Contaminated Land Expert Witness – Litigation Support

Background

Marshall Food Group appointed Temple to prepare technical reports and act as expert witness assisting Mills & Reeve Solicitors in their defence.  The case, due for trial in 2005, concerns the alleged detrimental impact of Marshall’s historic effluent discharges upon sediment and water quality within a trackside drain at Sandycroft, Cheshire.

Network Rail, having removed contaminated sediments and re-constructed lengths of trackside ditch upstream and downstream of Marshall’s discharge, are suing the local authority and then Marshall for costs.  The local authority is being sued as they allegedly failed to maintain the ditch as they should have.

Services Provided

Temple’s small team of environmental and engineering professionals have worked closely with our clients’ legal team.  Archives held by our client and the Environment Agency have been searched and any relevant paperwork extracted.  We have built a detailed timeline of events and, by interpreting very many pages of chemical evidence, have been able to construct a model of water and sediment quality in the ditch over many years.  We have even collected new evidence and met with opposing technical professionals where appropriate.

Our written work is straightforward and can be easily understood by non-technical professionals.  Besides interpreting data, we have developed and promoted several possible defence arguments all of which have been well received by our client’s solicitor and barrister.

We will be pleased to represent our client in the witness box and have professionals with experience of cross-examination.

Benefits

By appointing Temple, Marshall Foods benefit from:

• diligent and thorough research;
• excellent communication skills;
• data interpretation linked to legislation;
• experienced practitioners.

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