Diana Buongiorno is an attorney in the Environmental and Product Liability & Toxic Tort Groups with over 20 years of experience. While she devotes a substantial portion of her practice to representing the interests of clients in connection with regulatory compliance, permitting and other aspects of remediation, real estate transactions and redevelopment projects, she is also a well-respected litigator handling claims in the areas of environmental, toxic tort and products liability law before various federal and state courts.
Environmental
Diana’s experience in environmental law covers both federal and state environmental statutes, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Clean Water Act, the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act (Spill Act), the New Jersey Waterfront Development Law and the New Jersey Wetlands Protection Act, the New Jersey Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA), the Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA) and many other federal and state statutes.
Relevant Experience
- Representing clients before federal, state and local regulatory agencies and the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law with regard to various obligations under both federal and state environmental statutes, and advising clients on environmental permitting, regulatory compliance and enforcement matters involving a wide range of issues, including groundwater contamination, soil contamination, landfill closure and remediation, and the operation of resource recovery facilities and manufacturing facilities.
- Counseling both individual and corporate clients on issues related to environmental permitting, land use permitting and regulatory compliance, and assists clients with applying for and obtaining environmental and land use permits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard including wetlands mitigation.
- Serving as lead counsel in both federal and state litigation matters involving liability, investigation/design/remedial cost recovery, natural resource damages and allocation among multiple defendants and third-party defendants.
- Serving as liaison counsel for a group of generators in the Pennsauken Landfill Site litigation and a group of defendants in the Passaic River litigation.
- Negotiating a number of significant cost recovery settlement agreements with both State and Federal agencies and private parties.
- Counseling both individual and corporate clients on issues related to environmental insurance coverage, including locating coverage, notice, negotiating coverage settlements and negotiation and procurement of pollution policies for both remediation and redevelopment.
- Representing clients in commercial real estate transactions, including Brownfield redevelopment projects, involving reviewing and negotiating consulting agreements, coordinating and interfacing with engineers, architects, remedial design and implementation contractors and insurance professionals.
Products Liability & Toxic Tort
Diana’s experience in toxic tort and products liability matters is equally noteworthy, representing clients in New York and New Jersey on matters involving claims for damages (including medical monitoring) related to sanitary sewer overflows, polluted municipal water wells, and exposure to carbon monoxide, lead paint, mold, chlorine gas and other toxins. She has also successfully represented a multitude of corporations of varying size and industry against claims of defective products, defective design, failure to warn and ancillary common law claims.
