Stephen J. Meyer

Partner

621 Capitol Mall
18th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814

Areas of Law:

Banking/Financial Institutions, Environmental, Litigation, Climate Change & Sustainability, Commercial Litigation, Business Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution

Admitted to Practice in:

California, Michigan (Inactive)

Stephen Meyer is a Senior Partner, former Managing Partner and former Litigation Practice Chair whose focus is on business and commercial litigation, environmental law, and alternative dispute resolution. He has represented clients in a wide variety of industries, including banking, agriculture, timber products, oil and gas, pipeline distribution, real estate development, shopping centers, as well as public entities and the State of California. In recent years, he has expanded his practice into alternative dispute resolution, bringing his experience as litigator and mediator, to helping parties resolve business, commercial and environmental disputes.

experience

Business and Commercial

Represented as Lead Counsel a number of financial institutions, principally community banks over a 30 year period in wide range of lawsuits, which included lender liability claims, RICO actions, class actions, as well as work out negotiations by and between the Banks and their commercial/business customers. A number of these matters involved multiple institutions and complex financing arrangements involving large financial commitments and major projects. On all of these matters I have been the Lead Counsel and they have been resolved by trial, court order, or settlement on terms the clients viewed as favorable.

Represented as Lead Counsel several businesses including accounting firms in business and partnership dissolution and disputes by and between members/ partners/shareholders, all of which were favorably resolved by Order or settlement.

Represented as Lead Counsel landowners in various disputes involving their real property, including partition claims, trespass claims and nuisance claims. Recently successfully represented through trial verdict large landowner facing adverse possession claims for significant acreage bordering a private golf course.

Represented as Lead Counsel agricultural interests in various disputes ranging from crop damages to feedlot operations to dairy pricing to animal welfare issues regarding production agriculture, all of which were favorably resolved or are pending.

Represented as Lead Counsel landlords in complex disputes involving shopping centers. Recently defeated multi million dollar class action brought by all tenants of large northern California shopping center.

Represented as Lead Counsel operator of large gas field operation in a multi million dollar dispute with owner/investors in case that was tried to verdict in favor of the operator.

Represented as Lead Counsel the California Department of Conservation as special counsel to bring lawsuits and claims against large can/bottle recyclers who were alleged to have defrauded the State of significant amount of money. These cases were resolved with settlements that recovered several million dollars and led to the felony convictions of the owners of three of the then largest recyclers of cans and bottles in the State.

Represented as Lead Counsel large oil and gas pipeline and storage facility owner in dispute with a distributor over accounting, distribution, and operation issues.

Outside General Counsel for several community banks.

Environmental/Natural Resource

Represented as Chief Co-Liaison Counsel for 150 defendants, as well as counsel for the target defendant, in the Lodi groundwater contamination case. This was a highly complex and notorious lawsuit that involved multiple agencies, bizarre financial structures, and incentives for obstruction that almost ruined the City of Lodi financially, and, if written, about would read more like a novel. This case was successfully settled after more than five years for no more than what would have been offered at the beginning of the lawsuit.

Represented as Lead Counsel for lumber company regarding wood treatment chemical contamination of soil and groundwater. This was the first CERCLA case actually taken to trial in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of California and was settled on very favorable terms after the third week of trial.

Represented as Lead Counsel for timber products company in administrative proceedings and negotiations with various regulatory agencies fro cleanup of a federal Superfund site in Northern California.

Represented as Lead Counsel on several Clean Water Act cases involving various businesses including lumber mills, parking lots, mining operations, and waste treatment plants, all of which were favorably resolved.

Represented as Lead Counsel on RCRA/CERCLA/nuisance case with the owner of a landfill in Imperial County where alleged hazardous waste was hauled from the client's geothermal power plant, which was settled on favorable terms involving minimal financial contribution.

Represented as Lead Counsel for a number of clients on Underground Storage Tank related issues.

Outside General Counsel for the largest organic fertilizer manufacturer in the western states advising regarding State and Federal organic rules and regulations, permitting, product safety issues, and business issues. In this regard I have developed expertise on the general laws and rules regarding organic agriculture, and have testified to legislative committees on these issues.

Represented as Lead counsel for a forest products company in administrative proceedings and negotiations for cleanup of a forest products facility in northern California.

Represented as Lead defense counsel for a major forest products company in a Clean Water Act case.

Represented as Lead counsel for a timber products company in administrative proceedings and negotiations with various regulatory agencies for cleanup of a federal Superfund site in Northern California.

Represented as Lead counsel for a client in a several million dollar cost recovery/damage claim involving a landfill in southern California where it is alleged hazardous waste from geothermal plants has been deposited.

Represented as Lead counsel for the FDIC seeking RCRA relief regarding a site allegedly contaminated by onsite and offsite underground storage tanks.

Represented as Lead counsel for a large tire recycler in disputes with the Integrated Waste Management Board.

Administrative

Represented as Lead counsel for the fiscal intermediary that processed Medi-Cal claims in various contract disputes with the State of California.

Represented as Lead counsel for the awardee in one case, and the protestant in the other case, in what were at the time the largest State government non-construction bid protests in California.

Mediation Training and Activities

Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law, 2006 Certificate of Completion in Mediating the Litigated Case

Dana Curtis Mediation, 2007 Certificate of Completion in Mediating Appeals

Steven Rosenberg, 2010 Certification of Completion in Advanced Mediation

Judge Pro Tem, Sacramento Superior Court

Mediator, Third District Court of Appeals for California

Voluntary Dispute Resolution Program Panel United States District Court, Eastern District of California -- mediate cases as part of Early Neutral Evaluation Program.

EDUCATION

University of Michigan (J.D., 1975)

University of Michigan (M.U.P., 1975)

University of California, Davis (B.S., 1971)

MEMBERSHIPS

Best Lawyer, Commercial Litigation, Chosen by Peers as Recipient

State Bar of California, Environmental & Litigation Sections, Member

Sacramento County Bar Association, Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, Member

Michigan State Bar, Inactive Member

State Bar of California, Litigation Section, Past Co-Chair Sacramento Program Committee; Past Member Executive Committee

American Bar Association, Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law, Litigation, and Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections, Member

United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Admitted to Practice

Milton L. Schwartz Inn of Court, Former Member

PUBLICATIONS

American Bar Association, Environmental Litigation Committee Newsletter, Former Co-Reporter for Ninth Circuit

ELR News & Analysis , “Covering Pollution Damage as a Personal Injury: A Recent California Case Bolsters Insureds' Arguments for Coverage,” March 1996, Co-Author

American Bar Association, 8th Annual Environmental Litigation Committee Midyear Meeting, “Common Law Theories of Recovery for Environmental Contamination,” February 1996, Co-Author

PRESENTATIONS

California Environmental Trial Academy, “Common Law Theories,” 1996, Speaker

State Bar of California, 1995 Annual Trial Symposium, Chair of Voir Dire Section of Annual Symposium

Sacramento County Bar Environmental Section Annual Conference, “Practical Aspects of Environmental Litigation,” 1995, Speaker

State Bar Litigation Section, Sacramento Program Committee, "Alternative Dispute Resolution: More Than An Alternative?", 1995, Organizer

State Bar Litigation Section, Sacramento Program Committee, "White Collar Crime for Civil Attorneys," 1992, Organizer

CHARITABLE

Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, Board of Directors

Valley Vision, Board of Directors

Diogenes House, Board of Directors, Former Member

Cal Aggie Alumni Association, Board of Directors