Environmental Law and litigation

scl@bcltlaw.com
Tel: 415 228 5400

Stephen C. Lewis

Steve Lewis is a founding partner of Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp, LLP, and was formerly a senior litigation partner in Landels Ripley & Diamond, LLP's Environmental Law Department. Although he has been a litigator for over 30 years, for more than 25 years Steve has specialized in the defense of complex personal injury, property damage and products liability claims. He has represented manufacturers of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and machinery in hundreds of state and federal court actions and in alternative dispute resolution proceedings. From 2000-2005 he served as Managing Partner of Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp, LLP.

Steve's litigation and trial practice has been built on a commitment to excellence and client service, attention to detail, and the ability to apply sound common sense toward resolving complex lawsuits efficiently and cost effectively. Steve's clients find him particularly easy to work with and unusually responsive and accessible.

Steve has been honored as a "Super Lawyer" by San Francisco magazine in an annual survey of Northern California lawyers almost every year since the survey's inception. He has also been named one of the Bay Area's top environmental lawyers by Bay Area Lawyer magazine, in addition to being listed in the International Bar Association's Who's Who Legal.

Steve's professional expertise includes:

Defense of individual and mass tort personal injury claims filed in the United States and overseas arising out of alleged exposure to agricultural and industrial chemicals in the workplace, air and/or groundwater
Defense of complex property damage claims asserted by individual property owners, municipalities and purported state-wide plaintiff classes arising out of alleged soil and groundwater contamination by agricultural and industrial chemicals
Defense of products liability lawsuits brought against manufacturers and distributors of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and machinery
Defense of companies in CERCLA litigation and litigation regarding compliance with a variety of state and federal environmental regulations

Steve's professional expertise includes:

Defense of individual and mass tort personal injury claims filed in the United States and overseas arising out of alleged exposure to agricultural and industrial chemicals in the workplace, air and/or groundwater
Defense of complex property damage claims asserted by individual property owners, municipalities and purported state-wide plaintiff classes arising out of alleged soil and groundwater contamination by agricultural and industrial chemicals
Defense of products liability lawsuits brought against manufacturers and distributors of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and machinery
Defense of companies in CERCLA litigation and litigation regarding compliance with a variety of state and federal environmental regulations

Education

University of Colorado School of Law, J.D. 1975
Wesleyan University, Connecticut, B.A., Sociology, cum laude, 1972

Representative Matters

Defending actions brought by cities involving alleged pesticide contamination and subsequent closure of city-owned or operated drinking water wells, including defense of a former chemical manufacturer concerning claims regarding the pesticide DBCP
Representing companies in suits alleging diminution of property value due to subsurface presence of chemicals in soil or groundwater
Representing a chemical company in defense of hundreds of personal injury claims brought by banana workers in several Central American countries and the Philippines based on alleged exposure to the pesticide DBCP.
Representing several companies that owned and operated a former wood treating facility in a lawsuit brought by more than 2,000 plaintiffs in the Eastern District of California alleging violations of the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and personal injuries and property damage
Representing a chemical company defendant in multiple actions brought by municipalities, water providers and landowners alleging contamination and subsequent closure of drinking water wells due to the dry-cleaning solvent perchloroethylene

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