Category: Past Issues

Timothy N. Forsman. The taming of the American West, and the utilization of its great rivers, led to an era of unparalleled prosperity and growth for the Nation. However, the era of the endless frontier has long since passed, and…

Robert D. Anderson, Norm James, Dawn Meidinger & Greg Adams. Standard practice for conducting due diligence as part of real estate trans-actions has long included an assessment of the potential for a site to have “recognized environmental conditions,” i.e., hazardous…

Sherri Zendri. The alphabet soup of federal and state statutes and rules regulating the purchase and sale of property can quickly become overwhelming. Nevertheless, parties to commercial and residential real estate transactions ignore such laws at their own peril: failure…

Christopher D. Thomas. Few statutes bedevil experienced litigators as often as the federal Superfund act, the Comprehensive Environment Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”). Although CERCLA practice is now into its third decade, the statute’s chronic drafting flaws and the…

Patrick J. Paul & Christopher P. Colyer. As activity on the real estate transactional front continues to gain momentum, real estate practitioners need to increasingly be aware of due diligence requirements necessary to minimize or avoid liability under federal law—namely,…

Mark A. McGinnis, Esq. & R. Jeffrey Heilman, Esq. Water is and always has been an issue of critical importance in Arizona. Living in Arizona’s desert climate means that all economic activity, from agricultural and industrial enterprises to residential development,…

Gary E. Marchant. Uncertain risks present unique challenges to the law. Unlike science, which can always defer judgment until more data are generated and uncertainties are reduced, law must often come to final decisions on uncertain risks that are indeterminate…

Laura Malone. The following Article is based on comments given by Laura Malone at “Saving the Deal: Avoiding and Minimizing Environmental Liability in Corporate and Real Estate Transactions,” a continuing legal education seminar. The information contained below is a summary…

Kenneth A. Hodson & Charles H. Oldham. This article discusses potential liability under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (“CERCLA”) and certain defenses thereto including the Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser (“BFPP”) defense. Under…

Jim Derouin. “Environmental Law” is, on the one hand, a phenomenon—an active, sometimes frenetic, area of the law for the last forty years. On the other hand, it is an ages-long reaction of civilization to, variously, preserve, protect, use and/or…