If historic oil and gas operations on your land left behind soil or groundwater contamination, you may be able to file a Legacy lawsuit under Louisiana law. The goal of this type of litigation is to secure compensation for remediation or cleanup of pollution. In a Legacy lawsuit, it’s important to understand what falls under “remediation” so that you and your attorney can build a clear plan and budget for restoring your property.
Understanding Legacy Lawsuits
Decades ago, many oil and gas operators used unlined pits to dump produced water and drilling mud. Over time, harmful substances, including salts, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, even naturally occurring radiation, soaked into the soil and migrated into groundwater. Abandoned wells, corroded pipelines, and earthen waste pits all left behind contamination that can ruin farmland, threaten drinking water, and lower property values.
In Louisiana, Legacy litigation allows landowners to hold oil and gas operators responsible for this past pollution. Under the current law, Act 312, a court can order a full remediation plan and fund the work needed to return soil and groundwater to safe standards.
What Is Remediation in a Legacy Lawsuit?
When it comes to soil contamination and land pollution, remediation involves removing or treating polluted earth. Common methods include excavating contaminated layers, washing or stabilizing the soil on-site, and replacing it with clean fill. In some cases, bioremediation uses microorganisms to break down oil compounds. Each step aims to restore your land’s health and usability.
Similarly, when groundwater has been contaminated, remediation focuses on cleaning water in aquifers beneath your property. Typical approaches include installing recovery wells to pump out polluted water, filtering it through treatment systems, and then returning clean water underground. Long-term monitoring wells check that contaminant levels stay below safe limits, ensuring your water supply remains protected.
What Costs Does Remediation Cover?
In a Legacy lawsuit, remediation may involve several distinct cost areas. Knowing these categories helps you and your attorney build an accurate budget to recover every qualified expense.
Site Assessment & Testing Fees
Before litigation and cleanup begins, your attorney will help to hire consultants to conduct a site assessment. They collect soil and water samples, run lab tests, and map contamination plumes. These studies help attorneys and experts design a precise remediation plan. Assessment fees cover fieldwork, laboratory analyses, and expert reports.
Soil Remediation: Removal, Treatment & Replacements Costs
Excavating and hauling away polluted soil requires heavy equipment, labor, and disposal expenses. Additional fees may apply for on-site treatment, like soil washing or bioremediation. In other cases, the appropriate solution may be to simply bring in new soil to restore the site and support future land use.
Groundwater Remediation: Pumping, Treatment & Monitoring Expenses
Installing and operating recovery wells and treatment systems requires pumps, piping, filters, and power. Treated water may need multiple treatment steps, including carbon filters, pH adjustment, or advanced oxidation. Regular sampling and lab tests confirm cleanup progress over months or years.
Engineering, Permitting & Agency-Approved Cleanup Plans
In a Legacy case, experts draft a detailed remediation plan that meets state standards and secures agency approval. Some additional costs might apply to pay for professional engineering design, permit applications, public notices, and coordination with the Louisiana Department of Energy and Conservation. These steps ensure the cleanup follows all legal and technical requirements.
What Costs Does Remediation NOT Cover?
Remediation in a Louisiana Legacy lawsuit generally excludes attorney and expert fees, as well as the costs to enforce or monitor the approved cleanup plan. Remediation also does not cover any damages beyond the actual cleanup work—this means lost use of the land (business interruption), stigma or market‐value losses unrelated to cleanup, personal injury or health‐care expenses, and punitive or exemplary damages. Costs to remove or repair property features not tied to contamination, such as old buildings or fences, are also outside remediation. Natural erosion or coastal land loss falls on the landowner unless a court orders a separate coastal restoration claim, and any taxes, interest, or financing charges accrued while cleanup is pending are likewise not covered.
The Role of a Legacy Litigation Attorney
Your Legacy litigation attorney organizes every expense tied to investigating and cleaning up contamination. From lab fees for soil and water tests to invoices for heavy equipment used in excavation, your attorney collects and catalogs receipts and expert reports. They use case-management tools and detailed spreadsheets to separate costs by category, such as site assessment, soil removal, groundwater treatment, and monitoring. When it’s time to seek reimbursement, your attorney submits these documented expenses to the court under Act 312 and pushes to recover the full amount you paid for each qualified remediation step.
Estimating Your Remediation Budget & Plan
Forecasting cleanup expenses starts with data. Attorneys and environmental consultants review soil and groundwater tests, as well as contamination maps, to estimate how much polluted material you must remove or treat. They factor in equipment rates, disposal fees, lab charges, and the timeline for pumping and treating water. By modeling different cleanup methods, including excavation, on-site treatment, pump-and-treat systems, they project a cost range for each step. This budget estimate guides negotiations with defendants and helps you avoid surprise charges as work unfolds.
Once you have cost estimates, your attorney will work with engineers and environmental planners to draw up a formal remediation plan. That plan spells out which areas to excavate, how deep to dig, how to treat contaminated soil, and where to install monitoring wells. It also identifies permits, air-quality controls, and waste-management protocols. A detailed, expert-reviewed plan helps regulators and the court approve cleanup faster. It also gives you a clear roadmap for work crews and a line-item budget to recover every eligible expense.
Why Remediation & Cost Accuracy Matters
When contamination stays in your soil or water, it drags down property value and creates health risks. Recovering full remediation costs pays for the work that actually removes or treats the pollutants, and those expenses can run into the hundreds of thousands or millions. By tracking and claiming every eligible remediation cost, you shift the financial burden to the parties responsible for the pollution. Once the cleanup is complete and tests confirm safe levels, your land is fit for farming, building, or sale. Accurate cost recovery ensures you don’t settle for a partial cleanup that leaves hot spots behind. It restores both the safety and marketability of your property.
Next Steps for Landowners
The sooner you involve a Legacy litigation attorney, the better. Early case evaluation includes a site visit, preliminary soil and water sampling, and a review of historical oil-field operations on your land. Your attorney alerts you to key dates and legal requirements under Act 312. If you have a viable claim, they will send a formal notice to regulators and potential defendants. Acting early preserves your right to full cost recovery and positions you for a strong cleanup plan.
Louisiana’s Legacy law is set to change in the coming years. To keep the broader rights and lower proof standards under Act 312, you must file your suit before the new rules take effect on September 1, 2027. Your attorney tracks legislative deadlines and prepares your petition in time to lock in those favorable terms. Filing before the cutoff ensures you retain maximum control over cleanup decisions, proof burdens, and recoverable costs, so you can restore your land fully and fairly.
If you suspect soil or groundwater contamination exists on your land, don’t hesitate to schedule a free consultation with Talbot, Carmouche & Marcello.