INDIANAPOLIS, IN — Taft attorneys Frank J. Deveau and David L. Guevara, Ph.D., have authored a new book titled The Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Defense: A Guide for Lawyers. The book, published in June 2013 by ABA Book Publishing, was sponsored by the ABA’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. Deveau and Guevara also designed and edited Environmental Liability and Insurance Recovery, published by ABA Book Publishing in May 2012.

About the Book

CERCLA creates a significant barrier to the redevelopment of brownfield sites. Buyers can be held liable for the entire cost of cleanup, even if they purchase property after the contamination occurred or were otherwise innocent. As a result, developers have generally avoided up to 450,000 brownfield sites nationwide.

The Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Defense, A Guide For Lawyers includes all relevant U.S. EPA guidance documents and an analysis of relevant ASTM standards and key judicial decisions interpreting the Brownfields Amendments. This information provides the practitioner dealing with such issues all the resources he or she needs to advise a client.

About the Authors

Frank J. Deveau serves as co-chair of Taft's Environmental practice group and represents clients in relation to all aspects of environmental law. For over 30 years, he has advised and defended clients in relation to environmental litigation involving private parties and federal and state government. A substantial amount of his practice has also involved all facets of environmental insurance recovery. Deveau is co-author of Environmental Liability and Insurance Recovery (ABA Publishing, 2012) and The Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Defense to CERCLA Liability (ABA Publishing, 2013). He has been routinely recognized as an Indiana Super Lawyer and has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since 1991. He also was named Best Lawyers in America’s 2012 Environmental Lawyer of the year for Indianapolis.

David L. Guevara, Ph.D. is a member of Taft’s Environmental Law and Litigation practice groups. He concentrates his practice in complex environmental litigation and insurance law. Guevara’s legal publications include two books:  Environmental Liability and Insurance Recovery (ABA Publishing, 2012) and The Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Defense to CERCLA Liability (ABA Publishing, 2013).  He is also the author of “The Application and Regulation of Institutional Controls in Indiana” in Implementing Institutional Controls at Brownfields and Other Contaminated Sites (ABA Publishing, 2012). Guevara’s clients include municipalities, real estate developers, businesses and individual property owners, each of whom are exposed to some form of, or seek to avoid, environmental liability. When his clients are exposed to environmental liability, he assists in the recovery of insurance to offset the costs of their environmental liability. Guevara is the immediate past chair of the Environmental Law Section of the Indianapolis Bar Association. He attended the University of Notre Dame Law School, where he was the recipient of the Graham Law Fellowship. While at Notre Dame, he received a Dean’s Award for achieving the highest grade in Trial Advocacy and was editor-in-chief of The Journal of College and University Law. Guevara holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and has taught philosophy and world religions courses at the college level.  He was selected by Law & Politics Magazine as an Indiana Rising Star in 2012 and 2013. 

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