What must be done to bring a lawsuit to force a cleanup or recover for environmental damages?
A. The party, or parties, who are responsible for the contamination must be identified before a lawsuit can be brought for environmental damage. Often the federal or state governmental agency in charge of environmental enforcement will have identified parties potentially responsible for the contamination problem. If the government has not identified those responsible, an independent environmental investigation must be undertaken to identify those responsible. This entails consulting with environmental scientists to locate the source of the contaminant. For example, the source of a chemical, like trichloroethane (TCE), found in drinking water wells, can often be tracked back to its source using geological and hydrological scientific methods. Our firm has retained expert consultants with the scientific expertise needed to determine the source of contamination in environmental litigation involving contaminated drinking water.
