Cost: $25 for attorneys seeking 1 hour CLE credit (pending Ohio Supreme Court approval); Free for general attendance 

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For decades, Ohio law has included the Air Nuisance Rule, an air pollution provision that allows fenceline communities to bring lawsuits against polluters for nuisances to their health and air quality. Over the past few years, industry has actively pursued removing the rule from Ohio law, and right now, it’s under threat more than ever. 

• Why does this Rule matter?  

• If it remains in force in Ohio law, how can Ohio communities use it to protect themselves against air pollution? 

 On December 17, join expert environmental plaintiffs attorneys Justin Newman and Dave Altman as they explore the history of the Air Nuisance Rule in Ohio, the cases that have used it to protect communities against air pollution, and the power it could have if it remains in force in Ohio.  

If you’re an attorney, learn about this important tool you could use to litigate on behalf of communities experiencing air pollution. If you’re an environmental advocate, understand why we must protect this tool in Ohio law.  

We look forward to having you join us for this important conversation. 

D. David Altman is President and the founding partner of AltmanNewman Co., LPA – a law firm in Cincinnati, Ohio that is dedicated to representing communities, environmental organizations, and individuals in groundbreaking environmental enforcement cases that seek to protect human health and the environment. 

Throughout his 50-year career, Dave has represented residents, business owners, cities and townships, solid waste districts, public water systems, and local and regional neighborhood and environmental organizations in groundbreaking damage suits, and law enforcing citizen suits that have had a lasting impact on environmental law. 

Dave’s leadership on the environment was already evident in the early 1970s when he served on the state task force that oversaw the startup of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and on Cincinnati’s environmental task force, which he chaired for four of its first ten years. He also served four terms as the environmental chair of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers (now the Ohio Association for Justice) and chaired the Cincinnati’s Environmental Justice Working Group from 2005-2009. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and the Ohio General Assembly on environmental issues, including environmental secrecy and nuclear safety. 

Dave has continued to secure innovative environmental and law enforcement relief for clients including: allowing private citizens to use the federal Superfund cleanup law; resolving a fly ash disposal dispute with a community-wide settlement; getting residents with contaminated drinking water wells compensation and cleanup oversight under a federal consent decree; enforcing Clean Air Act violations and requiring cleanup of groundwater contamination and granting direct oversight rights to a city; forcing the entry of an improved federal consent decree requiring a sewer district to stop water pollution violations and establishing a first-of-its kind program to compensate victims of sewer backups; overturning a state’s permit decision for a landfill; obtaining consent decrees with citizen oversight for neighbors harmed by air pollution; and securing a liability finding against a chemical giant for contaminating a public water district’s wells with an unregulated, dangerous chemical. Dave has also been lead counsel in two plant explosion class actions, one of which led to independent, ongoing oversight by experts who report to the court and the class, and a medical program to monitor environmentally related health issues in the community. 

Today, Dave and his firm continue to pioneer the uses of groundbreaking technology to help citizens identify environmental threats — to win justice for people who have been harmed by pollution and are frustrated by inaction from an overburdened, underfunded, or unresponsive EPA. 

Justin joined the firm as an associate in 2006 and became a name partner and Vice President of the firm in 2017. During that time, Justin has worked to enforce environmental laws on behalf of those affected by pollution, including private individuals, small businesses, and environmental and labor organizations. These cases have been pursued under a variety of environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. 

Justin is experienced in all aspects of complex litigation, from cross examining fact and expert witnesses to drafting and supervising the preparation of dispositive motions and appellate briefing – frequently on novel areas of environmental and tort law. He has particular skill and experience in tailoring litigation strategy to each client’s situation. 

His recent leadership has helped the firm achieve for its clients: (1) a groundbreaking tort decision holding a major chemical company liable for its contamination of a drinking water supply; (2) successful outcomes, including by trial, in cases involving sewer backups into homes; (3) the reversal and remand, on appeal, of a state air toxics rule, thereby requiring the agency to add toxic chemicals to the rule; and (4) a Clean Air Act decision ensuring that a citizen suit could proceed to resolution despite efforts to use a government order as a “bar.”