Andriy Pazuniak, Senior Counsel

Practice Areas

• Public Law
• Environmental
• Land Use

Practice Description

Andriy Pazuniak is senior counsel in the Firm’s municipal law practice group. He advises cities, special districts and other public agencies on governmental and regulatory activities, including contracts and environmental compliance.
Mr. Pazuniak has extensive experience representing public agencies and private entities in land use, environmental and public law matters throughout California and the country. Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Pazuniak served as Deputy County Counsel in the Property Division of Los Angeles County Counsel, where, among other matters, he advised the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning on numerous large-scale development projects. Mr. Pazuniak has also represented clients in complex environmental and business litigation matters while at law firms in Los Angeles and New York.

Professional Activities

Mr. Pazuniak is a member of the Orange County Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in California and New York.

Representative Matters

• Advised the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, including development agreement negotiations and preparation of CEQA documents, on the Entrada South and Valencia Commerce Center (VCC) Project, which includes 1,574 dwelling units, 730,000 square feet of non-residential development, 3.4 million square feet of industrial/business park space, a spineflower preserve, roadways and infrastructure improvements.
• Advised the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, including preparation of CEQA documents, on the NorthLake project, a development of more than 3,000 single-family and multi-family units on 600 acres.
• Advised the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, including preparation of CEQA documents, on the Centennial project, a master-planned community of more than 19,000 residences and 8 million square feet of commercial and business park uses.
• Advised Los Angeles County departments, including contract negotiations with the developer for construction of fire stations and a library, on the Valencia (Newhall Ranch) project, which includes more than 20,000 dwelling units on more than 11,000 acres.
• Won dismissal of land use action brought against Los Angeles County by an RV park owner seeking to invalidate conditions in its conditional use permit. Negotiated favorable settlement that required construction of emergency access road and payment of attorney fees to the County.
• Represented an environmental remediation contractor in multidistrict litigation involving more than $1 billion in plaintiff claims, including CERCLA and common law tort claims by three sovereign entities, arising from the Gold King Mine spill, a three-million-gallon release of acid mine drainage near Silverton, Colorado, into the Animas and San Juan Rivers.
• Won a breach of contract action tried in arbitration against an international oil company arising from the company’s failure to comply with its environmental reporting and other obligations under its long-term gas station leases.
• Defended hotel and resort in two separate lawsuits involving more than 100 claimants alleging property damage during a 500-year rainstorm due to the flood control system near their homes.
• Represented a ranching company in a federal court trial involving an open-pit mining and Superfund site, which included claims related to CERCLA, common law tort, and water rights.
• Won dismissal of an environmental challenge against a proposed power plan on behalf of a public utility.
• Won summary judgment in federal breach of contract action against a major oil company arising from the purchase of an onshore oil-storage facility.

Education

• Seton Hall University School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude (2010))
Order of the Coif; Law Review Editor; Constitutional Law Award; Chancellor Scholar; Impact Litigation Clinic
• University of Wisconsin – Madison (B.A., Journalism, (2007))