Resolving Superfund Liability and Protecting PRP Interests: Settling and Preserving CERCLA Claims

Mr. Mandelbaum represents clients facing problems under the environmental laws. He regularly represents clients in lawsuits and also has helped clients achieve satisfactory outcomes through regulatory negotiation or private transactions. A Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers, Mr. Mandelbaum teaches Superfund, and Oil and Gas Law in rotation at the Temple University Beasley School of Law as well as an environmental litigation course at Suffolk (Boston) Law School. He has been engaged in matters involving allocation of costs among responsible parties, especially under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). Mr. Mandelbaum has tried large cases and resolved others as lead counsel. He has written, spoken, and taught extensively on the subject.

Mr. Showalter is a litigator focusing on business and public policy disputes. He is well-versed in decades-old statutes and regulations that govern rapidly evolving issues such as fracking, superfund remediation, and carbon capture sequestration. While much of his recent work involves disputes arising under environmental statutes including CERCLA, RCRA, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act, Mr. Showalter has represented parties involved in commercial, class action, toxic tort, and regulatory litigation in courts throughout the U.S. He defends parties against "citizen suits" brought by private parties and non-governmental organizations alleging that their activities have violated federal or state law. Successes include securing the dismissal with prejudice – upheld by the Ninth Circuit – of a case alleging that a West Coast utility's use of hundreds of thousands of telephone poles was illegal, and securing the dismissal of air-related claims at the federal and state level against a Midwestern utility

Mr. Talbert is an accomplished trial attorney and environmental lawyer who focuses on environmental litigation, permitting, and risk management. He has significant experience in all major environmental statutes and has litigated cases across the country. Mr. Talbert has worked on over 70 contaminated sites nationally and has served as a mediator in environmental disputes, including the allocation of costs at Superfund Sites. Prior to joining the firm, he led the environmental group at a Chambers-ranked law firm and was a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Section. At the U.S. DOJ, Mr. Talbert led one of the largest Clean Water Act cases in U.S. history, the first Clean Air Act case under EPA’s pulp and paper initiative related to New Source Review, the largest Natural Resource Damages case under the Park Service Resource Protection Act, and numerous CERCLA and RCRA cases. He received numerous awards for his work, including EPA's Gold Medal for exceptional service. Mr. Talbert was named a 2025 "Lawyer of the Year" for Environmental Litigation and is a Band 1 ranked lawyer on Chambers USA.