705 Brisbane Building
403 Main Street
Buffalo, NY 14203
(716) 852-8188 Tel.
(716) 852-0775 Fax
445 Third Street
Niagara Falls, NY, 14301
(716) 282-5111 Tel.
(716) 205-0760 Fax
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION:
Columbia University, B.A.
New York University School of Law, J.D.
PROFESSIONAL:
Assistant New York State Attorney General – Environmental Protection Bureau, 1973 - 1978
Major Cases:
West Valley Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Center – Licensing before the NRC.
New York State & Natural Resources Defense Council vs. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 539 F2d 824 (2d Cir. 1976)– Administrative appeal to block the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods to extract plutonium.
Distrigas Corp. – Licensing of Liquefied Natural Gas importation from Algeria in cryogenic supertankers. Before the Federal Power Commission. 1975-76
Grossman Levine & Civiletto – Niagara Falls, New York, Associate, 1978 - 1985
Litigation – Principal responsibility for litigation management, all court documents and briefs, courtroom advocacy for the LOVE CANAL LITIGATION before the Niagara County Supreme Court, 1978 – 1985. The Love Canal litigation, against Hooker Plastics and Chemical Company, was the prototype for mass toxic exposure cases in the United States. Most of the procedures for litigation and mechanisms for resolution of such cases were developed in this litigation.
General Tort litigation including auto, medical malpractice, products liability and industrial accidents.
Law Offices of Richard G. Berger, 1985 to present
Private practice of law in Environmental Law, Negligence, Contracts, Corporate Law, Commercial Litigation, Real Estate and Estates and Trusts – before State and Federal Courts. 1985 to Date.
Major Cases:
Natural Resources Defense Council and the State of New York v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 539 F.2d 824 (2nd Cir. 1976) Appeal under Administrative Procedure Act and NEPA to enjoin the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods from commercial nuclear reactors in order to recover plutonium and fissionable uranium.
Preservation Coalition v. Federal Transit Admin., 129 F. Supp.2d 551 (W.D.N.Y. 2000), aff., 356 F.3d 444 (2nd Cir. 2004). Action under NEPA and the National Historic Preservation Act to preserve the terminus of the Erie Canal on Buffalo's Harbor as a national historic landscape.
Campaign for Buffalo v. State University College at Buffalo, (Erie Co. Sup. Ct., 2007; not reported) Action under the NYS Environmental Quality Review Act to compel the State to issue an environmental impact statement for the construction of the Burchfield-Penny Art Museum on land taken from the NYS Psychiatric Center, a National Historic Landmark,.
Tiperneni v. State, 119 A.D.2d 1003 (4th Dept. 1986) Action for personal injury damages at the Niagara Falls Reservation Park.
PUBLICATIONS:
"Governmental Regulation of the Pursuit of Knowledge: The Recombinant DNA Controversy," Vermont Law Review Vol. 3, 1978
MISCELLANEOUS:
Richard Berger is a founding Board Member and past president of the Campaign for Buffalo, History, Culture and Architecture. He is also on the Board of the Buffalo Niagara Freedom Station Coalition, Inc., a preservation organization working to promote the formation of an African-American Historic District in Buffalo. Mr. Berger has testified before Congress and the legislatures of New York and Connecticut on issues of the Freshwater Wetlands law, liquefied natural gas importation in supertankers, and potential environmental hazards of recombinant DNA technology. He served for six years as a member of the Eighth Judicial District Grievance Committee, reviewing cases of alleged attorney misconduct.
