Environmental

Fontaine law office works as co-counsel on environmental issues with national law firms who specialize in environmental law. Maine’s environmental laws allow you to make claims against persons responsible for releases of hazardous materials to recover response costs, diminution in property value and other damages, including forcing the polluting party to purchase your damaged property. Where appropriate, we aggressively pursue negotiation, mediation and alternative dispute resolution before and during litigation in order to minimize litigation costs.

In a recent case involving two dozen plaintiffs with a long-standing twenty-five year grievance involving a large egg farm, the firm was able to achieve a comprehensive settlement of a dispute involving infestation of homes by flies from the farm. After multiple mediation days, a comprehensive fifteen page settlement was reached wherein new sampling techniques and testing protocol were established to be supervised by the University of Maine Extension Service. The homeowners were recompensed for their loss. After three years of litigation a long-standing twenty-five year community grievance was resolved through the use of Maine’s environmental laws.