Guam secures renowned legal team for PFAS Litigation

July 24, 2019 | Comments Off on Guam secures renowned legal team for PFAS Litigation

Three weeks after the Prutehi I Hanom Act became law, the OAG has selected a PFAS Legal Team comprised of six law firms who will collectively help represent Guam in PFAS-related litigation. This evening, Governor Lourdes Leon Guerrero signed the contract.

The terms of the contingency fee were finalized in a Retainer Agreement setting a contingency fee of 15% which is half of the 30% authorized by the Act if the case settles before trial. If trial takes places, the contingency fees will increase by only 2.5%.

The Retainer Agreement also lays out of the following terms:

  • The PFAS Litigation Team will only receive payment if they are successful.
  • The PFAS Litigation Team will pay upfront for all expert witnesses.

“I want to thank Governor Leon Guerrero for making this a priority and our Senators for recognizing the benefit of swift action,” said Attorney General Leevin Taitano Camacho. “They trusted us to find the best experts to help recover for damage caused by the use of PFAS, and we were able to do just that with terms that are good for Guam.”       

The PFAS Litigation Team is made up of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Taft Stettiniuis & Hollister LLP, Kennedy & Madonna, LLP, Douglas & London, P.C., SL Environmental Law Group PC, and Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor, P.A. The PFAS Litigation Team has represented approximately 8 states and territories in environmental litigation, including currently representing Ohio, New Hampshire and New Jersey in PFAS-related litigation. The PFAS Litigation Team brings expertise that includes acting as lead counsel in the first PFAS exposure case filed in 1999, involvement in complex multidistrict litigations such as Deepwater Horizon (BP) Oil Spill in the Gulf, and recovering billions of dollars in settlements on behalf of states through environmental litigation.

Deputy Attorney General Fred Nishihara and Assistant Attorneys General Janice Camacho and Joseph Perez handled the solicitation on behalf of Office of the Attorney General.

To view the Fee Agreement, click here: https://bit.ly/2YnAgnx