Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Tom Donnelly has practiced environmental and insurance coverage law for more than 20 years. He is listed in Chambers USA as one of the leading environmental attorneys in the state of California and has been recognized as a leading environmental attorney by several other trade publications.

Tom represents clients in environmental litigation, toxic tort, and administrative proceedings; provides environmental compliance counseling and due diligence/transactional support; and assists clients in securing defense and indemnity from their liability insurers. His environmental and insurance coverage clients have included airlines, aerospace companies, oil and gas companies, metals and mining companies, utilities, equipment manufacturers, food and consumer product manufacturers, wineries, biotechnology companies, financial institutions, Internet retailers, and real property owners and developers.

Tom has considerable experience defending environmental litigation matters brought under CERCLA, RCRA, the Federal Clean Water Act, California's Proposition 65, and various common law theories. He also has defended several toxic tort cases claiming personal injury and property damage from alleged exposure to contaminated media. Tom has appeared in all federal district courts in California, the Ninth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals, and California trial and appellate courts.

Tom represents clients in a broad range of regulatory enforcement actions (such as cleanup and abatement orders and civil penalty actions) initiated by the California regulatory agencies and the federal EPA. Tom also regularly assists clients with a variety of environmental compliance issues, including hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal requirements, industrial wastewater and storm water requirements, environmental permitting, investigation and remediation of contaminated properties, and site closure. He advises clients on brownfields redevelopments and land use, conducts environmental due diligence, and negotiates and drafts environmental provisions of the underlying transactional documents.

In addition to pursuing insurance coverage whenever appropriate in the litigation matters he is handling, Tom recently secured a jury verdict after a seven-week trial that a policy issued by AIG affiliates covered property damage claims (totaling $24 million) asserted against client Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Tom has assisted several clients in negotiating and placing environmental impairment and pollution legal liability insurance policies as well.

Areas of Practice

• Environmental, Health & Safety
• Government Regulation
• Climate Change
• Trial Practice
• Insurance Coverage
• Insurance
• Energy
• Energy Environmental
• Energy/Utilities
• Metals & Mining
• Product Liability & Tort Litigation

West Practice Categories

Alcoholic Beverages, Apparel, Asbestos, Bankruptcy Litigation, Business & Commercial Law, Chemicals & Cosmetics, Class Actions, Clean Air Practice, Cleanup & Superfund, Complex Litigation, Environmental Law, Federal Appellate Practice, Federal Claims Court, Federal Trial Practice, Firearms, Food & Agricultural Products, Food & Drug Administration, Government Agencies & Programs, Hazardous Waste, Housing & Urban Development, Insurance Law, International Law, International Trade Litigation, Law Enforcement Agencies, Litigation & Appeals, Machinery & Tools, Medical Products & Devices, Medicare & Medicaid, Military & Veterans Appeals, Motor Vehicle Defects, Multidistrict Litigation, Patent Litigation, Permits, Pharmaceutical Products, Products Liability Law, Recreational Products, Regulatory Compliance & Auditing, Social Security -- Disability, Social Security -- Retirement & Survivors Benefits, Solid Waste, State & Local Agencies, State Appellate Practice, State Trial Practice, Tax Litigation, Tobacco, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, US Supreme Court, Veterans' Affairs, Water Pollution, Welfare, Wetlands & Wild Lands

Bar Admissions

• California

Education

• Harvard University

Published Works

• Policy Holders in Environmental Cleanup Actions are Potentially Entitled to Multiple Policy Limits; Multiple Causes of Loss are Not a Basis to Deny Coverage, 2009
• California's Global Warming Solutions Act: Creating a Haze of Uncertainty for Business, 2008
• The Fall-Out From Cooper v. Aviall, Chemical Waste Litigation Reporter, Vol. 50, No. 3, 2005

Address

555 California Street
26th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94104

Phones

1.415.875.5880 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.415.875.5700 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com