Denise G. Fellers focuses her practice on environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation relating to groundwater contamination, including cost recovery and mass toxic tort litigation. She has experience in litigation under a variety of state and federal environmental laws, such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), and litigation under the state counterparts, such as the California Hazardous Substance Account Act (HSAA).
Extended Profile
Denise also has experience with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and California’s Proposition 65.
Most of Denise’s cases involve litigation in both state and federal courts, including the strategic management of discovery issues, such as pre-litigation investigations, depositions, written discovery, preparing expert witnesses, and resolving various discovery disputes. Denise also has experience in the drafting and arguing of case dispositive motions and extensive experience in pre-trial issues including preparing exhibit lists, witness lists, motions in limine, designation and counter-designation of deposition testimony, and direct and cross-examination of expert witnesses.
selected representations
Represented a large chemical company in toxic tort litigation filed in Los Angeles involving hexavalent chromium
Represented an aerospace company in large, multiparty cost recovery litigation involving CERCLA, RCRA and state equivalents
Represented a Fortune 500 Company in a large toxic tort case involving TCE and perchlorate
Represented an oil and gas company in CEQA litigation involving a large oil field
Represented an aerospace company in challenging the actions of the State Water Resources Control Board and the Regional Water Quality Control Board
Involved in litigation against a city to enforce mitigation measures that the city refused to acknowledge
Education
University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, 2002, J.D.
University of California, Los Angeles, 1999, B.A., summa cum laude
Admissions
California
US District Court for the Central District of California
Awards and Affiliations
Vice Chair of Programming, American Bar Association – Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (Environmental Litigation and Toxic Torts)
Executive Committee, Environmental Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (2009–current)
Second Vice Chair, Environmental Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (2019)
American Bar Association, Environmental and Toxic Torts section
California State Bar, Environmental Law section
Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Los Angeles Chapter
Super Lawyers, Rising Star (Southern California) (2010-2013)