Hannah D. Bloink

Hannah Bloink’s practice primarily focuses on environmental litigation and counseling, as well as environmental corporate transactions. She litigates complex multi-party environmental cases, including federal cost-recovery actions and state common law causes of action. These cases often involve significant potential liabilities, historical operations stretching back over 100 years, and corporate successor and liability issues involving numerous complex transactions. Hannah also counsels clients on a variety of complex state and federal regulatory issues, including hazardous waste classification, permitting, waste discharge permitting, release reporting and notice requirements.

Hannah also has a deep transactional background and advises clients on liability transfer, assumption, and assignment issues, as well as negotiates environmental transactions and contracts, including waste disposal contracts and purchase of waste discharge rights.

Experience

Environmental Litigation

Hannah handles environmental litigation ranging from common law causes of action relating to environmental contamination of property to federal and state environmental laws. Hannah is particularly skilled in handling complicated discovery issues and leading complex e-discovery teams for clients, including management of e-discovery vendors. Examples include:

• Lead discovery and document production efforts in class action toxic tort suit (as co-counsel with large national firm) brought against aerospace company asserting common law claims of negligence, nuisance and trespass as a result of groundwater contamination and associated vapor intrusion, and property damage claims.
• Defend client (an aerospace company) as the former lessee of multiple industrial properties occupied at various times from the 1950s to 1990s in cost recovery action brought by property owner under California’s Hazardous Substances Account Act and common law causes of action.
• Defend client as the alleged successor to liability related to company’s use of chemicals in the early 1900s in CERCLA cost-recovery and contribution action brought against dozens of companies relating to chemicals in the Passaic River.
• Represent client in mediation against attempts by subsequent property owner to recover millions of dollars under New Jersey state law relating to allegations of client’s alleged predecessor’s use of underground storage tank.

Environmental Counseling

Hannah advises clients on environmental, health and safety issues under federal, state and local environmental laws. Examples include:

• Assist clients with reporting requirements for federal and state underground storage tank financial responsibility regulations.
• Counsel clients on remediation and closure requirements.
• Assist clients on insurance coverage disputes.

Real Estate and Corporate Transactions

Prior to joining the Firm, Hannah focused on corporate transactions and strategic affiliations between major physician groups and health systems, as well as negotiations and contracting of managed care agreements for hospitals, hospital systems, physician groups and hospital/physician integrated delivery systems with major state and national health plans. Hannah draws on this transactional background in addressing environmental aspects of real estate and corporate transactions for Firm clients. Examples include:

• Draft strategic affiliation agreement and related corporate documents related to environmental remediation work to be carried out in conjunction with one or more parties.
• Advise clients on successor liability issues associated with acquisition of corporate assets.
• Negotiate representations and warranties and indemnities provisions of stock and asset purchase agreements.