Environmental Law and Land Use
Our Environmental Law and Land Use attorneys are seasoned professionals, each with many years of experience. Our services include advising clients who wish to achieve or maintain compliance with federal, state and local environmental and land use laws and regulations, as well as representing clients who face enforcement proceedings initiated by the regulatory authorities.
Egan, Flanagan & Cohen’s lawyers also represent landowners whose properties have been contaminated by oil or hazardous materials, and who seek compensation for diminution in value damages and/or payment for the cost of cleanup from the party responsible for the release of contaminants. Our clients include individual residential landowners, corporations, small businesses, and municipalities.
Frequently, environmental contamination issues arise in individual and commercial real estate transactions that can jeopardize the results anticipated by the parties. We provide focused and practical advice on how to address those issues, and to eliminate or manage the risk to our clients posed by actual or threatened environmental contamination.
In addition to the above, we handle a wide variety of environmental and land use matters involving clean air and water, wetlands, septic and drainage, pesticides, asbestos abatement, lead paint and mold, encroachment by abutters, eminent domain proceedings, handicap access and historical preservation issues, real estate tax exemptions and abatement issues, and perhaps unique among Massachusetts practitioners, land use issues occasionally arising from a naturally formed floating island that drifts freely around one of Springfield’s more notable ponds.
We work closely with highly qualified environmental, geotechnical and sanitary engineers, wetlands scientists, toxicologists, industrial hygienists and life/safety professionals who assist us in providing the best advice and solutions for our clients.
Awards & Settlements
In recent years Egan, Flanagan & Cohen’s lawyers have obtained:
- $500,000 settlement for the owner of property contaminated with gasoline by an oil company,
- $50.4 million reference award that led to a $62 million settlement for a nonprofit in a claim against its insurer for property damage resulting from a tornado.
- $29.4 million recovery for a nonprofit from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for uninsured tornado damage.
- Settlement for a client whose commercial property had been contaminated with solvents, heavy metals and PCBs that included a $2.5 million cash payment, plus the cost to remediate the property to achieve a Permanent Solution without an Activities and Use Limitation, estimated at the time of settlement to be $1 million to $4 million.
The best representation for over a century.
As we look toward our second century of working for our clients in Western Massachusetts, we’re proud to provide individuals and businesses the accessibility, integrity, and dedication you expect in a great law firm.
