An increasing number of environmental, safety and health (ESH) controversies are finding their way into the nation’s courts. This can occur when a regulatory matter is not successfully resolved during the rulemaking process, and one of the stakeholders sues to have the rule modified or invalidated. Government agencies may also go to court to enforce their directives, such as compelling a party to clean up a contaminated property.

Product liability cases are the most common form of ESH litigation. These cases tend to involve highly technical questions of engineering, material science, chemical content and biological responses. For this reason, those with expertise in these disciplines play a vital role in educating the litigants, judge and juries.

This is also true in what are called toxic tort cases, in which those who develop cancers or other health effects sue product manufacturers, chemical producers or operators of industrial facilities for causing harmful chemical exposures. These cases can involve a range of exposure scenarios, including respiration of air pollutants, ingestion of food containing pesticides, additives, or contaminants, or exposure to contaminated soil or groundwater. Toxic tort cases are sometimes brought many years after the alleged exposure. For all these reasons, they can require the input of many types of experts, including physicians, toxicologists, epidemiologists, chemists, statisticians, environmental fate and transport specialists, and engineering control experts.