Dispute Resolution

Negotiation/Mediation

With a corporate focus on strategic consulting, GeoInsight is well suited and effective as a team member in complex regulatory and technical negotiation and mediation. Our philosophy towards negotiation is to:

• Thoroughly define the salient details being disputed
• Understand the opposing side’s positions better than their experts
• Know the applicable regulation as well as or better than the regulators or code officials, and
• Negotiate from a position of strength.

Our team of experts is particularly adept at characterizing and summarizing the major points of disagreement between opposing parties, and identifying the key weakness and strength of each side. This ability facilitates the development of a project strategy and focuses resources on activities that are most likely to achieve the desired outcome.

Finding the “Win-Win” Solution

Depending upon the specific conditions of a dispute, we try to promote solutions that provide a “win-win” for both parties involved, if practicable. To this end we have developed a reputation for being practical and even-handed, letting technical data sets speak for themselves, then crafting potential solutions that allow the disputing parties to move forward.

Cost Recovery

Many environmental and engineering litigation cases include a dispute over a reported monetary damage most commonly associated with engineering activities completed over multi-year periods by multiple entities or environmental impacts cause by a single party or multiple parties, typically over several decades. GeoInsight has extensive experience working both sides of these types of monetary disputes. Cost recovery and allocation issues often require that GeoInsight complete a review and evaluation of complex environmental engineering activities or industrial processes. Our review is based upon our significant experience performing engineering and environmental activities, detailed knowledge of typical labor and material costs, and available resources to evaluate and critique/confirm costs claimed. GeoInsight also employs accounting principles such as incorporating interest and defining present or future worth.

Plaintiff Support

We are experts in assessing, quantifying, and justifying costs incurred, including understanding of risks, knowledge of the regulations that compelled the environmental or engineering actions, and awareness of applicable standards of care. We use cutting edge forensic tools to create environmental release timelines that are necessary to identify responsible parties.

Defendant Support

We are experts in reviewing and disputing the reasonableness and appropriateness of actions taken and costs incurred. In particular, we are very familiar with the standards of care in our areas of expertise and the implications of improper site investigation and/or mitigation or construction planning, which are vital to defining the limits of reasonable positions on claims.