David G. Mandelbaum

June 10, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

What are the obligations of and risks to a charity that receives potentially contaminated property as a gift? This is not a new issue, but some recent conversations suggest that a review may be in order.

By David G. Mandelbaum

6 minute read

May 14, 2014 | New Jersey Law Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court acknowledges that Congress has not provided clear direction on how the EPA and the states should regulate air pollution sources.

By David G. Mandelbaum

7 minute read

May 13, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

On April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court resurrected the Environmental Protection Agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had struck down last year. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's opinion can be read as a remarkable acknowledgement that Congress really has not provided clear direction on how the EPA and the states should regulate air pollution sources. Given the extent to which the Clean Air Act affects economic activity and energy investment, this case should give many pause.

By David G. Mandelbaum

7 minute read

April 08, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

Environmental lawyers are regularly called upon to translate science into language that judges, other lawyers, bureaucrats, businesspeople, journalists and all other sorts can understand. This may be the most important thing we do for clients.

By David G. Mandelbaum

8 minute read

March 11, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

What happens to a Superfund contribution claim when the contribution plaintiff—the party that spent money to clean up or to reimburse the government—collects on its insurance?

By David G. Mandelbaum

8 minute read

February 11, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

The common law doctrine of waste protects remaindermen against tenants. Last month, Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit wrote a useful opinion addressing a claim for common law waste arising out of a series of underground storage tank removals.

By David G. Mandelbaum

6 minute read

January 14, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

Last month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided Robinson Township v. Commonwealth, No. 63 MAP 2012 (Pa. Dec. 19, 2013). The plurality's 162-page opinion calls into question a lot of what we thought we knew about the Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution.

By David G. Mandelbaum

7 minute read

November 21, 2013 | New Jersey Law Journal

How much is contaminated property worth, if responsible parties have agreed to clean it up?

By David G. Mandelbaum

7 minute read

November 19, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

Last month, the Commonwealth Court decided a case that is worth some study for environmental lawyers about how to value contaminated property.

By David G. Mandelbaum

7 minute read

September 17, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

When the government enforces the environmental laws, it ought to be trying to accomplish something. I suggest that the government ought to be trying to make people better off. The government's lawyers can better explain why they are entitled to relief if they can connect the enforcement to that end. Others can better resist or challenge government action by pointing out how it does not serve the purpose. Courts ought to be able to hold all parties to that standard.

By David G. Mandelbaum

7 minute read