Cataldo, Lisa W.

Jeff is a partner in the firm's San Diego office, where he specializes in general civil litigation, environmental law and complex environmental litigation.

General Civil Litigation: Jeff has broad litigation experience in the areas of business litigation, collections, personal injury, probate, employment, wrongful termination, municipal law, real property, contracts, construction defect and product defect.

Environmental Counseling and Litigation: Jeff also has broad experience in environmental counseling and in environmental and toxic tort litigation. He has advised major oil companies and various businesses in environmental regulatory matters, and he regularly counsels clients on the environmental implications of the purchase or sale of real property. He has litigated and tried numerous environmental cases, and he has extensive experience in managing large, complex environmental cases and conducting depositions and discovery. He has conducted settlements with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and has been engaged in complex Superfund litigation and private cost recovery actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act ("CERCLA"), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA") and various state and environmental laws. He has also appeared before numerous state and local environmental agencies.

Jeff's legal experience includes working for the State of California, Department of Fish and Game Legal Advisors Office and the United States Department of Interior, Regional Solicitors Office where he provided legal advice on numerous land use and property contamination matters. He has also advised numerous public entities on a variety of land use and environmental matters, including the following: Mojave Water Agency, Three Valleys Water District, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, Joshua Tree Water District, Chino Basin Water Conservation District; City of Colton, Highland, Yucaipa, Del Mar, Encinitas, El Cajon, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, and Coronado.

Education, Professional Qualifications and Activities:

Jeff received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1990, and earned his law degree from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1993. He has conducted research on the movement of contaminants in the subsurface at the University of California, Santa Barbara Institute of Crustal Studies, Vadose Zone Monitoring Laboratory and was an environmental consultant for several years. Jeff has also taught environmental law courses at several junior colleges.

Representative Litigation Experience:

Jeff has represented hundreds of clients in a wide variety of litigation matters, many of which have drawn local, regional and/or national attention. These matters include the Mojave Water Adjudication, Brown & Bryant Superfund Site Litigation, the California Chromium 6 Litigation (made famous by the Erin Brokovich movie), the Iron Mountain Mine Superfund Site, Association for a Cleaner Environment v. Modesto Junior College CEQA litigation, Friends Of Colorado Lagoon (FOCL) CEQA litigation, Santa Barbara Pipeline Break Oil Spill Litigation, Redlands TCE Groundwater Litigation, Berrenda Mesa Water Transfer litigation and Techite Pipe Litigation.