Michael R. Thorp joined the firm in 1989. His practice emphasizes environmental and natural resource litigation and counseling, including toxic tort class actions.

Experience

For more than 29 years, Mr. Thorp has represented clients in a wide range of environmental and natural resource matters, including natural resource damages, toxic tort suits including class actions, state and federal Superfund, RCRA, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, water rights and issues dealing with natural resources owned or claimed by Indian Tribes.

Prior to developing a private environmental law practice, Mr. Thorp served as a trial attorney in the Environment & Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice. Since entering private practice, he has gained a reputation as one of the nation’s leading environmental litigators. Mr. Thorp’s engagements cover virtually the entire range of environmental problem areas typically encountered by modern businesses.

Representative Engagements

• Represented clients in toxic tort suits, including class actions, involving claims for property damage and loss of value, personal injury, and medical monitoring in Washington State, Montana, Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska.
• Represented a major mining and smelting company in natural resource damage litigation filed by the United States and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe of Native Americans in federal district court in Idaho. The trial concluded July 30, 2001 after 76 trial days, 88 witnesses and 2,000+ exhibits.
• Represented companies in ten natural resource damage actions across the country including: Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Commencement Bay, Washington; Los Angeles Harbor; California Gulch (Leadville, Colorado); Murray, Utah; Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex, Montana; Tar Creek, Oklahoma; Jasper County, Missouri; Cherokee County, Kansas; Newton County, Missouri.
• Participated in over 50 state and federal Superfund sites around the United States, including negotiation of orders and consent decrees.
• Represented the United States in a number of major stream adjudications, including the City of Tucson groundwater basin, the Truckee and Carson Rivers in Nevada, the San Juan River in New Mexico, and the Chamokane Creek on the Spokane Indian Reservation.
• Represented the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Summit Lake Paiute Tribe and Point-No-Point Treaty Council (made up of Skokomish, Port Gamble Klallam, Jamestown Klallam, and Lower Elwah Klallam Tribes) in bother general matters and matters involving the protection of their natural resources.

Publications

• Author, "Handbook of the Law of Natural Resource Damages"  7.27.2005
• Co-author, "Digging Up NRD: Issues In The Application of CERCLA's Natural Resource Damages (NRD) Provisions To Historic Mining Sites," Proceedings of the 50th Annual Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute.  7.26.2005
• Co-author, "The Coeur d'Alene Case -- Breathing New Life Into Old Defenses"  ABA Natural Resources & Environment Journal, Vol. 17, Number 3  12.1.2003