Case Study: New Mexico NRD Claims Dismissed

The State of New Mexico filed natural resource damage claims against our client General Electric and several other companies arising out of alleged groundwater contamination in the South Valley in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The State brought its claims under CERCLA and under state statutory and common law theories.  DGS lawyers were an integral part of the multi-firm outside counsel team that worked closely with General Electric's in-house legal and technical team to defend this case for GE.  After Daubert hearings and more than twenty days of pretrial conference, the Court granted summary judgment in favor of GE and other defendants.  The Court concluded that the plaintiffs had failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact on the essential elements of injury and damages, and dismissed the case.  The State has now appealed the case to the 10th Circuit.