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Contact InformationWilliam J. Brady, Esq. Grimshaw & Harring, P.C. 1700 Lincoln Street, Suite 3800 Denver, CO 80203-4538 303.839.3800 | 303.839.3992 wmjbrady@grimshawharring.com |
William J. Brady is a trial lawyer, shareholder and director at Grimshaw & Harring, P.C., with more than 34 years of experience in litigating environmental, insurance coverage and hazardous waste disposal cases on behalf of policyholders, including corporations, local governments, mining companies, aircraft manufacturers and other business and individual clients. His practice focuses upon releases of petroleum and petroleum based products, toxic chemicals, chlorinated solvents, heavy metals and radioactive substances. He has appeared in courts throughout the United States and in the Royal Courts of Justice in England, litigating against London Market insurance companies, Lloyd’s of London syndicates, and French, German, Swiss and other foreign excess and reinsurers underwriting coverage in the London Market.
Mr. Brady has also testified in Congress on ”Superfund” and environmental remediation issues, and has participated in conferences sponsored by the White House, the EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Additionally he has been a frequent guest on “Law Cast,” a nationally broadcast US radio program dealing with insurance, tort and trial issues, and has served as a commentator locally for NBC News in Denver.
Mr. Brady currently serves as an adjunct professor at the Universityof Denver, Sturm College of Law, teaching hazardous waste and toxic torts, insurance and environmental protection law in one of the premiere environmental and natural resources law programs in the United States. He also has taught in DU’s University College, Graduate Environmental Policy and Management Program.
Mr. Brady is also widely published, having authored over twenty-five professional journal articles, including authoring the chapter on Environmental Insurance for the treatise, “Environmental Regulation of Colorado Real Property,” Bradford Publishing Company, Denver, Colorado, June 2007, and revised supplement, 2011 and the Professor’s Manual for the text, “The Regulation Of Toxic Substances And Hazardous Wastes,” University Casebook Series, Foundation Press, Eagan, Minnesota, September, 2002 (author of chapters on Superfund and toxic torts). He has also written and directed a film on due process of law, “The Cornerstone,” narrated by the late Raymond Burr (TV’s “Perry Mason”) wherein he also interviewed current U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.
Colorado has been among the leading US jurisdictions recognizing the rights of policyholder’s to recover for their environmental liabilities. Mr. Brady represented, tried and argued on appeal for the prevailing policyholders in several of the leading environmental insurance coverage cases. Corporate clients include Cyprus Amax Minerals Corporation; Phelps Dodge Corporation; Washington Group International; Wendy’s International, Inc.; Australian (MasterSoft International), German (Degussa Corp.)and Canadian (Dominion of Canada) companies; the City of Reno, Nevada, and the family of William Lear (Learjet) and various Lear corporate defendants at the Reno‑Stead Airport in northernNevada. In Colorado, Mr. Brady has successfully represented Graebel Van Lines; the Denver Technological Center; Mike Leprino (Leprino Foods); and South Metro Fire Rescue. Grimshaw and Harring also represents in excess of 150 local government entities in the State of Colorado, and Mr. Brady has represented the Cities of Aurora, Arvada, Craig, Denver, Englewood, Glendale, Lakewood, Littleton, Longmont, Telluride and Wheat Ridge.
Mr. Brady also represents clients in serious injury and wrongful death cases. He has been active at several “extreme exposure” radiation sites, including the Rocky Flats (CO), Fernald (OH) and Savannah River (SC) nuclear weapons facilities where he won a major victory for former nuclear energy workers diagnosed with cancer. Active and on-going involvement in the defense of Superfund potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) includes the Lowry Landfill Superfund Site (Denver), the Heartland of America Superfund Site (Omaha), the Stead Solvent Site (Reno), F. E. Warren Air Force Base (Wyoming), several mining sites in the western United States and New Zealand, and assistance with compliance issues at the Rocky Flats Former Nuclear Weapons Facility Superfund Site (Golden). Mr. Brady also assisted on insurance coverage issues and assumed responsibility for settlement discussions in the Redfield Rifle Scopes litigation in Denver, a class action suit involving the largest release of groundwater contaminants/toxic gas/chlorinated solvents in US history.
Mr. Brady has been a frequent contributor to the annual Intersol program held in Paris and Lyon, France, having presented in 2008 through 2012. He is also a member of the Intersol Scientific Committee.
Practice Areas
Education
- St. Johns University, New York (B.A., 1968)
- University of Denver (M.A., 1974; J.D., 1977)
Publications
- Environmental Regulation of Colorado Real Property. Stephen A. Bain, Editor, Bradford Publications, 2007 (Mr. Brady is the author of chapter on Environmental Insurance) The chapter emphasizes key Colorado, precedent-setting decisions widely followed nationally. Additionally, the chapter discusses newer, specialized, environmental liability insurance products available for existing and prospective purchasers of contaminated properties, such as pollution legal liability insurance, remediation stop/loss or cost cap coverage, and secured creditor impaired property policies. February, 2007
- The Regulation of Toxic Substances and Hazardous Wastes, Chapters on Superfund and Toxic TortsProfessor’s Manual, University Casebook Series published by Foundation Press, 2002
- City of Littleton, Wallis and Insurance for Multi-Year Liability Claims, William J. Brady and Lisa K. Mayers. The authors are coverage counsel who represented the City of Littleton in City of Littleton v. Compass Insurance, both in the trial court and before the Colorado Supreme Court.29 Colo. Law. 5 (Feb. 2000)
- Compass Insurance Co. v. City of Littleton–Colorado Supreme Court Adopts Second Discharge Analysis in Finding Insurance for City Environmental Liabilities, William J. Brady and Lisa K. Mayers. The Colorado Supreme Court issued this landmark decision addressing insurance coverage for the cities of Littleton and Englewood at the Lowry Landfill. It held that insurance companies issuing standard form comprehensive liability (CGL) insurance policies had to defend the cities against the EPA’s allegations of environmental liability under Superfund.
- Comprehensive General Liability Insurance–How to Locate Lost or Missing Policies in Reconstructing Insurance Coverage for Environmental Damage Claims, Trial Talk, Vol. 48, Issue 4, August, 1999
- Reconstructing Insurance Coverage for Environmental Damages Claims from Secondary Sources, Trial Talk, Vol. 47, Issue 8, August, 1998
- Recovery of Non-Economic Damages in Delayed Diagnosis of Cancer Cases, William J. Brady and Lisa K. Mayers, 27 Colo. Law. 95 (Nov. 1998)
- The Law of Hazardous Waste and Toxic Torts, 27 Colo. Law. 95 (Nov. 1998)
- Co-Author of Treatise Environmental Insurance Coverage: Key Issues and Answers, National Business Institute, November, 1996
- Contributor, “Negligent Or Not?” Journal of Dermatopathology: Practical and Conceptual, July-Sept. 2001;July-Sept. 2000; July-Sept. 1999; April-June 1999; Jan.-Mar. 1999; Jan.-Mar. 1997;July-Sept. 1997 and Jan.-Mar. 1996
- Insurance Coverage for Environmental Claims, Trial Talk, Vol. 41, Issue 1, January, 1992
- Series: Environmental Insurance Law, Parts One and Two, “Will Business Insurance Policies Cover Environmental Damage Costs?” The Daily Journal, Vol. 95, Nos. 224 and 229, April 9th and 16th, 1992
- Recent Attempts to Amend CERCLA and SARA, Trial Talk, Vol. 41, Issue 10, November 1992
- The Liability of Psychotherapists, Craig Rehabilitation Hospital, Denver, 1989 (revised)
- The Liability of Psychotherapists, Craig Rehabilitation Hospital, Denver, 1984
- Baxter v. Palmigiano: The Process Due Prisoners, Inside and Outside of Prison Walls, ABA Administrative Law Review, Spring 1977
Presentations
- Aspects of the European Union Environmental Directive and “Assurances Environnementaux”, Intersol 2008 through 2012, Paris, France
- Environmental Insurance Coverage Seminar
- Colorado Special District Association, 2000 Annual Seminar on Municipal Law
- Colorado Municipal League and CML Municipal Attorneys Section, 1999 Environmental Regulation of Colorado Real Property
- CLE in Colorado , Spring, 1997 Environmental Insurance Coverage Seminar
- Colorado Municipal League, 1997 Environmental Insurance Coverage Seminar
- National Business Institute, 1996 Environmental Insurance Coverage Seminar
- CLE in Colorado Inc., 1995 Environmental Insurance Coverage Seminar
- Colorado Trial Lawyer’s Association, 1991, 1992 and 1994 Environmental Insurance Coverage Seminar
- International Municipal Lawyer’s Association, San Diego, Calif., 1991 The Cornerstone
- A film on due process narrated by Raymond Burr. Institute for Administrative Justice, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, 1975 Community Service Presentations
Memberships
- Arapahoe County and Colorado Bar Associations
- The Colorado Trial Lawyers Association (Environmental Task Force 1992-present)
- Adjunct Professor, Environmental and Natural Resources Law, University of Denver, Sturm College of Law, January 1, 2000 – Present
- Adjunct Professor, Graduate Environmental Policy and Management Program, University of Denver University College January 1, 2000 – Present
Recipient of
- Life Member, National Registry of Who’s Who and listed in Who’s Who in American Law, 1990 to Present
- Denver Law Journal, General Editor, College of Law, University of Denver, 1976-1977
- West Publishing Co./Hornbook Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement, College of Law, University of Denver, 1976
- Rockefeller Foundation Scholarship, University of Denver, 1972-1974
Representative Cases
- Compass Insurance Co. v. City of Littleton, 984 P.2d 606(Colo.1999)
- Boryla v. Pash, 960 P.2d 123 (Colo. 1998)
- Cities of Littleton and Englewood v. Commercial Union Ins. Group, et al., 940 P.2d 948 (Colo. App. 1996)
- Hecla Mining Co. v. New Hampshire Ins. Co., 811 P.2d 1083 (Colo. 1991)
