Our In-depth knowledge, perspective and strategic expertise contribute to our successful appellate practice
Davis Environmental Law is impressively successful in appellate matters, regularly winning in “David against Goliath” litigation against major insurance and pharmaceutical companies and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
In Huber v. NJDEP, 213 N.J. 338 (2013), United States Supreme Court Justice Alito joined by three other United States Supreme Court Justices issued a statement in response to our petition, see 562 U.S. 1302 (2011), over the constitutionality of a warrantless search by an environmental official of our clients’ backyard. The New Jersey Supreme Court thereafter agreed to hear the case and agreed with us that NJDEP was not free to enter our clients’ backyard without their consent or a warrant to inspect wetlands.
In TAC Assoc. v. NJDEP, 202 N.J. 533 (2010), we again prevailed in a dispute with NJDEP over one of its own regulations. The New Jersey State Legislature thereafter amended the Act to impose a “continuous ownership” requirement on applications for innocent party grants.
In Tsungas Petroleum v. Rypkema, 2009 WL 348586, we won at the Appellate Division, establishing that our clients were entitled to obtain access to properties for the installation of environmental wells and testing based on the “reasonable possibility” of contamination. In this, as in many other cases, our close work with environmental consultants resulted in a persuasive record of evidence that was central to our success.
In Schoneboom v. Allstate New Jersey Insurance Company, 2020 WL 1322828, we prevailed in a “test case” wherein Allstate Insurance Company sought to restrict the scope of “sudden and accidental” liability coverage in a homeowners insurance policy to avoid its obligations to our client, a homeowner who discovered a leaking underground fuel storage tank on her property.
In Sutton v. Hoffmann La-Roche Inc., 2020 WL 2745404, leave to appeal denied by 245 N.J. 251 (2021), we won against a major pharmaceutical company and other corporate and municipal defendants who sought to overturn an order granting class certification. The plaintiffs were homeowners whose properties were affected by groundwater pollution emanating from a nearby corporate manufacturing facility that had been in operation for over eighty years. The issues raised involved the legal standard for class certification in New Jersey, including the kind of evidence that plaintiffs need to produce in order to get a class certified.
Davis Environmental Law can step in to handle or help with an appeal after an unsuccessful hearing, trial or motion practice. Our attorneys are available to consult with other counsel on appellate strategy, or take over any portion of an appeal, even on an emergent basis. We know how to win appellate motions as well as substantive appeals. We take pride in producing thorough and persuasive legal briefs.