John G. Nevius is a
shareholder in the New York office of
Anderson Kill and Chair of the
Environmental Law Group. He has
successfully resolved
and litigated a
variety of legal and technical matters,
most of which involve insurance
coverage. He has obtained over
$200 million in settlements and
judgments from insurance companies.
He also has represented
numerous Fortune 500 companies and has extensive experience trying
or arbitrating complex disputes,
generally on behalf of policyholders, in
the following areas: environmental,
real estate, construction,
power-generation, mining, electronics, petro-chemical, telecommunications and work-place safety.
Mr. Nevius has a
broad range of legal experience, but
focuses on environmental
insurance and risk management, including general liability,
pollution legal liability (PLL), finite risk,
financial assurance and so-called
pollution exclusions. Mr. Nevius is
co-author with the late Eugene R. Anderson of a
treatise on Brownfields Law and Practice
involving clean up and redevelopment of
contaminated real estate using insurance. He is
routinely retained by policyholders,
developers and other lawyers to
evaluate, and maximize, recovery of
insurance assets. He
is also a Senior Consultant at Anderson
Kill Insurance Services (AKIS), a
non-legal subsidiary of the firm as well
as an Adjunct Faculty member at Pace
University Law School where he teaches
Science for Environmental Lawyers as
well as the inaugural Climate-Change
Insurance class as part of the first LLM Program
of its kind.
He is a member of the firm's
International Business Department and
his clients include several
multi-national as well as Canadian-based
mining, energy, telecommunications and
electronics companies. Mr. Nevius
also has extensive international
arbitration experience and training in
international law.
Mr. Nevius has a J.D. from Pace
with a
concentration in environmental law. He
has Masters degrees in Civil/Systems
Engineering as well as Geology from the
University
of
Pennsylvania
and a B.S. in
Geology/Geophysics from the
University
of
Connecticut.
Mr. Nevius is a Registered Professional
Engineer (PE 045229E) and was a Senior
Project Manager/Hydrogeologist at the
U.S. EPA for more than 8 years.
He has written and
lectured widely on insurance coverage
and environmental issues, including
Brownfields and clean-up provisions of
federal and state environmental laws
(generally RCRA and CERCLA a/k/a
Superfund). At EPA, he
provided technical and enforcement
support to Region
III's
Criminal Enforcement Branch, the
Inspector General and the FBI.
Mr. Nevius is the author of two
Records of Decision (RODs), has
testified as an expert witness in
federal court and received an EPA
National Excellence in RCRA Enforcement
award and a Bronze Medal.
In 2010, 2011 and 2012,
Mr. Nevius was selected by his peers to
Super Lawyers for Insurance
Coverage.
In 2010, Mr. Nevius was also selected
for the Editorial Board of the
Environmental Claims Journal.
Representative Engagements
Mr. Nevius has represented numerous
corporations, including such household
names as American Standard, Arrow
Electronics, Brooks Brothers, Clorox
(First Brands), Cyprus Amax Minerals,
DynCorp, Freeport McMoRan, Henry Schein,
Jacobs Engineering, Murphy Oil, PPM
America,
Pulte Homes, Purdue Pharma, Reynolds
Metals, Samsung, Savin, Sbarros, Sprint,
Structure Tone,
Tektronix,
Texas
Instruments, Textron, Thiokol,
TransCanada, Waste
Management, Weyerhaeuser, and Yukon
Nevada Gold Corp. Mr.
Nevius has also represented the State of
California,
the Canadian provincial Government
of the
Yukon,
the Village of Millbrook, NY, and the
City of Holland, MI, as well as several Brownfield developers
and lenders, including Commerce Bank,
Valley National Bank and JP Morgan Chase.
Major Cases, Trials and Arbitrations
Mr. Nevius has been directly
involved in obtaining favorable outcomes
for policyholder clients in the
following:
Nat’l Union, ACE INA and Arch, etc. v.
TransCanada Energy USA, Inc. and ATC
Ravenswood Services Corp.,
Index No. 650515/2010 (NY Sup., NY Co.
2010); and TC Ravenswood, LLC v.
Nat’l Union, Factory Mutual, et al.,
Index No. 400759/2011 (NY Sup., Quns.
Co. 2011) (Steam Turbine Business
Interruption and Property Damage
Coverage Dispute)
NA Dulles Real Estate Investors, LLC
v. Chicago Title Insurance Company,
Index No. 10-44582 (Dist. Ct., Suffolk
County) (filed January 31, 2011) (Real
Estate-Development Dispute Involving
Access and Title Insurance)
Triangle Aviation Services, Inc. v.
Fenley & Nicol Environmental, Inc.,
Docket No. 600228/2010 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.
Nassau Cty.) (filed March 31, 2010) (As
Yet Unresolved Environmental Dispute)
Sprague Energy Corp. v. American Home
Assurance Company, a wholly owned
subsidiary of American International
Group, Inc. ("AIG"), a/k/a American
International Underwriters ("AIU"),
Civ. Action No. 1:09-cv-01136 (AWT) (D.
Conn) (filed July 20, 2009)
(Environmental Insurance Coverage
Dispute)
Queenstake Resources U.S.A., Inc. v.
American Int’l Specialty Lines Ins. Co.
(AIG),
Civil Action No. 07-CV-00148 (D. Colo.
filed January 19, 2007) (International
Arbitration – Mine Financial Assurance)
Arrow Electronics, Inc. v.
Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., et al., Case
No. BC342044 (Cal. Super.,
L.A.
County
(filed
October 26, 2005)
(Environmental Coverage Action – General
Liability)
Benenson v. Mass. Mut. Financial
Group, (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles
Cty., No. BC 296920) (filed November 3,
2004)
Tensolite Co. v. Flextronics Int’l
Ltd., Scanfil Oy and Nokia, Inc.,
Civil Action No. 03-CV-9675 (S.D.N.Y.
filed December 5, 2003)
(International Arbitration –
Telecommunications)
Employers Ins. of Wausau v.
Tektronix, Inc., No. CCV 9908032
(Or.
Cir. Court,
Clackamas
County)
(August 2002) (Environmental Coverage
Trial – General and Environmental
Impairment Liability)
Waste Management, Inc. v. Admiral
Ins. Co., et al, Docket No.
HUD-L-931-92 (N.J. Super.,
Hudson
County)
(November – December 2001)
(Environmental Coverage Trial)
ZRZ Realty Co., et al. v. Beneficial
Fire & Cas.
Co.,
et al,
Circuit Court No. 9708-06226 (Or. Cir.,
Multnomah
County)
(October – December 1999) (Environmental
Coverage Trial)
Cascade Corp. v. American Home Assur.
Co.,
et al,
No. 9205-03083 (Or. Cir.,
Multnomah
County)
(July – October 1998) (Environmental
Coverage Trial)
Published Legal Decisions
Mr. Nevius has represented clients
in the following reported decisions:
ZRZ Realty Co. v. Beneficial Fire and
Casualty Ins. Co., et al.,
222 Or. App. 453, 194 P.3d 167 (Oct. 1,
2008), modified 225 Or. App. 257, 201
P.3d 912 (Jan. 14, 2009)
Federal Ins. Co. v. Samsung
Electronics Am., Inc., et al., 268
S.W.3d 506 (Tex. 2008)
Employers Ins. of
Wausau
v. Tektronix, Inc.,
211 Or. App. 485 (2007)
Cascade Corp. v. Am. Home Assurance
Co., et al., 206 Or. App.1 (2006)
Hold Bros., Inc., et al. v.
Hartford
Cas. Ins. Co.,
Case No. 04 Civ. 7223 (SAS) (S.D.N.Y.,
Jan. 27, 2005)
Pulte Home Corp. v. Fidelity and
Guar. Ins. Co., 2004 WL 516216 (Va.
Cir. Ct.,
Feb. 6, 2004)
Soho Plaza Corp. v. Nationwide Mut.
Ins. Co., 2003 WL 22255005 (N.Y.A.D.
1st Dept. Oct. 2, 2003)
Textron Inc. v.
Aetna
Cas. & Sur. Co.,
754 A.2d 742 (R.I. 2000)
R.E.O., Inc., et al. v. The Travelers
Cos., No. CV 9503725225 (Conn.
Super. 1998)
Thiokol Corp. v. Certain Underwriters
at Lloyd's, London, No. 96-CV-028-B,
1997 WL 33798359 (D. Utah 1997)
St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v.
McCormick & Baxter Creosoting Co., Inc.,
324 Or. 184 (1996)
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