Insights

Washington – August 17, 2023: The 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 47 firm lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 41 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

Orange County – September 15, 2022: The Orange County Bar Association has selected Crowell & Moring partner Rick McNeil as the recipient of its 2022 Harmon G. Scoville Lifetime Achievement Award. Established over 30 years ago, this prestigious award is presented annually to a member of the Orange County legal community whose career exemplifies the highest standards of the legal profession, who is widely known as a champion of the constitutional system of justice, and who has made significant contributions to the OCBA and its community. McNeil will receive the award at the OCBA Volunteer Recognition Reception, which will be held on October 11.

Irvine, Calif. – January 23, 2018: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce the addition of Richard J. McNeil as a partner in the firm’s Environment & Natural Resources Group in Orange County. McNeil brings more than 30 years of private practice experience litigating and counseling on environmental matters, much of it in California, for clients in the manufacturing, chemical, land development, aerospace, metal, and insurance industries. His deep knowledge of the California environmental landscape broadens the national reach of the ENR Group.

Last week a San Francisco County state court order of February 25, 2021 denied a request for a preliminary injunction brought by a coalition of employer groups across several industries, including the National Retail Federation, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and Relles Florist, to block enforcement of the Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) issued by the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Cal OSHA) to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This Order leaves no doubt that employers in California will need to swiftly implement compliant policies and practices—to the extent they have not already—or else face potentially hefty penalties. Cal OSHA originally passed the COVID-19 ETS on December 1, 2020, but gave employers a two-month grace period to comply with the health and safety measures unique to this standard before imposing monetary penalties. That grace period expired in February 2021. Between that expiration and this latest Order, employers in California should be prepared for an uptick in enforcement measures in the coming weeks and months.

On July 28, 2020, in Meritor, Inc. v. EPA, No. 18-1325 (D.C. Cir.) the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied a petition for review challenging EPA’s listing on the National Priorities List (NPL) of the first site listed due exclusively to the subsurface intrusion exposure pathway.

In a case that may be remembered more for its dicta than its holding, Communities for a Better Environment v. South Coast Air Quality Management District, ____ Cal. App. 5th ___ (April 7, 2020) (Second District), provides a helpful and practical guide on how lead agencies should affix the “baseline” in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) cases. 

State governments and private environmental plaintiffs are playing a more prominent role in shaping the contours of what will be acceptable in the marketing and sale of products containing chemicals. As a result, the associated risk of litigation is expanding far beyond traditional enforcement actions.