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1350 I Street, N.W.
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005-3311
Washington

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Appellate Litigation
• Clean Water Act
• Environmental Litigation
• Pesticides
• Superfund/CERCLA
• Toxic Tort and Product Liability

• Yale University (B.A., 1982)
• Columbia University (J.D., 1987)
• Articles Editor, Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems

• Virginia (1987)
• District of Columbia (1989)
• U.S. Federal Courts of Appeals: Fourth Circuit (1988); D.C. Circuit (1994); Ninth Circuit (2008)
• U.S. District Courts: District of Columbia (1991); Eastern District of VA (1991); Western District of VA (2002)
• American Bar Association
• Virginia Bar Association
• Environmental Law Institute
• Defense Research Institute
• Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Fairfax Bar Association
• Water Environment Federation

Jimmy Slaughter has a national practice in environmental litigation and alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Slaughter joined Beveridge & Diamond in 1991 after three years as an Assistant and Senior Assistant Public Defender in Fairfax County, Virginia. While with the Public Defender's Office, Mr. Slaughter successfully defended against a capital murder indictment in Commonwealth v. Reed (1991). Before joining the Public Defender's Office, Mr. Slaughter clerked for the Honorable James Sprouse of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr. Slaughter has tried numerous jury and bench trials and argued cases before the United States Court of Appeals, the Virginia Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, as well as federal and state trial courts across the country. He holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

Mr. Slaughter is nationally recognized for his experience and innovative approaches to the use of the dormant Commerce Clause to challenge discriminatory and burdensome local legislation.  He has mounted some of the few successful efforts to overturn local laws and regulations based on this complex constitutional doctrine.  Recently,  Mr. Slaughter led the successful efforts of the City of Los Angeles to overturn a local ban on the City’s use of its sewage sludge (biosolids) on California farmland as a fertilizer on Commerce Clause grounds, and also secured an attorney fee award for the City under section 1983 of 1.1 million dollars. City of Los Angeles et al. v. Kern County, 509 F. Supp. 2d 865 (C.D. Cal. 2007).  In other cases, Mr. Slaughter has leveraged dormant Commerce Clause claims to negotiate favorable settlements for his clients and secure partial payments of attorney fees.

Toxic tort defense forms a major part of Mr. Slaughter's practice, including defense of wrongful death and other serious personal injury claims.  Mr. Slaughter has secured pre-trial orders compelling plaintiffs to provide admissible evidence of causation of harm and has led defense efforts in nationally prominent toxic tort cases regarding the alleged health impacts of biosolids.

Mr. Slaughter also litigates and arbitrates cases under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), focusing on the defense of the rights of data owners against follow-on registrants of pesticides.  He was co-counsel with other Beveridge & Diamond Principals in the landmark case of Cheminova A/S v.Griffin L.L.C., 182 F. Supp. 2d 68 (D.D.C 2002), which underscored that data compensation awards pursuant to FIFRA’s mandatory arbitration scheme are fully enforceable in court.

Superfund litigation is an important part of Mr. Slaughter's docket.  He has led several PRP Group representations and won a major successor liability ruling in Pfohl Brothers Landfill Site Steering Committee v. Allied Waste, 255 F. Supp. 2d 134 (W.D.N.Y. 2003).

Mr. Slaughter is active in the ABA Section of Litigation, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), and the Water Environment Federation (WEF).  He currently is Co-Chair of the RCRA Subcommittee of the Environmental Litigation Committee of the ABA Litigation Section and a past Co-Chair of the Water Subcommittee.

Recent significant cases argued by Jimmy Slaughter:

• Hardin v. Jackson, 2009 WL 2619217, __ F. Supp. 2d __ (D.D.C. 2009)
• Cormier v. District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, 2009 D.C. Super. Lexis 1 (D.C. Super. Ct. July 27, 2009)
• Hardin v. EPA, 600 F. Supp. 2d 13 (D.D.C. 2009)
• Wyatt et al. v. Sussex Surry LLC, 2007 Va. Cir. Lexis 182 (Surry Co., Va. Cir. Ct. November 2, 2007)
• City of Los Angeles et al. v. Kern County, 2007 U.S. Dist. Lexis 81696 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 25, 2007)
• City of Los Angeles et al.  v. Kern County, 509 F. Supp. 2d 865 (C.D. Cal. 2007)
• Wyatt et al. v. Sussex Surry LLC, 482 F. Supp. 2d 740 (E.D. Va. 2007)
• City of Los Angeles v. Kern County, 462 F. Supp. 2d 1105 (C.D. Cal 2006)
• City of Los Angeles v. Kern County, 2006 WL 3073172 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 24, 2006)
• SRM Chemical Ltd. v. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, 355 F. Supp. 2d 373 (D.D.C. 2005)
• Synagro v. Rush Township, 299 F. Supp. 2d 410 (M.D. Pa. 2003)
• O’Brien v. Appomattox County, 293 F. Supp. 2d 660 (W.D. Va. 2003)
• O’Brien v. Appomattox County, 2003 WL 21711347 (4th Cir. 2003)
• Pfohl Brothers Landfill Site Steering Committee v. Allied Waste Systems, Inc., 255 F. Supp. 2d 134 (W.D.N.Y. 2003)
• Pfohl Brothers Landfill Site Steering Committee v. Browning-Ferris Industries of New York, Inc., 221 F. Supp. 2d 406 (W.D.N.Y. 2002)
• O’Brien v. Appomattox County,  213 F. Supp. 2d 627 (W.D. Va. 2002)
• Synagro v. Rush Township, 204 F. Supp. 2d 827 (M.D. Pa. 2002)
• Cheminova A/S v. Griffin L.L.C., 182 F. Supp. 2d 68 (D.D.C. 2002)