage and logistics company with obtaining a favorable variance from the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board with regard to regulations that would otherwise have required the client to spend millions of dollars to address the alleged violation.

Provided environmental due diligence nationwide for a national fitness chain and assisted in the evaluation, investigation and remediation of contaminated property to allow for the construction of fitness centers and associated facilities.

Represented the owners of a Napa County vineyard in negotiating a settlement of a Cleanup and Abatement Order in which the agency initially sought penalties and site restoration that could have cost the client several million dollars. The final resolution required only an off-site mitigation program, which cost the owners $15,000.

Assisted a San Francisco property owner in a case against a publicly-traded international oil and gas company, in which we obtained for the client reimbursement for past remediation costs (including attorneys’ fees), installation of a soil and groundwater cleanup system, indemnity for future costs and a guarantee that the oil and gas company would pay any future incremental development costs resulting from the contamination.

Assisted a Northern California refinery with environmental permitting and compliance issues, as well as taking the lead on environmental due diligence matters for a possible sale of the facility.

Lead counsel for the Alco Iron & Metal purchase of a WR Grace facility in San Leandro, California, negotiating provisions to indemnify the buyer, which was taking over an industrial site with known environmental issues.

Assisted the Port of Oakland in negotiating the remediation of the former Alaska Airlines maintenance facility site at the Oakland International Airport.

Assisted the Port of Oakland in negotiation of cleanup requirements and the construction details for a state of the art tank farm at the Oakland Airport. The tank farm, which cost in excess of $25 million, supplies jet fuel to the airport and became fully operational within the past 12 months.

Representing owners of coastal property, obtained a ruling from the California Court of Appeal, that a State Lands Commission policy restricting coastal development was an illegal, underground regulation and could not be used to prevent the landowners from developing their property. (Bollay v. California Office of Administrative Law, et al., California Court of Appeal Case No. C 063268 (Sacramento County Superior Court Case No. 34-2008-80000072).)

Negotiated a multi-million dollar settlement for a client seeking to recover environmental investigation, business interruption, loss of use, and diminution in value damages from the former owners and operators of an automobile dealership in Palo Alto, California. (AR Automotive, LLC, et al. v. Henry Khachaturian, et al., Case No. RG09450197)

Obtained a final judgment dismissing CERCLA claims by the State of California and private parties against The Dow Chemical Company at the Brown & Bryant site in Shafter, California. (Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, Co. v. Hercules, Incorporated, et al., United States District Court for the Eastern District of California Case No. CIV-F-96-5879.)

Represented a client that had previously purchased, remediated and sold property near the San Francisco Airport in litigation with an adjoining landowner who sued to recover his own remediation costs. Negotiated a favorable settlement for the client. (Haskins v. Cherokee Grand Avenue LLC, United States District Court for the Northern District of California Case No. CV 11-5142 YGR).

Assisted the owners of a shopping center in Alameda, California with remediation of historical contamination on the property and regulatory closure plus recovery of 100 percent of past environmental costs and indemnification for future environmental from a major oil refiner that was responsible for the contamination. (Sebanc v. Shell Oil Company, United States District Court for the Northern District of California Case No. C 10-04853 SC.)