Kate Campbell

Practice Areas

Data Centers

Litigation: Administrative Actions and Appeals;

Contract and Common Law Claims;

Cost Recovery, Superfund, Natural Resource Damages and Citizen Suits;

Insurance Coverage Claims on Behalf of Policyholders;

Special Counsel to Municipalities/Public Agencies for Environmental Litigation;

Storage Tank Litigation; and

Toxic Tort Defense and Class Action Suits.

Superfund and Site Remediation: Contaminated Sediment Sites;

Federal/State Cleanup

Career

Kate is a Chambers-ranked litigation partner at the firm focusing on environmental, toxic tort and class action litigation and Superfund and RCRA remediation matters*. She is one of the firm’s primary attorneys handling PFAS litigation and remediation and has successfully represented a variety of clients facing PFAS claims. With a deep understanding of the complex regulatory and scientific landscape surrounding PFAS and a strong focus on both advocacy and prevention, Kate also provides strategic counsel to clients on the development and execution of risk management plans targeted at the unique and multi-faceted challenges posed by PFAS.

Since joining the firm more than two decades ago, she has developed considerable experience in defending complex toxic tort claims for personal injury, wrongful death, medical monitoring and property damage. Kate regularly represents potentially responsible parties across the country in CERCLA and RCRA matters and litigates federal, state and private enforcement actions under an array of environmental statutes.

In addition to her litigation and remediation practice, Kate has also been involved for many years in activities involving Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for toxic pollutants, advocating on behalf of individual clients and a regional coalition of industrial and municipal dischargers. Through this work, she has been able to develop a detailed understanding of the nuances of the Clean Water Act and the TMDL regulatory program, and the contours of TMDL litigation at the federal and state levels.

Professional Memberships

Admitted in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts;

ABA SEER

Superfund and NRD Committee, Newsletter Co-Chair

Environmental Litigation and Toxic Tort Committee

American College of Environmental Lawyers Fellow

Honors Scholarship Program Task Force Chair

Environmental Law Network Firm Liaison - Treasurer

Society of Women Environmental Professionals of Greater Philadelphia

DRI - Toxic Torts Committee

Publications

Power, Air, Water and Permits: Environmental Law Issues Driving Data Center Development in the AI Era

February 19, 2026

The Legal Intelligencer

Anticipated Third-Party Litigation Targeting Data Centers in 2026

MGKF Special Alert - 2026 Federal Forecast - January 20, 2026

PFAS Litigation Expected to Continue to Grow and Evolve in 2025

MGKF Special Alert - 2025 Federal Forecast - January 17, 2025

Recent Developments and Trends in Greenwashing Claims

February 27, 2024

The Legal Intelligencer

The Next Wave of PFAS Defendants: Smaller Industrial Users

June 3, 2021

The Legal Intelligencer

Virtual Hearings and Trials - A Look Back One Year Later

May 7, 2021

written for the 2021 ABA Litigation Section Virtual Annual Conference

Will PFAS Litigation Revive Class Treatment for Medical Monitoring Claims?

February 28, 2020

The Legal Intelligencer

Personal

Partnership for the Delaware Estuary

Board of Directors (2023-present)

Executive Committee Member

Nominating Committee Chair

Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law

Guest lecturer on Superfund

Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law

Guest lecturer on Toxic Tort (2021-present)

Work Highlights

As lead relationship partner for a number of large corporate clients, Kate’s representations are national in scope and extend to federal and state courts and agencies across the country and in Canada.

Representative examples of Kate’s toxic tort and class action litigation matters include the following:

lead counsel in the defense of a former medical sterilization company in personal injury and medical monitoring cases involving alleged cancer injuries from ethylene oxide exposure.

lead counsel in toxic tort litigation arising from a fire and explosion at an industrial manufacturing facility, including allegations of personal injury, property loss, and environmental impacts.

lead counsel in the defense of a Fortune 500 specialty chemical manufacturing company in a toxic tort lawsuit involving historical releases of benzene and chlorobenzene into groundwater from a RCRA permitting manufacturing facility;

lead counsel for a plastic fabricator in the defense of a putative class action in federal court alleging personal injuries and property damage arising out of a warehouse fire, obtaining complete dismissal of all claims asserted against the company with prejudice, including novel failure-to-warn/products liability claims (Callihan, et al. v. Surnaik Holdings of WV, LLC, et al., Civ. A. No. 2:17-cv-04386, 2018 WL 6313012 (D. W.V. Dec. 3, 2018));

co-lead counsel in the defense of multiple lawsuits filed by residents adjacent to a former landfill in Montana claiming cancer and other personal injuries as well as property damage allegedly resulting from migration of volatile organic compounds in groundwater and soil vapor;

defense of a public utility in a class action filed in Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas seeking environmental testing, remediation, and medical monitoring of over 12,000 residences for an alleged "threatened release" of mercury during the removal of gas pressure regulators;

defense of a former specialty metals manufacturer in multiple class actions filed in state and federal courts seeking medical monitoring from exposure to airborne emissions from manufacturing activities into the ambient air;

defense of an operator of a landfill against a class action filed in state court seeking damages for nuisance and diminution of property value as a result of landfill operations;

defense of a Fortune 500 company in a federal action brought by over 120 plaintiffs seeking restoration and other damages in excess of $35 million associated with historical releases from a crude oil storage and transportation facility.

Representative examples of Kate’s CERCLA, site remediation and other complex litigation matters include the following:

lead counsel for a former nuclear mining and development company at a 300+ square mile Superfund site in New Mexico impacted by decades of legacy uranium mining and milling operations;

lead counsel in the prosecution of an electric and gas utility company in cost recovery litigation under the New Jersey Spill Act, successfully obtaining a judgment of successor liability against an asset purchaser on issues of first impression under New Jersey law (Public Service Electric & Gas Co., Inc. v. Cooper Industries, LLC, 2023 WL 4173010 (D.N.J. June 26, 2023);

co-counsel for the City of New York at the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site in Brooklyn, NY;

group counsel in pursuing CERCLA contribution claims in federal court to recover the costs that the group has incurred and will continue to incur to investigate and remediate the Metro Container Superfund Site in Trainer, PA;

group counsel for the negotiation and implementation of a Remedial Design AOC and Remedial Action Consent Decree for a chlorinated solvent Superfund site in EPA Region 5 (Indiana);

lead counsel for the developer of an international marine terminal facility at a Brownfields site on the Delaware River, defending the company in federal, state and administrative challenges to environmental permitting for the facility and providing overall compliance and permitting counseling;

defense of a Fortune 500 company in a CERCLA cost recovery claim based on successor liability theories, resulting in the voluntary dismissal of all claims against the company;

lead litigation counsel in the defense of an electric and gas utility company in a federal citizen suit under the Clean Air Act, resulting in a voluntary dismissal of the suit following fact and expert discovery;

defense of a specialty metals manufacturer as appellate counsel in a CERCLA private cost recovery action, resulting in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacating a $13 million verdict entered in favor of the plaintiffs by the trial court (Agere Systems, Inc. v. Advanced Environmental Technology Corp., 602 F.3d 204 (3d Cir. 2010));

defense of a specialty chemicals company in a CERCLA cost recovery action brought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, resulting in the dismissal of the federal government’s claims with prejudice (United States v. Rohm and Haas, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99585 (D.N.J. Sept. 22, 2010));

defense of a national telecommunications company in cost-recovery litigation under CERCLA and the New Jersey Spill Act with approximately $175 million in alleged past and future costs; and

defense of a national railroad in a $9 million civil penalty action arising out of a derailment and resulting release of sodium hydroxide into soil, surface water, and groundwater.

Education

Awards