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
Mission Statement
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
https://sites.google.com/site/metropolitanenvironmental/
