Experience

• Schiff Hardin Prevails in Environmental Litigation
  Schiff Hardin's Environmental Group successfully obtained a dismissal for its client from a lawsuit based upon alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
  


• RCRA and CWA Enforcement Action Defense
  Schiff Hardin represented a generator of waste drums in North Carolina during enforcement actions initiated by the state.
  


• Trustee Representation in Foreclosure
  Schiff Hardin represented a bank in Illinois in its role as corporate trustee for three municipal bond financings in three states, involving loans by municipalities in those states to a single nursing home operator.
  


• Toxic Tort Claims Successfully Settled
  Schiff Hardin represents a coal-fired electric utility in a Superfund matter involving groundwater contamination allegedly arising from the historic placement of coal ash in and near a northwest Indiana town.
  


• Power Company Granted Relief from Illinois Thermal Water Quality Standards
  Schiff Hardin assisted a client, a power company, in securing from the Illinois Pollution Control Board an order modifying the thermal limits applicable to its cooling water discharge at one of its power stations.
  


• Tax-Exempt Revenue Bond Financing
  Schiff Hardin represented a letter of credit bank in connection with restructuring tax exempt-revenue bond financing for an east coast hospital system.
  


• Landfill Remediation
  Schiff Hardin played a major, multifaceted role in the remediation of two landfill sites originally owned and operated by the City of Toledo, Ohio.
  


• Steel Mill Relocation and Expansion
  Schiff Hardin helped a steel mill operator develop strategies for relocation and expansion, addressing permitting and regulatory issues in the process.
  


• Section 401 Certification
  Schiff Hardin's client, a power company, needed to obtain approval for the movement of additional water to a manmade lake that was used as a cooling source for its power plant.
  


• Restructuring Debt Obligations
  Schiff Hardin represented a lender in connection with the restructuring of all the debt obligations of various real estate companies of a prolific national real estate developer.
  


• Public-Private Partnership
  Schiff Hardin assisted a public-private partnership with a carbon sequestration project, evaluating competing sites for a first-of-a-kind coal-fueled, near-zero emissions power plant.
  


• Remedial Action at Petroleum Terminal
  Following an EPA order for remedial action against our client, Schiff Hardin secured an affirmative coverage determination with the client's insurer, and subsequently persuaded the agency to drop its demands against our client.
  


• Management of PCBs in Gas Transmission Systems
  Schiff Hardin assisted two major natural gas distribution companies in disclosing to the U.S. EPA the discovery of PCBs within their gas distribution systems.
  


• Power Company Sale
  Schiff Hardin attorneys represented NiSource Inc. in the sale of Whiting Clean Energy, Inc. to BP Alternative Energy North America, Inc.
  


• Power Company Acquisition
  Schiff Hardin attorneys represented Northern Indiana Public Service Company in the purchase of Sugar Creek Power Company, LLC from a subsidiary of LS Power Fund.
  


• Multi-use Property Workout
  Schiff Hardin represented a lender in connection with the workout of a loan for a multi-use property.
  


• Multi-property Hotel and Condo Workout
  Schiff Hardin represented a sponsor in connection with a multi-property workout involving a deed in lieu of foreclosure to the lender of a large mixed-use project.
  


• Mortgage Warehouse Line of Credit Workout
  Schiff Hardin represented an insurance company in connection with a workout of a mortgage warehouse line of credit in which the underlying loans pledged by the borrower were determined to be virtually worthless.
  


• Mortgage Lender Restructuring
  Schiff Hardin represented a national mortgage lender and its affiliates in the restructuring more than $1 billion of repurchase obligations, secured indebtedness and the underlying business.
  


• Remediation of Manufactured Gas Plants
  Schiff Hardin worked with the client, a gas distribution company, and its environmental consultants to address potential environmental liabilities associated with a former Manufactured Gas Plant site.
  


• Mechanics' Liens in Contractor Bankruptcy
  Schiff Hardin represented a ground lessor in obtaining indemnification by way of title insurance endorsements over mechanics' lien claims in the bankruptcy of a contractor engaged by a ground lessee.
  


• Manhattan Office Foreclosure
  Schiff Hardin represented the mortgage lender in connection with foreclosure of a multi-tenant Class 'B' office building in Midtown Manhattan.
  


• Letter of Credit Redocumentation
  Schiff Hardin represented a commercial bank in connection with the re-documentation of two letters of credit aggregating $8 million.
  


• Lender Liability Claims Successfully Defended
  Schiff Hardin represented a private bridge lender in connection with the foreclosure of a mortgage on Chicago real estate.
  


• Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project
  Schiff Hardin represented an Illinois county in negotiating and documenting a landfill gas-to-electric energy construction and operation agreement.
  


• Schiff Hardin Assists Iron Data with Merger
  Schiff Hardin represented Iron Data, a developer and manager of proprietary data processing systems, in its acquisition of Versa Systems of Toronto, Canada.
  


• State Environmental Agency Action Successfully Settled
  Schiff Hardin's defense of the enforcement action resulted in a civil penalty of less than $5,000 and no admission of liability on behalf of our client.
  


• Illinois Mercury Rulemaking
  Schiff Hardin represented several coal-fired electric generation companies contesting the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rule to regulate emissions of mercury in Illinois.
  


• Illinois CAIR Rulemaking
  Schiff Hardin represented several large coal-fired power plants opposing certain aspects of Illinois EPA's proposal to comply with the federal Clean Air Interstate Rule.
  


• Homebuilder Bankruptcy
  Schiff Hardin represented the Dubai owner of one of the largest private homebuilders in the western United States in connection with its $404 million unsecured and $8 million secured claims.
  


• Workout of Guarantor Defaults
  Schiff Hardin represented an agent bank in connection with the workout of guarantor defaults under a master construction loan facility providing four loans to four related borrowers in four states.
  


• Groundwater Superfund Site
  Schiff Hardin represents a coal-fired electric utility in connection with the investigation of alleged releases of coal ash constituents to groundwater.
  


• Indemnification for Ground Lessee
  Schiff Hardin represented a ground lessee in connection with obtaining indemnification for the ground lessee and its leasehold mortgagee.
  


• Aiding Development with a New Ground Lease
  Schiff Hardin represented the ground lessor of a large tract of land in terminating an unsubordinated ground lease and then negotiating with the leasehold mortgagee.
  


• Gilbert Robinson, Inc., G/R Holding Corp., Inc. Bankruptcy
  Attorneys now at Schiff Hardin represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in a $200 million Chapter 11 proceeding.
  


• Hospital Bankruptcy Proceedings
  Schiff Hardin represented a leading international financial institution in a highly contested bankruptcy proceeding in Florida involving a hospital and two related extended care facilities.
  


• Multi-Facility Audit and Self Disclosure Under EPA Audit Policy
  In 2007, Schiff Hardin advised a client in connection with its discovery of several years of apparent non-compliance with EPCRA reporting and other reporting and permitting requirements at one of its data centers.
  


• Village Dispute over Sewer Service Boundary
  In late 2008, a village in suburban Chicago requested Schiff Hardin's help in a dispute with a neighboring community.
  


• Environmental Regulation of Housing Development
  Schiff Hardin represented a senior housing developer regarding a project that had stalled because of environmental conditions, threatening the economic success of the project.
  


• Energy Services Agreements
  Schiff Hardin represented the developer and owner of a $4 billion dollar mixed use development in connection with the litigation or settlement of its energy services agreement and related financing agreements.
  


• EnCap Golf Holdings Bankruptcy
  Attorneys now at Schiff Hardin represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Chapter 11 case of EnCap Golf Holdings LLC.
  


• Emaar Properties
  Schiff Hardin successfully represented Emaar Properties, a Dubai-based developer, in closing its first U.S. acquisition — WL Homes LLC, one of America's largest privately-held house builders — for $1.05 billion.
  


• ECI Bankruptcy
  Schiff Hardin represented the senior mortgage lender and largest unsecured creditor in the ECI bankruptcy in Chicago, Illinois.
  


• Navigating the Clean Air Act
  Schiff Hardin defended two Illinois electric companies in a government enforcement action, navigating a complex web of discovery and motions over several years, including obtaining a favorable ruling on the applicability of the statute of limitations.
  


• Dorel Industries Inc. and Cannondale Bicycle Corporation
  Schiff Hardin acted as lead counsel in a major transaction for a public company that made business news headlines all over North America.
  


• CenterPoint Properties Trust
  Schiff Hardin represented CenterPoint Properties Trust in two cases that not only recovered millions of dollars of rent, but yielded recoveries in excess of that paid to other unsecured creditors and made new law favorable to commercial landlords.
  


• Clean Air Act Title V Petitions to Object
  Schiff Hardin defended a power generator in federal appeals court when the Illinois attorney general and environmental groups tried to block issuance of Clean Air Act Title V permits.
  


• Brownfields Redevelopment Property Sale
  Schiff Hardin assisted a client, an energy distributor, with the sale of a contaminated property to a redevelopment company. The complex transaction culminated with the developer's successful application and award of public redevelopment funds.
  


• Brownfields Redevelopment
  Schiff Hardin was hired by a real estate developer as special environmental counsel for a Brownfields redevelopment project that transformed an illegal dump on the southwest side of Chicago into an industrial park.
  


• Biomass-to-Energy Plant Takes Root
  Schiff Hardin helped strategize the conversion of a old municipal waste incinerator into a biomass-to-energy facility, the first of its kind in the state of Illinois.
  


• Sale/Leaseback Transaction in Bankruptcy
  Schiff Hardin represented the owner participant in the sale-leaseback of retail stores located in 15 states when the tenant's bankruptcy filing resulted in the rejection of 10 of the leases.
  


• Reorganization of Athletic Club
  Schiff Hardin represented a real estate investment fund in the purchase of the upper floors of a private athletic club building as part of the bankruptcy reorganization of the club.
  


• Assisted Living Facility Loans
  Schiff Hardin represented a bank in connection with renegotiating four separate term and construction loans for assisted living facilities owned by affiliated borrowers.
  


• Managing an Asbestos Investigation
  Schiff Hardin assisted the owner of a residential apartment building in successfully responding to an order by state officials to stop renovation work and evacuate the building due to an alleged asbestos release.
  


• 400-Unit New York City Condominium
  Schiff Hardin attorneys represented a lender and its participants in connection with a 400-unit condominium project in New York City with a borrower holding approximately 100 unsold units at maturity.