Christopher Bisgaard

Christopher P. Bisgaard is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Toxic Tort & Environmental Litigation. Mr. Bisgaard focuses his practice on major civil litigation with a very heavy emphasis on toxic tort and environmental law, including CEQA matters. He has been involved in many of the major environmental litigations in Southern California for nearly thirty years. Mr. Bisgaard’s experience includes :

• Representation of public entities, including the City of Beverly Hills, the City of Los Angeles, the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, the Board of Airport Commissioners for Los Angeles, World Airways, and the County of Orange
• CERCLA litigation and counseling, both in connection with defending clients against governmental cleanup actions and in cost recovery cases against former owners of clients’ property.

Education :

• University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, Juris Doctor, 1972
• University of Southern California, Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, 1969

Admissions : State Bar Admissions, California

Associations :

• Former President of the Board of Trustees of Flintridge Preparatory School
• Los Angeles County Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Committee
• American Bar Association- Litigation and Environmental Law Sections

Experience :

• Lead trial counsel for the City of Beverly Hills in defending the City against claims brought by former students at Beverly Hills High School who claimed they had suffered personal injuries as a result of being exposed to contamination from oil wells located on the high school campus.  A judgment of dismissal was entered in favor of the City following a successful motion for summary judgment.
• Represented Stanford University in a successful cost recovery case against a major petroleum company.
• Lead trial counsel for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles in a number of lawsuits brought by residents of the William Mead Homes wherein claims are made that the residents suffered personal injuries, including cancers, as a result of exposure to chemicals in the soil.
• Lead trial counsel for Watt Industries in the toxic tort cases brought on behalf of hundreds of residents living adjacent to the BKK landfill in West Covina, California. The case was settled on the eve of trial after years of pretrial preparation and motions.
• Represented the County of Orange with respect to its closed landfills and claims related to them. This has included defending the County against cost recovery actions and toxic tort litigations. It has also involved a substantial amount of work with regulatory agencies, including prosecuting an appeal to the State Water Resources Control Board.