William Charles Wagner

Professional Affiliations/Recognitions

AV Peer Review Rating (LexisNexis/Martindale-Hubbell) (Awarded), American Bar Association (Member), Best Lawyers in America (Honoree), DRI Government Enforcement and Corporate Compliance Committee (Environment Crimes Subcommittee Chair), Indiana Bar Foundation (Fellow), Indiana State Bar Association (Member), Indiana Super Lawyers (Honoree), Indianapolis Bar Association (Member), Litigation Counsel of America (Fellow), Seventh Circuit Bar Association (Southern District of Indiana Liaison)

Bill serves as the Environmental Crimes Subcommittee Chair to DRI's Government Enforcement and Corporate Compliance Committee, is a Committee Member of the Seventh Circuit Electronic Discovery Pilot Program, is one of two Indiana Liaisons to the 7th Circuit Bar Association, and is a trial skills instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He is a member of DRI's Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Committee, the ABA Environmental Litigation and Toxic Torts Committee, and the ABA Environmental Enforcement and Crimes Committee. Bill's cases have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, ABA Journal, BNA Reporters, and major newspapers.

Representative Matters

• Environmental Law - Successfully represented General Motors as part of a national litigation team in response to an EPA administrative removal and remedial action for PCBs costing more than $200 million, and defense of personal injury and toxic torts claims asserted by 40 plaintiffs claiming approximately $40 million in damages. (Allgood v. General Motors Corp.) The personal injury cases were settled after favorable Daubert and summary judgment rulings against plaintiffs' remediation, medical monitoring, and stigma damages claims.

• Environmental Law - Successfully represented a manufacturer as part of the trial team in defense of a putative class action for personal injury and toxic tort claims asserted by approximately 135 plaintiffs claiming $50 million in damages resulting from TCE groundwater contamination below their homes. Bill argued against certifying the case as a class action, the class was not certified, and the case was settled following summary judgment rulings against plaintiffs' personal injury, medical monitoring, and stigma damages claims. (Kremer, and all others similarly situated v. Rockville TBD Corp.)

• Environmental Law - Successfully represented landowner as part of the trial team in defense of an EPA unilateral administrative order demanding remediation of a city drinking water well field impacted by PCE contamination and accompanying personal injury and toxic tort lawsuits. (U.S. EPA v. Masterwear, City of Martinsville v. Masterwear; Cunninghams, et al. v. Masterwear)

• Environmental Law - Successfully represented the State of Indiana, IDEM, and IDNR as special counsel in the largest environmental contamination case involving a fish kill along a 50-mile stretch of the White River in central Indiana, a damaged a municipal wastewater treatment plant, and impacted drinking water utility plants. The case involved complicated scientific testing, millions of pages of documents, hundreds of witnesses, and claims under CERCLA, RCRA, Clean Water Act, Indiana environmental laws, and NPDES permit violations for natural resource damages, response costs, penalties, and fines. (United States v. Guide Corp.)

• Environmental Law - Extensive experience challenging and defending expert witnesses in Daubert hearings in the fields of toxicology, epidemiology, fate and transport, remediation, vapor intrusion, environmental site assessments, cost allocation, medical monitoring, stigma damages, lost profits, and other damages. Successfully handled chemical exposure and personal injury cases involving VOCs (PCE, TCE, VC), gasoline and petroleum contamination (including benzene), pesticides (atrazine and chlorpyrifos), heavy metals, asbestos, and drinking water contaminants (PFOA) and disinfection byproducts. Bill also represents the Indiana Water Quality Coalition, a group of businesses and industry associations participating in IDEM's rulemaking on antidegradation.

• Environmental Criminal Defense - Successfully represented a large municipal water utility in defense of combined federal and state criminal and regulatory investigations concerning atrazine and drinking water disinfection byproducts.

• Environmental Criminal Defense - Successfully represented a corporation and owners of a tire recycling business as part of the trial team in defense of a multiple count felony criminal prosecution, parallel civil lawsuit by the State of Indiana, and parallel IDEM administrative enforcement action, all prosecuted by the Indiana Attorney General, arising from a massive tire fire. (State of Indiana v. Gruppe; State v. CR-3 of Indiana, LLC)

• Environmental Criminal Defense - Successfully represented an environmental supervisor of the DaimlerChrysler Kokomo Transmission Plant as part of the trial team in defense of federal criminal prosecution under the Clean Water Act for alleged damage to a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The case involved successful motions to strike and limit the Government's expert witnesses. (United States v. Gray)

• White Collar Criminal Defense - Successfully obtained not guilty verdicts in mortgage fraud case. Represented appraiser as part of the trial team in two-week federal criminal trial involving eleven counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud. Successful defense of criminal case resulted in FDIC's dismissal of a parallel federal civil action. (United States v. Stiner)

• Fraud - Represented as co-counsel a national telecommunications company in two-week federal civil trial involving allegations of fraud, conspiracy, and civil action by crime victim claims and over $10 million in damages.

• Securities - Represented corporations and board of directors in proxy disputes, brokers in FINRA (formerly NASD) arbitrations, and officers and directors in defense of breach of fiduciary duty claims.

• Patent - Represented pesticide manufacturer as co-counsel in defense of patent infringement case brought by industry leader, having responsibility for defense of damages claims. (Dow Chemical v. Whitmire Laboratories, Inc.)

Professional Affiliations / Recognitions:

AV Peer Review Rating (LexisNexis/Martindale-Hubbell) (Awarded), American Bar Association (Member), Best Lawyers in America (Member), DRI Government Enforcement and Corporate Compliance Committee (Environment Crimes Subcommittee Chair), Indiana Bar Foundation (Fellow), Indiana State Bar Association (Member), Indiana Super Lawyers (Member), Indianapolis Bar Association (Member), Litigation Counsel of America (Fellow), Seventh Circuit Bar Association (Southern District of Indiana Liaison)