PEMA May Monthly Seminar

PEMA presents an online seminar by

Jeremy Squire, PE

Principal

Murex Environmental, Inc.

and

Jay Tufano

Partner

Ring Bender LLP

Site assessment, remediation, and redevelopment of Brownfield properties can be prohibitively expensive for private property owners and can leave sites untouched for years, especially when the environmental costs leave the property illiquid. Many family-owned small businesses and commercial property owners have gone bankrupt responding to agency orders after the discovery of a historical release. The presenters will discuss how historical insurance policies can be leveraged as financial assets to provide defense and indemnity in certain limited circumstances, and will present case studies to illustrate the importance of policy archeology, policy language, and the project team’s experience in determining success.

Jeremy Squire, PE is a founding principal and operations manager with Murex Environmental, Inc. Mr. Squire has 20 years of experience in cleanup, reuse and rebuilding of former industrial properties and is an expert in environmental site assessment, soil and groundwater remediation, and environmental regulatory negotiation and compliance. Mr. Squire has completed hundreds of projects in the Southern California, many of which involving full or partial funding through legacy insurance policy defense and indemnity. The majority of projects involve close coordination with attorneys who are experienced with the administration of insurance-funded work as either insurer-assigned or cumis counsel.

Jay Tufano is a partner at the law firm, Ring Bender LLP. His practice involves counseling and representing clients in litigation and negotiations with regulatory agencies regarding compliance with federal statutes such as CERCLA (i.e. Superfund), RCRA, and related state statutes, including California’s HSAA. He also represents businesses in private cost recovery suits, including groundwater cleanup litigation and actions involving drycleaners. On the transactional side, Jay counsels private developers and public entities in matters involving the sale, acquisition, cleanup, and redevelopment of contaminated properties (i.e. “brownfield redevelopment”). His expertise includes evaluating potential regulatory risks and site closure requirements, together with risk-mitigation tools such as environmental insurance.