Environmental Lawyers In Virginia

Environmental law not only protects Americans from developing serious illnesses, but the statutes passed at both the state and federal levels also help protect delicate ecosystems and the wildlife that thrive within them. Regulations that result from the enactment of environmental laws deal with complex issues such as pollution, contamination, and responses to manmade disasters. Legislation enacted at the state and federal levels protects the quality of the air, land, soil, and water that comprise different ecosystems. For instance, the Clean Air Act of 1970 addresses the cause of air pollution, as well as places a limit on the number of particulates that companies can discharge into the atmosphere.

Charitable institutions and nonprofit government organizations (NGOs) monitor the compliance required by businesses and government agencies to create a healthy ecosystem. Conservation and resource management represent the two most important components of environmental laws. One of the many responsibilities of environmental lawyers in Virginia is to ensure businesses and government agencies follow the conservation and resources management criteria established by environmental laws.

Contamination of groundwater develops when contaminants leak into a water supply, which makes it unhealthy and even deadly for humans and animals to consume. Groundwater contamination can originate from many different sources that can be natural or manmade. Numerous urban activities can accidentally discharge contaminants into groundwater. Chemical spills and pesticide runoffs represent two of the most common causes of contaminated groundwater. Other sources of contaminated groundwater include landfills, sewer overflows, toxic chemicals like radon, and defective wastewater treatment plants.

Environmental lawyers in Virginia and throughout the United States have to follow a slightly different path for proving negligence as part of an environmental lawsuit. In addition to proving a duty of care, a breach of the duty of care doctrine, causation, and financial losses. The attorney that you hire from Morgan and Morgan must prove the existence of three additional elements of negligence.

Exposure

The personal injury attorney from Morgan and Morgan handling your case must submit persuasive evidence that you developed a debilitating illness because of prolonged exposure to a toxic spill. For example, let’s assume that contaminated soil leached into the vegetables that you grow at home. Your lawyer must connect the leached contaminates to the development of your symptoms. For the Camp Lejeune lawsuit, attorneys litigating the case have to demonstrate their clients develop cancerous tumors as a direct result of drinking water contaminated with toxic chemicals.

Unaware of Exposure to Harmful Substances

Not only must your lawyer link the development of an illness with extended exposure to contaminated soil, food, and/or water, but your legal representative also must show the judge hearing your case that you did not know about the toxic chemicals tainting the food and/or water supply. After the toxic chemical spill in Russell County, Virginia, state and federal environmental agencies alerted nearby residents and businesses about the potential negative health consequences of drinking tap water. Many residents fell under a boil water order until workers cleaned up the tainted site of the water contamination. If any resident failed to follow the boil water order and then developed a serious illness, the resident is not eligible to file a civil lawsuit because of knowing about the boil water order.

You Did Not Cause the Environmental Hazard

Despite the negative publicity directed at businesses and government agencies that pollute the air, land, and water, the fact remains that a substantial number of environmental damage cases result from the actions taken by property owners. If you had something to do with causing a health hazard of any kind, you automatically disqualify yourself from receiving the monetary damages awarded by a judge during a civil trial. Every environmental lawsuit litigated by the environmental lawyers in Virginia from Morgan and Morgan has involved the negligence committed by another party.

The personal injury attorney that you hire from Morgan and Morgan ensures you file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Every state sets the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit, with a vast majority of states establishing a deadline between two and four years. However, you might move to a state that sets a deadline as long as six years or as short as one year. Virginia has set the statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit at two years. Unlike other types of personal injury cases, it can be difficult to determine when the clock starts ticking on an environmental lawsuit. This is because many illnesses develop delayed symptoms, such as the case with most types of cancer. 

Although two years is a long enough period to file a convincing personal injury lawsuit that seeks monetary damages for most cases, the same cannot be said for filing an environmental lawsuit. Your attorney must address several highly complex medical and technical issues that arise during an investigation. Because of the uncertainty surrounding an environmental lawsuit, you should act with a sense of urgency by taking legal action quickly after discovering your symptoms. Treating a disease like cancer can rack up medical bills that run into tens of thousands of dollars. Filing a claim as soon as possible after receiving a diagnosis of a serious disease helps you recover financial losses much faster than if you wait just before the deadline to take legal action.

If you do not meet the two-year deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit in Virginia, you can expect the court clerk processing your case to remove it from the judicial docket.

The most important type of support provided by environmental lawyers in Virginia involves getting their clients the compensation they deserve. At Morgan and Morgan, our personal injury attorneys work hard to receive approval for economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.

Economic Damages

Also called special compensatory damages, economic damages cover the costs associated with tangible expenses. This includes medical bills, property damage, and lost wages. Medical bills cover the costs of diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and physical therapy sessions. You also can request compensation for prescription medications and the use of an assistive device. 

An environmental disaster can cause considerable damage to your property that takes months, if not years to clean up. You deserve compensation for any damage done to your property. The diseases that develop due to prolonged exposure to contaminated air, land, and groundwater often force victims to miss a substantial number of work days. You have the right to request compensation to cover lost wages as well.

Non-Economic Damages

Living with a serious disease can cause emotional distress issues, which is especially true for someone who receives a diagnosis of a terminal type of cancer. Fear, anger, and anxiety all can form the perfect emotional distress storm. You have the right to receive compensation for the emotional issues that develop because of the negligence committed by another party. 

Your attorney calculates a value for non-economic damages by using a formula that considers the value of economic damages.

Punitive Damages

Judges award punitive damages not to help plaintiffs recover financial losses, but to punish defendants that committed one or more acts of negligence. For particularly egregious acts of negligence, a judge might award a value for punitive damages that exceeds the combined value of economic and non-economic damages. Punitive damages also deter the defendant from committing future acts of negligence that harm other people. 

The environmental lawyers in Virginia from Morgan and Morgan have accumulated more than three decades of experience litigating environmental law cases. Take action to receive just compensation for the damage caused by contaminated air. land, and/or water by scheduling a free case evaluation.