Principal Maddie Boyer (Austin) recently spoke with Bloomberg Law about the growing number of citizen suits being filed against companies as environmental groups respond to what they view as reduced federal enforcement under the Trump administration’s “compliance first” approach. B&D anticipated this trend, having seen a similar uptick during the first Trump administration’s deregulation initiatives. In "Fears of EPA Enforcement Dip Spurs Groups to Act as Legal Hounds," Maddie observed, “we’re already seeing eNGOs stepping into the shoes of EPA and Justice Department,” adding, “we’ll start seeing it more and more.”

Under major federal environmental statutes, NGOs may act as private attorneys general when they believe the government has failed to enforce the law or carry out non-discretionary duties. Maddie explained that this uptick in civil litigation “is a sign of the system working the way Congress intended when it included a private right of action in environmental laws.”

B&D’s citizen suit practice brings decades of experience litigating against eNGOs. We offer one of the most experienced citizen suit defense teams, including the former Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and former DOJ attorneys responsible for oversight of citizen suit settlements. B&D knows the eNGO playbook and how to most effectively defeat it. We excel in cases that pose novel theories of liability and stand ready to assist companies who find themselves in the crosshairs of these challenges.