(T) (202) 789-6038

  hsegall@bdlaw.com
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1350 I Street, N.W.
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005-3311
Washington

• Commercial Litigation
• Construction Litigation
• Environmental Litigation
• Natural Resource Damages
• Superfund/CERCLA
• Toxic Tort and Product Liability
• Litigation

• Yale University (B.A., 1979)
• Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (Middle East Studies, Rotary Graduate Fellowship, 1980-1981)
• University of Chicago (J.D., 1984)

• Pennsylvania
• District of Columbia
• Federal Appellate Courts: United States Supreme Court; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth and Tenth Circuits
• U.S. District Courts: District of Columbia; District of Colorado; Northern District of California; Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• American Bar Association

Hal Segall is Chairperson of the Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. Litigation Practice Group, and has more than twenty-five years of litigation experience.  Mr. Segall focuses his national practice on litigation involving environmental law, toxic chemicals, and commercial issues.  He has appeared in federal and state courts throughout the United States.  Mr. Segall is a 1984 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and received his B.A. from Yale University in 1979.  He is a member of the Beveridge & Diamond Management Committee.

Mr. Segall has a proven and winning record in litigation.  His cases have encompassed environmental issues such as soil and water contamination, natural resource damages, asbestos, pesticide regulation, and lead-based paint disclosure and poisoning; environmental matters arising in real estate transactions; toxic tort; government enforcement actions; commercial contract disputes, including indemnity issues; construction disputes; and insurance coverage issues.  Mr. Segall has substantial experience with alternative dispute resolution, both as an advocate and a court appointed mediator.  His clients primarily include Fortune 500 companies, real estate developers, large property managers, and municipalities.

Mr. Segall’s experience with commercial issues arising from contaminated properties has extended beyond litigation, and he has substantial transactional experience representing developers, other owners of commercial property, and lenders with respect to environmental issues arising in the acquisition, sale, refinancing, and insurance of contaminated properties.  Mr. Segall’s litigation experience has proven helpful in crafting appropriate contractual terms. 

Mr. Segall has had a commitment to pro bono work for his entire career, and serves as Chairperson of Beveridge & Diamond’s Pro Bono Committee.  He has represented clients in pro bono litigation matters involving special education, employment discrimination, housing discrimination and HIV/AIDS.

Mr. Segall holds an AV Peer Review rating from Martindale Hubbell.  Peer reviewers have described him as “an extremely skilled advocate,” “very effective at narrowing areas of disagreements between lawyers,” “an outstanding lawyer,”  who “combin[es] a high degree of intelligence, analytical skill and expertise, particularly in the area of environmental litigation,” and “a highly ethical and excellent lawyer.”

Some representative examples of Mr. Segall’s litigation experience include the following:

• Won case in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware based on a ruling that our client, a large corporation, bore no environmental liability for the waste disposal of its subsidiary, a polypropylene manufacturer, resolving a number of legal issues as to what level of involvement a parent company can have with its subsidiary's environmental matters without triggering environmental liability; obtained prior rulings dismissing contractual indemnification claim and other state law claims.

• Won case in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York and on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit where both courts held that our client, which owned and operated an oil storage terminal, had no liability under U.S. or New York law for contamination of the Utica Harbor and vicinity; set precedent regarding the scope of statutory defenses under a federal statute and the scope of liability under that statute, as well as the burden of proof under a New York environmental statute.

• Won pre-trial dismissal of lawsuit brought in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado by State of Colorado and a third-party claim brought in the same court by a private party in a related case based on alleged contamination from mining activities of a former subsidiary of our client in Colorado.

• Won case in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, involving alleged fraud, contract, and environmental claims relating to the sale of a mercury mine, setting precedent under federal Superfund statute and State hazardous waste law; favorably settled after dismissal of all but one count upheld on appeal to United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

• Won case in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland based on ruling that a public school system failed to provide disabled, nine year old child with the free and appropriate educational program required under federal law.

• Favorable settlement during trial in defense of oil company in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Oklahoma in dispute over contractual indemnification and statutory responsibility for environmental cleanup of oil refinery site in Oklahoma. 

•  Obtained insurance coverage and highly favorable settlements in multiple toxic tort cases in D.C. Superior court  involving lead issues on behalf of commercial real estate owners and property managers.

• Favorable settlement of dispute over liability for allegedly deficient asbestos survey involving multiple parties after initiating informal, pre-litigation process, avoiding litigation fees and costs.

• Favorable settlement on behalf of leading sporting goods retailer in a dispute in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee over contract issues regarding newspaper advertising circulars at multiple locations East of the Mississippi River.