Who Should Pay For Environmental Harm: Spiller or Product Manufacturer?

Increasingly, environmental litigation brought by State AGs, local district attorneys and private plaintiffs aims to bypass the traditional defendant—the party that released harmful contaminants into soil, water or air resources. Instead, relying on theories derived from the doctrines of public nuisance and product liability, such litigation frequently targets the manufacturer, distributor or handler of products that, when released negligently or unlawfully by third parties, produce environmental harm. In this program, from the Celesq® Environmental Law series, our presenters focus on the legal and factual theories that underlie such product-based claims, the risks or exposures that they present to defendants, and strategies to counter lawsuits based on them.

Among the topics to be covered:

• In what areas have product-based lawsuits been filed, and with what results;
• What legal theories can be used to target defendants not connected to releases of  the contaminant into the environment;
• What theories of collective liability are being asserted to name all industry participants without defendant-by-defendant proof of product identification;
• What strategies have proven effective in responding to product-based lawsuits.

If you intend to take a course for CLE credit, please make sure your state is listed in the "Accreditation" section to the upper right of the program description. Accreditation displayed is unique to the purchased program format (live conference, live webcast, on demand, podcast). Credit totals listed for live conferences are the maximum credits available. Credits issued will be based upon actual time in attendance.  Credit totals for other formats are for complete programs.  Partial credit is not available for any online or downloadable format. 

West LegalEdcenter will not provide accreditation for states not listed. 

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