Press Releases

They received an Amicus Service Award for their work on a Maui water quality matter.

For Immediate Release: April 21, 2016

Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213.787.2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Best Best & Krieger LLP partners Shawn Hagerty and Andre Monette received an Amicus Service Award from the International Municipal Lawyer’s Association on Friday during the organization’s Mid-Year Seminar in Washington, D.C.

Hagerty and Monette worked with BB&K’s deep bench of water quality lawyers to submit an amicus brief with the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of IMLA, the Association of California Water Agencies, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies and others in the matter of County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, et al. The litigation was over the County’s ongoing discharge of surplus recycled water to groundwater via injection wells inland of the Town of Lahaina on the Island of Maui. In support of Maui County, the brief argued that a lower court wrongly disregarded the Clean Water Act’s threshold requirement that pollutants be discharged from a discreet point source into surface waters to be subject to the Act’s NPDES permitting program. If affirmed by the Ninth Circuit, the case has the potential to change the NPDES permitting program.

The Awards go to lawyers who are actively involved in legal advocacy for, and on behalf of, local governments and IMLA, and who have done “exemplary work to protect and advance local government interests,” according to the organization.

Hagerty’s practice focuses on numerous state and federal water quality regulations that apply to public agencies. He regularly advises clients regarding the obtaining of, and compliance with, NPDES permits and represents clients in administrative actions regarding such permits. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Law.

Monette works with both public and private clients in matters involving water quality, water rights, wetlands, and state and federal hazardous and solid waste issues. He works extensively with water districts, cities, counties and agricultural interests on matters involving the Federal Clean Water Act and its state law analogues. He is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

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