January 30, 2024

1:00pm – 2:30pm Eastern

Environmental:  Remedying Environmental Damage: Tools for Municipal Attorneys

Description:  Municipal attorneys are experts in recovering monies owed to the government by enforcing liens, collecting taxes, fees and fines.  Environmental lawyers for municipalities are often consumed with regulatory actions, transactions related to solid waste disposal, and defense work. Often uncollected are the large claims municipalities may have for damage to municipal water systems (drinking water, wastewater, stormwater) and other municipal properties and facilities relating to environmental contamination or other adverse impacts.   This webinar surveys the universe of claims municipalities can and do pursue against large corporations for environmental harms.  It is aimed to stimulate thinking on how to identify and pursue accountability for harms to public resources and the public health, as well as to create new revenue streams based on harms negatively impacting the community and to hone the enforcement tools in the municipal lawyer‘s tool box.

Speakers: Kyle J. McGee, Viola Vetter, Suzanne Sangree, Jason H. Wilson and  Juliana Carter

Bios:

Kyle McGee is a principal at Grant & Eisenhofer. Mr. McGee is the head of G&E’s Environmental Litigation Group, focusing on sovereign and public entity representation. Mr. McGee also regularly represents state and municipal clients in consumer protection matters, as well as relators or whistleblowers in qui tam litigation. In addition to environmental litigation, Mr. McGee partners with state Attorneys General and municipalities pursuing consumer protection actions against manufacturers of dangerous products, including pharmaceuticals.

Mr. McGee currently serves as special counsel to several state Attorneys General and municipalities in actions against Monsanto Co. arising out of that company’s production, marketing, and sale of toxic PCBs, which now contaminate natural resources throughout the nation, and against 3M Co., DuPont, Chemours, and other manufacturers of toxic PFAS chemicals and products containing PFAS, which now contaminate groundwater, drinking water, and other public resources. Mr. McGee also represents state agencies in hazardous site litigation arising out of historic disposal practices and emissions of contaminants such as lead and arsenic. Mr. McGee was named to the Environmental Trial Lawyers Association Top 10 for Delaware, and serves on the Executive Committee for the ETLA.

Mr. McGee also represents numerous relators in confidential whistleblower actions under the federal and various state False Claims Acts, pursuing misconduct in diverse fields including medical and mental healthcare, residential mortgage lending, defense contracting, retail, and finance, as well as the whistleblower programs managed by the Securities & Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Viola Vetter is a principal at Grant & Eisenhofer where she focuses on sovereign and public entity representation, primarily in matters seeking to redress environmental contamination.

Ms. Vetter currently represents several state Attorneys General and municipalities in environmental litigation. In that role, she is prosecuting claims against Monsanto Co. arising out of that company’s production, marketing, and sale of toxic PCBs, which now contaminate natural resources throughout the nation, and against 3M Co., DuPont, Chemours, and other manufacturers of toxic PFAS chemicals and PFAS-laced products, which now contaminate groundwater, drinking water, and other public resources. Ms. Vetter is also involved in a number of site-specific investigations and litigations concerning the historic disposal and emissions of environmental contaminants.

Ms. Vetter also represents investors in corporate governance and securities litigation, including in cross-border disputes.

Prior to joining Grant & Eisenhofer, Ms. Vetter was an associate at an international law firm, resident in Philadelphia, representing corporate clients in complex commercial, consumer and qui tam matters in state and federal courts.

Ms. Vetter earned her J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 2007, where she was a member of the Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review. She received her B.S. in International Business and Political Philosophy, magna cum laude, from Elizabethtown College in 2004.

Suzanne Sangree is senior counsel at Grant & Eisenhofer, focusing her practice on the representation of state and local governments in complex litigation matters stemming from environmental damage and consumer protection.

Prior to joining Grant & Eisenhofer, Ms. Sangree worked for the City of Baltimore Department of Law for 13 years. She served as the Director of Affirmative Litigation, pursuing environmental, False Claims Act, antitrust, products liability, and consumer-related cases, among other types of litigation. She also held roles as Senior Public Safety Counsel/Chief, Legal Affairs Division; and Chief Solicitor & Director of Training. She additionally served as a member of the Settlement Committee and Executive Committee for the Department of Law.

In 2020, Bloomberg Law recognized Ms. Sangree as a Key Player in 2020 Environmental Litigation. In 2015 the International Municipal Lawyers Association awarded Ms. Sangree its distinguished public service award, and she was named a Top 40 Maryland Lawyer in 2014.

Ms. Sangree served as clerk for Judge Andre M. Davis, U.S. District Court, District of Maryland. Ms. Sangree earned her LL.M. from Harvard Law School and her J.D. from City University of New York Law School at Queens. She received her B.A., cum laude, from Wesleyan University.

Jason Wilson is senior counsel at Grant & Eisenhofer where he focuses on sovereign and public entity representation, primarily in matters to address the systemic environmental contamination of public resources. Currently, Mr. Wilson is prosecuting claims against Monsanto Co. arising out of that company’s production, marketing, and sale of toxic PCBs, which now contaminate natural resources and municipal stormwater systems throughout the nation, and against 3M Co. and other manufacturers of toxic PFAS chemicals, which contaminate groundwater, drinking water, and other public resources. Mr. Wilson also represents investors and whistleblowers in corporate governance and securities litigation.

Prior to joining Grant & Eisenhofer, Mr. Wilson was an associate at an international law firm, resident in Philadelphia, defending shareholder disputes, consumer class actions, antitrust, bankruptcy, environmental litigation, and government investigations related to the False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Act and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Regarding his experience in shareholder disputes, Mr. Wilson defended numerous securities class actions, derivative suits and various shareholder requests for books and records. Before that, he spent three years in the litigation department of a large New York law firm. Mr. Wilson also served as a law clerk to Judge William H. Walls of the US District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Mr. Wilson earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2004 where he was a Harlan Fisk Stone Scholar, was awarded the Alfred S. Forsyth Prize for dedication to the advancement of environmental law, and served as Editor-in- Chief of the Columbia Environmental Law Journal. He received his B.A. in History and a concentration in Environmental Science from Williams College in 1999.

 

Juliana Carter is an associate in Grant & Eisenhofer’s environmental protection and consumer protection litigation groups.

Ms. Carter focuses on sovereign and public entity representation, primarily in matters to address the systemic environmental contamination of public resources. Currently, Ms. Carter is prosecuting claims against Monsanto arising out of that company’s production, marketing, and sale of toxic PCBs, which now contaminate natural resources and municipal stormwater systems throughout the nation. In addition to environmental litigation, Ms. Carter partners with state Attorneys General and municipalities pursuing consumer protection actions against manufacturers of dangerous products.

Prior to joining G&E, Ms. Carter was a litigation associate at an Am Law 100 law firm headquartered in Philadelphia defending chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers, financial institutions, universities, and other companies in connection with government investigations and civil actions filed in state and federal court. Ms. Carter also served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Paul S. Diamond of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Carter graduated magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she served as a staff editor of the Temple Law Review and as the Director of Advocacy of the School Discipline Advocacy Service, and was awarded the recognition of Fellow of the Rubin Public Interest Law Honor Society. She earned her B.A. in Law and Policy from Dickinson College.