Experience
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY COMPLEX LITIGATION
Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Lawrence is one of the nations’ leading law firms in litigation concerning the operation, management, and cleanup of the Department of Energy’s defense nuclear complex.
Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Cases
Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Lawrence currently has a billion-dollar fraud case against Lockheed Martin alleging illegal disposal and storage of radioactive wastes and dispersal of contaminants into soils and groundwater at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky.
This case, which was on the front page of the Washington Post numerous times, resulted in three Congressional hearings, legislation compensating nuclear workers throughout the DOE complex, and an extensive Justice Department/FBI investigation. Moreover, the case resulted in Paducah receiving over $2.5 billion in federal cleanup funds. Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Lawrence is counsel in the case, which was filed under the False Claims Act by three plant whistleblowers and the Natural Resources Defense Council. In June 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice elected to intervene in the case as its lead prosecutor. The case is scheduled for trial in August 2014.
The firm was also nuclear counsel in a parallel $10 billion radiation tort case in Federal Court in Kentucky involving illegal radiological exposures to 10,000 workers at the Paducah plant.
Other Whistleblower Cases
Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Lawrence also has two additional qui tam (False Claims Act) cases alleging illegal radiological and waste disposal activities against DOE contractors. Federal law does not permit disclosure of any details at this time.
The firm has also successfully represented several whistleblowers at the Energy Department’s large enrichment facility in Portsmouth, Ohio. Mr. Fitzpatrick recently secured a landmark award for one of these individuals in Department of Labor proceedings under Section 202 of the Energy Reorganization Act.
Rocky Flats
Mr. Fitzpatrick was instrumental in resolving legal disputes concerning Kaiser-Hill’s operation of the Energy Department’s Rocky Flats plutonium production facility in Colorado, teaming with the Detroit firm of Miller Canfield in securing dismissal of some 600 claims by former employees.