Robert J. Shostak, Esq.

B.A. ; Bowling Green University

LAW EXPERIENCE

1990 - Present

Private practice in Ohio - engaged in the general practice of law with emphasis on environmental law and regulatory litigation regarding mining, air and water pollution, solid and hazardous waste disposal, plaintiff's toxic torts, class actions, and personal injury, inter alia. Clients include individuals, citizen groups, environmental groups, small business, coal companies, and local government entities, inter alia.

1993 - Present

Private practice in West Virginia - engaged in the general practice of law with the emphasis on environmental law and regulatory litigation regarding mining, air and water pollution, solid waste and hazardous waste disposal, plaintiff's toxic torts, and personal injury, inter alia. Clients include individuals, citizens groups, coal operaters, land owners, corporations, environmental groups, etc.

1984 - 1989

Private practice in California - engaged in the practice of water law, toxic torts, coastal plain regulation, and environmental litigation, commercial and business law, representing small business, landowners, investors, inter alia ( 1985-1986). General counsel to Frozfruit Corporation in 1986. 1987-1989, solo practice.

1975 - Present

Private practice in Pennsylvania - engaged in various environmental and regulatory litigation, plaintiff's personal injury and property damage claims. Clients have included individuals, citizen groups, environmental groups, small business operators, coal operators, landfill operators and solid waste haulers, natural gas producers, hazardous waste disposal companies, steel manufacturers, and local government entities, inter alia.

1974 - 1975

Assistant District Attorney, Countey of Allegheny, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1972 - 1974

Special Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Environmentl resources, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (DER), Environmental Strike Force. Areas of enforcement responsibility, civil and criminl: Coal mining regulation, coal mine safety, water pollution, Liason with EPA, Region III ( Western District).

1969 - 1971

Preceptorship and Associate at Thomson, Rhodes and Grigsby, Attorneys at Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

PUBLICATIONS

Shostak, R.J. and McGinley, P.C., Unresolved Environmental Issues under the 1993 Energy Policy Act,Eastern Mineral Law Foundation, Special Institute, (Washington, D.C. May 15, 1996).

Shostak, R.J. Citizens Rights Under American Environmental Statutes, American Bar Association, Central and East European Law Initiative, International Conference on Legal Tools of Citizen Environmental Rights Protection, Guta, Ukraine (January 1996)

Emison, R. and R.J. Shostak, Pipelines and Subsidence: Overlooked in SMCRA,International Mining Conference, U.S. Bureau of Mines (April, 1994)

Shostak, R.J., Attorney Fees Under SMCRA,Eastern Mineral Law Foundation, Special Institute on SMCRA(Washington,D.C., January, 1994).

Shostak, R.J. and R. diPretoro,Prevention and Remediation of Longwall Subsidence Damage in Germany and the United Kingdom in Comparison to the United States,German-Marshall Fund Environmental Fellowship. Presented at the 8th Annual Longwall Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (June 1993)

Shostak, R.J., The prosecution and Defense of a Water Well Contamination Case, Eastern Mineral Law Foundation, 14th Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (May 1993).

Shostak, R.J., Examining and Cross-Examining the Expert Witness in Environmental Cases, Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers, 1991 Environmental Law Seminar, Columbus, Ohio ( November, 1991)

Shostak, R.J.,Citizen Participation in the Environmental Regulation of Coal Mining - The American Experience, U.N. Publications - Proceedings of United Nations International Symposium, Management of Economic and Environmental Aspects of Coal Mining Industry ( Prague, Czechoslavakia, October 21-24, 1991).

Shostak, R.J.and J. I. Barrett,Valid Existing Rights in the Federal Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act,5 Journal on Mineral Law and Policy 585 (1990).

Shostak, R.J. and P.C. Mcginley,Effect of SMCRA on Appurtenant Mining Rights Which May Result in Subsidence: The Landowner's Perspective,Eastern Mineral Foundation, Special Institute on Coal Mine Subsidence (Pittsburgh, 1989)

Shostak, R.J.,Avoiding Mandatory Cessation Orders Under SMCRA,American Law Institute, American Bar Association Conference on Legal Issues in the Coal Industry, Scottsdale, Arizzona (April, 1980)

Shostak, R.J.,"The Pit and the Pendulum" - the Senate and S.1403, a critique of the Rockefeller Amendment, 82 W.Va. L. Rev. 1221 (1980).

MISCELLANEOUS

Solicitor - Village of Coolville, Village of Chauncey, and Village of Glouster (Ohio).

Councilman - City of Athens, Ohio ( 1995 - 1997)

Participant - International Conference on Legal Mechanisms for the Protection of Citizens Environmental Rights; ABA - Central & East European Law Initiative, EcoPravo; Guta, Ukraine, June 11 - 16, 1995.

Former Member - West Virginia Department of Energy Committee on Mining Regulations and Regulatory Programs. ( 1990-1991).

Former Member - Appalachian Ohio Public Interest Campaign - Technical Advisory Committee. 1990 - 1993.

Former Member 0 Steering Committee, Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment ( San Francisco, California, 1992).

Member - Ohio Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association, West Virginia bar Association, Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers, and Athens County Bar Association (current)

Executive Committee and Trustee-at-Large - Eastern Mineral Law Foundation, West Virginia University College of Law, 1991 to 1996.

Speaker - United Nations International Symposium, Management of Economic and Environmental Aspects in Coal Mining Industry ( prague, Czechoslavakia, October 21 - 24, 1991).

Panelist - University of Oregon - Public Interest Environmental Law Seminar, March, 1991.

panelist - Eastern Mineral Law Foundation - Construing Deeds, Leases and Easements Affecting Coal, Oil and Gas Rights, Special Institute, October 7, 1993, West Virginia Law Center, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Lecturer - Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, By invitation from professors from time to time

Substitute Faculty Member and Lecturer - West Virginia University, School of Law, Morgantown, West Virginia, 1990.

Faculty - U.S. Department of Interior and Eastern Mineral Law Foundation, Special Institute on Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (Washington, D.C. May, 1996).

Faculty - U.S. Department of Interior and Eastern Mineral Law Foundation, Special Institute on SMCRA (Washington, D.C., 1994).

Faculty - Valid Existing Rights Symposium, U.S. Department of the Interior and University of Kentucky Mineral Law Center, Washington, D.C., April, 1990

Faculty - Coal Mine Subsidence Special Institute, West Virginia University and Eastern Mineral Law Foundation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December, 1989.

Commentator ( informal) on the Law of Mining, Eastern Mineral Law Foundation; Vish McGlinley, et al.( 5 Volumes ), Matthew Bender, 1983.

Former Member - Rules Drafting Committee for Rules of Practice before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1980 - 1982

Faculty - Legal Issues in the Coal Industry for ALI-ABA, Scottsdale, Arizona, 1980.

Commentator on West Virginia Coal Mine regulatory Program, 1979 - 1980.

Former Member of Govenor's Select Ad-Hoc Committee on Coal Mining and Environmental Legislation for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1978 - 1982.

Lecturer - University of Pittsburg Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1976 -1977.

Lecturer - Chatham College, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Environmental Law for Business, 1976.

OTHER WORK EXPERIENCE

1976 - 1982

Environmental compliance officer to Apollo Coal Corporation, Indiana, Pennsylvania.

Counsel to Western Pennsylvania Surface Coal Mine Operators Association, Butler, Pennsylvania.

Founder and counsel to United Surface Mine Operators Association, Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

Owned and operated three surface coal mines in Western Pennsylvania.

Law Clerk, Thomson, Rhodes & Gingsby, Attorneys at Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Teaching Assistant, Russian, Bowling green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.

EXPERT WITNESS EXPERIENCE
September, 1991

Kanawha County Circuit Court, West Virginia. Qualified as an expert witness for plaintiff on West Virginia coal mining law, environmental regulations relating to mining, performance standards, and enforcement practices. Lienbach, et al. v. Wayland, et al., Case No. 91-C-2176. Testified in deposition and at trial.

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Qualified as an expert witness for plaintiff on federal and state coal mining law and regulations, environmental regulations, and permitting procedures. UMWA v. Kitt Energy, et al., Case No. CA87-822. Testified in deposition and at trial.

Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Pennsylvania. Expert witness for defendant on adequacy of representation, legal work, and billing practices by law firm in an environmental case. Feldstein, Grinburg, Stein & McKee v. Howard Jackson Trickett, No. A.D. 94-5738. Testified at trial.

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. Retained as an expert witness for plaintiff on adequacy if legal representation and legal work performed by a law firm on real estate matter with environmental considerations. Report submitted prior to trial. Case settled. Albert T. Summers, et al. v. Jackson & Kelly, et al., Case No. 2:94-9437.

Circuit Court of Greenbriar County, West Virginia. Retained as an expert witness for third-party defendent on attorney-client relationship. Report submitted before trial. Case decided on a directed verdict for Defendants - case dismissed. Mary H. Hamilton, et al. v. Michael J. DelGiudice, et al. v. Leon Greenberg,Case No. 95-C-20(L).

RECOGNITION

• Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmans Clubs (Allegheny Chapter) - Clean Streams Award ( 1976).
• Environmental Fellowship - German Marshall Fund of the U.S. - Environmental Fellowship - study of European technology and policy on mining subsidence mitigation, May, 1991.
• Who's Who in Executives and Professionals, 1997 - 1998 Edition.
• Board of Contributors, Athens Messenger, 1994 - 1995.

ADMISSIONS
Court and Date of Admission
U.S. Supreme Court June 11,1979
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania March 20, 1972
Supreme Court of California June 13, 1984
Supreme Court of Ohio October 17, 1990
Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia May 12, 1993
U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit June 12, 1980
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit March 4, 1981
U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit December 17, 1993
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit September 30, 1987
U.S. Tax Court April 8, 1986
U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania October 29, 1971
U.S. District Court, Central District of California September 26, 1985
U.S. District Court, Southern District of California October 3, 1985
U.S. District Court, Northern District of West Virginia July 7, 1994
U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia May 12, 1993
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio September 14,1994
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio January 11,1991
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