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A King County Superior Court judge awarded GordonDerr and its client over $445,000 as reimbursement for three years of defense costs in a lawsuit brought to determine who should pay for the cleanup of contaminated property. Keith Moxon, a partner at GordonDerr, with over 18 years of environmental litigation experience, represented Gemini Construction of Washington, Inc., in defending a claim brought under Washington's Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA). The case was brought by the current owner, Exit 7, Inc., who discovered contamination on the property and sued Gemini, a former owner of the property, to recover cleanup costs. While fee awards to prevailing MTCA plaintiffs are not uncommon, the judgment entered in the Exit 7 v. Gemini case is believed to be the largest fee award in favor of a defendant in the history of MTCA.
Exit 7's lawsuit against Gemini sought over $1 million in cleanup costs and other property damages. Following a 5-week jury trial, a unanimous verdict was entered finding Gemini not liable to Exit 7 for any cleanup costs or other damages. The jury agreed with Gemini's defense that no hazardous substances had been deposited on the property during Gemini's ownership and that Exit 7 had failed to prove any other theory of liability. Following the jury verdict, Judge Dean S. Lum entered an order ruling that the defendant, Gemini, was the "prevailing party" under MTCA and was entitled to an award of its attorneys' fees and litigation costs. Judgment in the amount of $445,489.04 was entered in favor of defendant, Gemini, on February 9, 2004. Exit 7 did not appeal the decision and paid the judgment in full in early March.
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