K&L Gates Leads Hanson Building Materials Limited to Trial Victory

Global law firm K&L Gates LLP successfully defended Hanson Building Materials Limited through trial in an environmental liabilities case brought by the city of Emeryville, California. Based in London, Hanson Building Materials was formerly named Hanson Plc, the previously listed ultimate parent company of a number of industrials in the US and the UK and whose wider group today is a leading supplier of heavy building materials to the construction industry. 

Emeryville had sought to pierce the corporate veil to hold Hanson Building Materials liable for the cost of cleaning up contamination allegedly caused by SCM Corporation, which the Hanson Building Materials US group had acquired through a tender offer in 1986. SCM had owned and operated the site between approximately 1915 and 1959. One of Emeryville’s experts estimated that the cleanup could cost more than $83 million, with a total claim exceeding $100 million.  

The trial in the US District Court for the Northern District of California involved testimony from 16 live witnesses over approximately a month, 15 witnesses through deposition testimony, and more than 350 exhibits were entered into evidence. After a full trial, the court ruled in a 133-page decision that it lacked personal jurisdiction over Hanson Building Materials. The court went on to hold that, even if it had jurisdiction, it would refuse to pierce the corporate veil between Hanson Building Materials and its former subsidiary, or to impose alternate forms of successor liability. 

The K&L Gates trial team for Hanson Building Materials was led by San Francisco partners Ed Sangster, Jason Haycock, and Matt Ball. Environment, Land, and Natural Resources lawyers including Seattle associate Molly Barker, Newark associate Julia McGowan, and Austin counsel Janessa Glenn also provided support. The global team also included London partner and Litigation practice area leader John Magnin with support from other solicitors in the firm’s London Office. 

Michael Todd KC of Erskine Chambers served as an expert witness for Hanson Building Materials regarding parent corporation liability and piercing the corporate veil under English law.  

Ed Gretton, Head of Legal at Hanson Building Materials, said “Naturally, we are delighted with the outcome and the excellent support from the K&L Gates litigation team under Ed Sangster, Jason Haycock and Matt Ball.  We are also very grateful to the Court for the time spent hearing the case and reviewing the significant amounts of evidence; we are also grateful to all of the witnesses (the many experts and particularly the retired directors) who gave the Court helpful testimony through the process.”

Sangster stated: “This was an extremely complex case involving cutting edge legal and scientific issues. Veil piercing cases rarely go to trial. Logistically, presentation of witness testimony involved deposition testimony from percipient witnesses who were deceased or too infirm to travel, witnesses who had to travel nationally or internationally to appear in person, a witness who testified via videoconference, and an array of top-notch scientific, economic, forensic accounting, and environmental experts. We are very grateful that the court invested so much time, effort, and attention in giving the parties their day in court, and in ultimately getting to the right result.”

With lawyers in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South America, K&L Gates’ Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice is uniquely positioned to assist clients in resolving their disputes at the local, national, and international levels. The firm’s litigators are some of the foremost practitioners in their field, with many ranked nationally and internationally and including fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Law Institute, and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, among others.