Metropolitan Engineering Consulting and Forensics
Forensic and Remediation Expert Engineers
40 County Road
Closter, New Jersey 07670
Phone: (201) 293-6064
E-mail: metroforensic@gmail.com
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Firm Overview
The engineering and forensic firm of Metropolitan Environmental Services was established for the purpose of providing a high value service to the insurance industry. We specialize in the defense of liability claims, the investigation and defense of first party insurance claims and the handling of subrogation claims. Additionally, we offer forensic engineering services, including age-dating of contaminant releases, oversight, evaluation of remedial alternatives, sub-slab ventilation system design and installation. The list of our core services is:
Metropolitan’s professional staff provides services in the following areas of practice:
- Site Investigation
- Causation
- Forensic Investigations (age-dating)
- Oversight
- Review of Remedial Action Work Plans
- Reserve Estimation
- Cost Allocation
- RAWP Preparation/Site Remediation
- Subrogation
- Expert Witness/Litigation Support
Our mission is to work as an extension of our clients to expeditiously achieve the most economically favorable resolution of claims on their behalf and on behalf of their insured. We have developed and will continue to create new solutions to the technical problems and issues which are facing the insurance industry today.
Metropolitan provides forensic engineering work (age-dating or fingerprinting), site remediation, auditing, cost control and litigation support services to insurance carriers. In its risk management role, examines, manages and audits environmental claims to ensure that assessment and remediation services provided to both carriers and policy holders are reasonable and necessary, properly rendered and appropriately charged.
In its litigation support role, Metropolitan assists carriers and their counsel to ensure that litigious disputes are resolved fairly and reimbursement benefits are provided when appropriate. The corporations service area includes the entire United States, with our corporate office located in Northern New Jersey. The Firm's professional staff also travels regularly throughout the United States on assignment.
Forensics at Metropolitan
There are many issues associated with disputes over responsibility for cleanup. Who, what, when, where, and how chemicals were released can be investigated. The tools of forensic investigation include mathematical models, statistical models, fate and transport calculations, chromatography, lead isotope analyses, time of travel assessments, library search site characterization, tracer additives, and recently developed software applications.
Effective forensic project management should include an evaluation of multiple forensic tools based on site specific circumstances. The process of evaluation and the ultimate selection of the forensic tool are critical to a successful outcome. When project budgets allow, combining forensic methods for corroborative evidence can substantially strengthen your client’s position in an effort to prevent or support litigation. The effective forensic consultant must be well acquainted with an ever expanding list of analytical methods, environmental regulations, assessment procedures and remedial technologies.
The forensic field is one that utilizes a wide range of scientific tools to identify and characterize complex adverse environmental events. Some of the scientific disciplines involved in forensics include engineering principles (biological, physical and chemical), hydrology, lithology, geology, site history, site practices, mathematics, and statistics. These areas may be combined with technologies such as respiratory analyses, chromatography/mass spectrometry and chemical fingerprinting methods to answer complex questions with the ultimate goal of establishing responsibility for a particular event. Accurate, defensible forensic analyses are an essential component of any strategy that attempts to resolve the extent of the insurance client responsibilities in the cleanup of contaminants.
Forensic Engineering Experience Case Studies
Metropolitan staff has developed and utilized scientific methods to assist clients in a variety of ways related to their claim issues. The following is a partial list of such projects:
- Provided expert witness services for plaintiff seeking remediation of contaminated groundwater that caused indoor air inhalation problems;
- Testified that engineering and scientific evidence was improperly collected and analyzed and was inadequate to show the age of the release;
- Demonstrated that solvents in groundwater at client's property originated from off-site drycleaner and that client's site actually provided remediation for the off-site release of dry cleaning solvent;
- Expert witness for property owner impacted by industrial waste disposal from industrial manufacturer;
- Demonstrated that environmental analysis by a previous consultant for a manufacturing site was inadequate; as a result, the lender's concerns were alleviated and financing proceeded;
- Chemical "age-dating" and contaminant transport analyses of petroleum in groundwater at a gas station showed that contaminants originated from other parties;
- Age-dated petroleum release at a former gas station to show that the previous owner of the gas station caused groundwater contamination;
- Age-dated petroleum releases at an industrial facility to show that the on-site plume was the result of an off-site source;
- Prepared age-dating reports for over one-hundred residential fuel oil spills;
- Assisted insurance companies attorneys in defending subrogation claims; was able to demonstrate that the forensic data collected by the first party consultant were collected and analyzed using invalid methods;
- Demonstrated that structural damage to a residence was from a source other than the alleged high lake level
- Collected evidence (for the primary responsible party) that identified other responsible parties to share in the cost of a Superfund cleanup;
- Review of the site data at a bulk petroleum facility indicated that the site releases were not the result of regular oil transfer operations and that they were caused by the negligent actions of the insured’s agents; the case was settled in favor of the insurance company;
- Was able to demonstrate that the majority of the removal actions at petroleum release sites were neither reasonable nor necessary; as a result of our opinion, the insurance client settled the claim in favorable terms;
- At several drycleaner sites we were able to demonstrate that the age of the release was much earlier than the parties originally believed; as a result, the insurance client settled the claim at a fraction of the alleged liability.
Site Remediation Services
Characterizing and remediating contaminated sites involve some of the most complex and difficult issues for environmental lawyers and their clients. Problem areas include responding to regulators; negotiating enforcement settlements; negotiating or litigating cost allocation and recovery claims; working with the insurance client, lawyers and regulators to develop efficient, cost-effective remediation approaches; and selling, buying, or developing contaminated properties.
Metropolitan staff has developed and applied an innovative approach to the use of sodium persulfate for the sequential in-situ treatment of subsurface contaminants through chemical oxidation followed by enhanced biological degradation through sulfate reduction. This approach has broad applicability to a wide range of contaminants, and shows strong cost-saving benefits through reducing the initial volume of chemical oxidant necessary and enhancing the in-situ biological degradation of contaminants.
Through proper subsurface geochemical characterization and chemical dosing design, the approach focuses on utilizing the oxidant for immediate mass reduction at the source area, followed by degradation or polishing of the residual contamination using sulfate reducing bacteria. Depending upon the oxidant activation method, this approach is applicable to petroleum hydrocarbons including both volatiles and PAHs, chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) including chlorinated ethene, ethane and methane groups, as well as PCBs.
Metropolitan Engineering Consulting and Forensics
Forensic and Remediation Expert Engineers
40 County Road
Closter, New Jersey 07670
Phone: (201) 293-6064
E-mail: metroforensic@gmail.com
Insurance claim examiners, insurance adjusters and risk managers use Dr. Stephanatos’ services for determining cause, evaluating the extent of damage, determining the age of the release, separating unrelated damage, analyzing loss scopes and managing restoration data, determining costs to repair, restore or replace, and preparing for insurance appraisals.
Attorneys call on Dr. Stephanatos for help when preparing for litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution such as arbitration and mediation
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