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Denise G. Fellers

Associate

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)

Phi Beta Kappa

Editor-in-Chief, UCLA Women’s Law Journal

Publications

10/9/2015 - California Department of Toxic Substances Control Gains New Hazardous Waste Regulatory Powers

4/14/2015 - Ninth Circuit Widens Judges’ Discretion to Allocate CERCLA Contribution Damages

10/15/2014 - Seventh Circuit Expands Apportionment Defense, Potentially Limiting Joint and Several CERCLA Liability

8/13/2014 - Ninth Circuit Questions De Minimis CERCLA Settlement and Deference to State

5/11/2012 - CERCLA Contribution Protection in the Post-Reuland World

Events

2/20/2019 - SEER Essentials: CERCLA 101/Superfund Basics

2/19/2019 - LACBA Careers in Environmental Law Panel

1/23/2019 - Update on Arranger Liability Under CERCLA

10/19/2018 - Women of CERCLA 2018