John G. Nevius was a senior shareholder in the New York office of Anderson Kill and Chair of the Environmental Law Group. He successfully resolved and litigated a variety of legal and technical matters, most of which involve insurance coverage. He obtained over $200 million in settlements and judgments from insurance companies. He also represented numerous Fortune 500 companies and has extensive experience trying or arbitrating complex disputes, generally on behalf of policyholders, in the following areas: environmental, real estate, construction, power-generation, mining, electronics, petro-chemical, telecommunications and work-place safety.
Mr. Nevius had a broad range of legal experience, but focused on environmental insurance and risk management, including general liability, pollution legal liability (PLL), finite risk, financial assurance and so-called pollution exclusions. Mr. Nevius was co-author with the late Eugene R. Anderson of a treatise on Brownfields Law and Practice involving clean up and redevelopment of contaminated real estate using insurance. He was routinely retained by policyholders, developers and other lawyers to evaluate, and maximize, recovery of insurance assets. He was also a Senior Consultant at Anderson Kill Insurance Services (AKIS), a non-legal subsidiary of the firm as well as a former Adjunct Professor of Law at Pace University where he taught Science for Environmental Lawyers and conducted a Climate-Change Insurance Seminar.
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Mr. Nevius had a J.D. from Pace with a concentration in environmental law. He had Masters degrees in Civil/Systems Engineering as well as Geology from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Geology/Geophysics from the University of Connecticut.
Mr. Nevius was a Registered Professional Engineer (PE 045229E) and was a Senior Project Manager/Hydrogeologist at the U.S. EPA for more than 8 years. He wrote and lectured widely on insurance coverage and environmental issues, including Brownfields and clean-up provisions of federal and state environmental laws (generally RCRA and CERCLA a/k/a Superfund). At EPA, he provided technical and enforcement support to Region III's Criminal Enforcement Branch, the Inspector General and the FBI. Mr. Nevius was the author of two Records of Decision (RODs), testified as an expert witness in federal court and received an EPA National Excellence in RCRA Enforcement award and a Bronze Medal.
In 2010, Mr. Nevius was also selected for the Editorial Board of the Environmental Claims Journal.
Mr. Nevius was selected by his peers to SuperLawyers for Insurance Coverage every year since 2010.
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Professional Memberships
American Bar Association: Climate Change Subcommittee of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the Trial & Insurance Practice Section; The Bar Association of the City of New York; The New York State Bar Association: Environmental Insurance Committee.
Association Memberships
American Geophysical Union; American Society of Civil Engineers; The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS); American Water Works Association.
Board Memberships
Trustee, Life-Time Member and Chairman, Law Committee of The Holland Society of New York; Trustee of the not-for-profit Brooklyn Free Space, a cooperative pre-school.
Mr. Nevius has represented numerous corporations, including such household names as American Standard, Arcadis, U.S.A., Arrow Electronics, Brooks Brothers, Clorox (First Brands), Cyprus Amax Minerals, DynCorp, Ford Aerospace, Freeport McMoRan, Henry Schein, Jacobs Engineering, Murphy Oil, PPM America, Pulte Homes, Purdue Pharma, Reynolds Metals, Samsung, Savin, Sbarros, Sprint, Structure Tone, Sun Micro-Systems, Tektronix, Texas Instruments, Textron, Thiokol, TransCanada, Triangle Aviation Services, Veris Gold Corp., Waste Management and Weyerhaeuser. Mr. Nevius has also represented the State of California, the Canadian provincial Government of the Yukon, the Village of Millbrook, NY, and the City of Holland, MI, as well as several Brownfield developers and lenders, including Commerce Bank, Valley National Bank and JP Morgan Chase.
Major Cases, Trials and Arbitrations
Mr. Nevius has been directly involved in obtaining favorable outcomes for policyholder clients in the following:
Chubb Custom Ins. Co. v. Space Systems/Loral et al., 710 F.3d 946 (9th Cir. 2013) cert den., 134 S. Ct. 906 (January 13, 2014) (Environmental Coverage CERCLA Subrogation Dispute)
Nat’l Union, ACE INA and Arch, etc. v. TransCanada Energy USA, Inc. and ATC Ravenswood Services Corp., Index No. 650515/2010 (NY Sup., NY Co. 2010); and TC Ravenswood, LLC v. Nat’l Union, Factory Mutual, et al., Index No. 400759/2011 (NY Sup., Quns. Co. 2011) (Steam Turbine Business Interruption and Property Damage Coverage Dispute)
NA Dulles Real Estate Investors, LLC v. Chicago Title Insurance Company, Index No. 10-44582 (Dist. Ct., Suffolk County) (filed January 31, 2011) (Real Estate-Development Dispute Involving Access and Title Insurance)
Triangle Aviation Services, Inc. v. Fenley & Nicol Environmental, Inc., Docket No. 600228/2010 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Nassau Cty.) (filed March 31, 2010) (Environmental Negligence Dispute)
Sprague Energy Corp. v. American Home Assurance Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of American International Group, Inc. ("AIG"), a/k/a American International Underwriters ("AIU"), Civ. Action No. 1:09-cv-01136 (AWT) (D. Conn) (filed July 20, 2009) (Environmental Insurance Coverage Dispute)
Queenstake Resources U.S.A., Inc. v. American Int’l Specialty Lines Ins. Co. (AIG), Civil Action No. 07-CV-00148 (D. Colo. filed January 19, 2007) (International Arbitration – Mine Financial Assurance)
Arrow Electronics, Inc. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., et al., Case No. BC342044 (Cal. Super., L.A. County (filed October 26, 2005) (Environmental Coverage Action – General Liability)
Benenson v. Mass. Mut. Financial Group, (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., No. BC 296920) (filed November 3, 2004) (Life Insurance Dispute)
Tensolite Co. v. Flextronics Int’l Ltd., Scanfil Oy and Nokia, Inc., Civil Action No. 03-CV-9675 (S.D.N.Y. filed December 5, 2003) (International Arbitration – Telecommunications)
Employers Ins. of Wausau v. Tektronix, Inc., No. CCV 9908032 (Or. Cir. Court, Clackamas County) (August 2002) (Environmental Coverage Trial – General and Environmental Impairment Liability)
Waste Management, Inc. v. Admiral Ins. Co., et al, Docket No. HUD-L-931-92 (N.J. Super., Hudson County) (November – December 2001) (Environmental Coverage Trial)
ZRZ Realty Co., et al. v. Beneficial Fire & Cas. Co., et al, Circuit Court No. 9708-06226 (Or. Cir., Multnomah County) (October – December 1999) (Environmental Coverage Trial)
Cascade Corp. v. American Home Assur. Co., et al, No. 9205-03083 (Or. Cir., Multnomah County) (July – October 1998) (Environmental Coverage Trial)
Published Legal Decisions
Mr. Nevius has represented clients in the following reported decisions:
National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa. v. TransCanada Energy USA, Inc., 119 A.D.3d 492 (1st Dep’t July 31, 2014), lv dismissed, Nos. 650515-2010 & 700459-2011, 2014 N.Y. LEXIS 2884 (Oct. 21, 2014) (Pre-denial documents prepared by coverage-litigation counsel during course of claim handling are discoverable.)
Chubb Custom Ins. Co. v. Space Systems/Loral, Inc.; Ford Motor Co., et al., 710 F.3d 946 (9th Cir. 2013), cert den. 134 S. Ct. 906 (2014) (January 13, 2014) (Supreme Court upheld successful argument before the Ninth Circuit: environmental insurance companies are not CERCLA "PRPs" for purposes of subrogation against other clean-up participants.)
Janart 55 West 8th L.L.C. v. Greenwich Ins. Co., Case No. 1:06-cv-14293 (S.D.N.Y.) (Holding that "All-Risk" coverage may respond to residential, rather than industrial, "environmental" contamination.)
ZRZ Realty Co. v. Beneficial Fire and Casualty Ins. Co., et al., 222 Or. App. 453, 194 P.3d 167 (Oct. 1, 2008), modified 225 Or. App. 257, 201 P.3d 912 (Jan. 14, 2009) (Coverage for environmental liability and redevelopment)
Federal Ins. Co. v. Samsung Electronics Am., Inc., et al., 268 S.W.3d 506 (Tex. 2008) (Duty to defend against alleged telecommunications injuries)
Employers Ins. of Wausau v. Tektronix, Inc., 211 Or. App. 485 (2007) (Coverage and fees for environmental liabilities)
Cascade Corp. v. Am. Home Assurance Co., et al., 206 Or. App.1 (2006) (Environmental coverage)
Hold Bros., Inc., et al. v. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co., Case No. 04 Civ. 7223 (SAS) (S.D.N.Y., Jan. 27, 2005) (Business interruption claims arising from 9/11)
Pulte Home Corp. v. Fidelity and Guar. Ins. Co., 2004 WL 516216 (Va. Cir. Ct., Feb. 6, 2004) (Coverage for alleged construction defects)
Soho Plaza Corp. v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 2003 WL 22255005 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept. Oct. 2, 2003) (Real estate loss)
Textron Inc. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 754 A.2d 742 (R.I. 2000) (Environmental coverage)
R.E.O., Inc., et al. v. The Travelers Cos., No. CV 9503725225 (Conn. Super. 1998) (Lender recovery for environmental losses)
Thiokol Corp. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London, No. 96-CV-028-B, 1997 WL 33798359 (D. Utah 1997) (Recovery of rocket R&D costs)
St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. McCormick & Baxter Creosoting Co., Inc., 324 Or. 184 (1996) (Environmental coverage)