George J. Gigounas

George J. Gigounas joined DLA Piper in 2004 and has developed a practice that merges his skills as a leading products litigator and as a deeply experienced environmental lawyer. As co-chair of the firm’s environmental practice, he currently handles major matter regarding plastics liability, PFAS in consumer products, sustainability commitments and extended producer responsibility.

Gigounas studied environmental science at the University of Virginia and law at UC Berkeley School of Law.

Now, he’s at the forefront of new approaches to environmental and products law. In a new, first-of-its kind litigation, environmentalists are seeking to use the Endangered Species Act to hold liable 13 leading tire industry participants for their use of an anti-degradant chemical called 6PPD in their products.

Gigounas represents defendants Michelin North America Inc., Kumho Tire USA Inc. and Hankook Tire America Corp. The plaintiff is baked by Earthjustice, formerly Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. Institute for Fisheries Resources et al. v. Bridgestone Americas Inc. et al., 4:23-cv-005748 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 8, 2023).

“This is a good example of the dynamic driving environmental litigation today,” Gigounas said. “It comes out of an acute awareness of the impact of certain chemicals on the environment. And this is a novel use of the Endangered Species Act to argue that the manufacture of a product using these chemicals can be a taking of certain species.”

The theory arose from a University of Washington study showing that 6PPD reacts with atmospheric ozone to create a substance suspected of causing a toxic reaction in Coho salmon in California, Oregon and Washington.

“We’ll start with the science and learn everything we can about this and other new studies,” Gigounas said. “We’ll talk to the experts, look into the data and we’ll be filing an answer in the coming weeks.

“This is the kind of case my career has been leading to,” he added.

In an earlier novel case, Gigounas and colleagues successfully demurred for a consumer products client, Danone North America Inc., accused of plastics pollution over allegedly misleading recyclability claims. Earth Island Institute. v. Crystal Geyser Water Co. et al., RG18912553 (S. Mateo Co. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 26, 2020).

The suit seeks to hold corporations accountable for their purported share of plastic pollution. Legal observers have called the case a matter of top concern to the food and beverage industry.

“The court sustained our demurrers and the plaintiff have re-pled the matter,” Gigounas said. “We are again filing demurrers. This is the wrong way to try to address plastic pollution.”

—John Roemer