Crisis Management & Incident Response

In a catastrophic incident, the initiating event cascades quickly into issues with serious legal, operational and other consequences. There are many sources of risk that can arise from a catastrophic event — civil and criminal prosecution; shareholder and citizen litigation; insurance disputes; investigations by Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission or state attorneys general; and impacts to reputation and public opinion. In these critical situations, clients need experienced, savvy lawyers to provide a strategic, integrated approach to guide them through the incident. 

How We Help

The first 96 hours after an incident often determine ultimate exposure for a client. For example, responding quickly and having air, asbestos and other forensic monitoring in place immediately after an explosion provides the data necessary to defend an exposure case brought by neighbors two years after the incident. It is too late to gather critical data just days after the incident.

Federal and state regulators often show up at the site within hours, launching their own investigations and making determinations as to the likely cause of the incident. Plaintiffs’ lawyers will find clients, file lawsuits and hold press conferences to influence the local community, before the literal dust settles from an incident. National and local news, along with blogs and social media, will suggest blame without the facts and without waiting for a thorough investigation. McGuireWoods understands the need to act immediately to stay ahead of regulators, plaintiffs’ lawyers and the media. We maintain deep relationships with industry forensic experts on whom we can call at a moment’s notice.

The firm has a long history guiding corporations through crises. Our nationally recognized team of environmental enforcement attorneys, class action/mass action litigators, white collar veterans and media-trained strategic communications specialists have experience helping corporations face the onslaught of issues a company faces following a catastrophic incident in key industries, including:

• mining.
• manufacturing;
• transportation;
• pipelines;
• oil and gas;
• renewable energy;
• electric and natural gas utilities; and
• mining.

Representative Experience

• International energy company in response to an explosion and fire that resulted in substantial damage to the company’s liquified natural gas exporting facility, including leading the company’s root cause investigation and response to regulatory inquiries by the CSB, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
• Multinational manufacturing company in the immediate response to a catastrophic digester explosion at its paper mill, with the firm securing a final settlement of nearly half-a-billion dollars within eight months of the loss;
• Utilities in more than a dozen states nationwide concerning wildfire mitigation and post-incident response;
• Natural gas utility company in the defense of class actions and individual claims after an inadvertent release of natural gas resulted in more than 80 homes and businesses being destroyed, 130 structural fires, at least one death, multiple injuries and the evacuation of 8,600 residents;
• Legal response to the first U.S. battery energy storage system (BESS) thermal runaway incident that resulted in a mass tort with four firefighters becoming significantly injured — investigation results set the industry standard for how BESS should be designed and managed and how first responders must deal with BESS during thermal runaway events;
• Large international chemical manufacturer in response to a chemical release that resulted in a fatality and other serious injuries, including a shelter-in place, with McGuireWoods overseeing the incident response, internal investigation and response to regulatory inquiries by the Environmental Protection Agency, Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, and state OSHA and environmental agencies, among others;
• Large chemical manufacturing company in response to a Thanksgiving Day cyberattack affecting three chemical plants by a foreign threat actor that implicated national security issues, with McGuireWoods coordinating the response with the FBI and U.S. Coast Guard;
• Utility services company whose trenching accident resulted in a fatality and significant injuries to employees, with McGuireWoods managing the investigation and enforcement by OSHA; and
• Utility company in the recovery of over $200 million in insurance coverage for losses sustained following the abandonment of the V. C. Summer Nuclear Facility.

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