Litigation in a Case of Undisclosed Contamination
Our client reached out to us after purchasing an investment property in New Jersey from a bank foreclosure. During the initial call with the client, we learned that the week following closing, our client went to the property. While walking around he was approached by someone who introduced himself as the environmental consultant for the neighboring property owner. The consultant told our client about oil contamination that existed under his property.
After learning of the contamination and that the purchase occurred only a week before, it was immediately clear that we had to act quickly. Through our 25 years of practicing environmental law we know many of the environmental consulting firms. As it turns out, we were familiar with the firm in question and were able to obtain information relating to the investigation and a prior litigation regarding the contamination that was not previously disclosed to our client.
In less than one week, we filed a legal complaint with proofs of our legal action and began settlement negotiations.
We quickly reached a settlement and obtained a unique remedy from the court that ordered the entire rescission of the transaction, along with monetary damages.