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This website is authored by Lester Levy, Esq.
a founding member of JAMS.

  • About
    • About Lester Levy
  • The Basics of Environmental Mediation
    • What types of Environmental Cases can be mediated?
    • The Benefits of Environmental Mediation
    • The Environmental Mediation Process
    • Insurance Company Involvement
    • The Mediation Outcome
  • Case Studies
    • Case Study 1: Objectivity as Resolution Tool Provided Through A Neutral Expert
    • Case Study 2: Working Together
    • Case Study 3: Swift, Fair and Efficient: Awarding Compensation to Toxic Tort Victims
    • Case Study 4: Sequenced Regulatory and Insurance Negotiations
    • Case Study 5: How Communication Both Causes and Ends Conflict
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You are here: Home / Archives for class actions

When It Comes to Environmental Protection is New York Lagging Behind?

May 16, 2016 by Lester Levy Leave a Comment

New-York-environment-protectionNew York State and City take pride in being leaders and trendsetters when it comes to legislative and regulatory action to protect consumers in a number of areas, including banking and insurance and commercial transactions.  But when it comes to environmental protection, there are ways in which New York seems to be seriously lagging compared to the extent of efforts in many other jurisdictions.

The latest account of a serious lapse in environmental protection in New York is the subject of a recent article published in Crain’s New York about long-known, but largely unaddressed, concerns about Perchloroethylene, or “Perc,” a solvent used in the dry cleaning of clothes for many decades.   There is a lot of literature on this subject that was developed over many years of scientific study.  The inquiry focused on concerns of potential health risks to those who work at dry cleaning establishments, inhale perc’s fumes and drink water that contains it high concentrations of perc from its release into drinking water aquifers and such.

According to the article and other sources, USEPA deems perc a “likely carcinogen” that can harm the liver, kidneys and blood, and the immune, reproductive and central nervous systems.  In response to this and its independent scientific findings the State of California banned the use of perc in 2007.   Ironically, the article reports that Jack Nicholson turned into the Joker when he fell into a vat of it in the first Batman movie.  I, myself, have mediated hundreds of perc cases, both large and small, involving releases of this contaminant into the environment in other states throughout the country. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Mediation vs. Litigation Tagged With: alternative dispute resolution, class actions, eco-friendly, EPA, Perchloroethylene

ADR Swiftly Compensates Parties in Mass Actions and Toxic Tort Cases

April 20, 2016 by Lester Levy Leave a Comment

Mass Actions and Toxic Tort CasesWe live in a world of ever-growing concern about environmental harm to our health and well-being. As the science of detection improves, so does our awareness of large-scale releases of contaminants into the air, water and soil, which can affect large numbers of people and their property.

For example, high concentrations of lead were found in Flint, Michigan, and shortly thereafter in drinking water systems in New Jersey and New York. Large volumes of natural gas were released into the soils below the homes of residents in a southern California subdivision, which volatized into the air, and remained uncapped for months. A spate of PFOA-contaminated groundwater issues have arisen throughout the Northeastern states; and, of course, we are all familiar with the widespread injuries and property damage caused by hurricanes Sandy and Katrina to tens of thousands of people living in their paths.

In each of these cases, a single event or series of related events caused harm to large numbers of people. Generally, the types of harm suffered-either to persons or to property-are similar in character, but can differ enormously by degree among the affected population. While our judicial systems were neither designed nor are they equipped to handle cases involving thousands of litigants similarly affected-but in vastly differing measures-these matters provide a perfect opportunity to use ADR skills to resolve them intelligently and effectively.

A Solution to a Complex Web of Issues

Mediation and other ADR processes have repeatedly been enormously effective in resolving mass toxic-tort and environmental claims. ADR provides a way to condense many years of expensive court procedures into a precise, cost-effective and efficient process that provides fair and individualized compensation to thousands of people that were affected by an accidental release or other tragic event.

In addition, mediation provides the opportunity to weave together and settle at one time many interrelated disputes that may arise from a single event or contaminated area. For example, one cluster of environmental conflicts may involve civil suits among the private parties seeking an allocation of fault and payment for the cleanup, personal injury and property damage claims arising from the same contamination, regulatory enforcement or penalty actions brought by environmental agencies and attorneys general, and lawsuits between individual parties and insurance companies that issued multiple pollution policies over the years. The outcome of each of these cases may affect the ability of the parties to resolve the other cases. But no one court or administrative body ordinarily exercises jurisdiction over all of them. Mediation, however, provides a single forum where all these cases can be resolved in a coordinated way. It may be achieved through separate agreements but the effect is the same-all moving pieces are brought to rest at a meeting point at the mediator’s conference table. It’s the point where a settlement can be reached that comes closest to meeting the collective best interests of all parties.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: Mediation vs. Litigation Tagged With: ADR, class actions, environmental disputes, mediation process, settlement, toxic tort

Using ADR to Manage Compensation Schemes with Mass Claimants

February 16, 2016 by Lester Levy 1 Comment

Compensation Schemes with Mass ClaimantsRecent decades have seen a dramatic rise in the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) proceedings as a means to evaluate claims and compensate qualified parties in a mass claims settings.  These cases can arise from settlements in class or mass actions filed in court or as government-originated programs designed to compensate victims of a military or environmental disaster.

Some examples that I have handled include the settlement and distribution of over $2 billion to low income farmers alleging discriminatory lending practices by the USDA; the distribution of relief to several hundred thousand claimants alleging wage and hour claims against another US governmental agency; the settlement and distribution of compensation to millions of claimants alleging wrongful conduct by a national credit card provider; the review and determination of compensation to class members alleging defective products in a variety of industries; and, of course, the distribution of settlement benefits to thousands people alleging harm from environmental releases into the air, surface- and ground- waters.

While these processes have proven to be very effective in achieving the efficient review and fair payment of claims arising from the same event or a similar type of harm, for the process to be successful, the clients seeking compensation must understand the process and what is expected of them.  Transparency is critical to engender trust.  Trust, in part, depends upon the design and implementation of procedural safeguards. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Process Tagged With: alternative dispute resolution, class actions, compensation, environmental clean up, mediation, mediation process, settlement

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About Me

lester-levy

I strongly believe in the value of mediation – said another way, environmental mediation really works. I would go even further: I believe that environmental disputes are perfectly suited to the mediation process – perhaps more so than any other area of legal practice. I have formed these views after mediating environmental cases for more than 20 years, throughout the United States, and having worked with thousands of lawyers, companies, insurance carriers, regulatory agencies and courts. My … Read more

My Latest Posts

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  • Leaving the EU would put our environment at risk

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Lester Levy

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