Attorney
Nicholas C. Rigano
Nicholas Rigano joined Rigano LLC in 2017. Prior to joining the firm, he worked at well-known firms located in Manhattan and Long Island.
Nick represents clients in litigation and transactional real property matters involving environmental issues. His practice primarily concentrates on subsurface contamination, solid waste, and wetland issues. Nick is Chair of the PFAS Committee for the New York State Bar Association Environmental and Energy Law Section and is an appointed member of the New York State Bar Association Environmental Justice Committee. He was the Chair of the Environmental Law Committee for the Nassau County Bar Association and served on the Environmental Advisory Board for the Village of Garden City.
Nick also represents key constituents involved in Chapter 5 bankruptcy litigation and as well as creditors to Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcies.
Nick has authored numerous articles published in periodicals such as the Bloomberg Law Reporter, Wall Street Journal Pro, the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, the New York Real Estate Journal, and the New York Environmental Lawyer. He has lectured extensively on various environmental, bankruptcy and litigation topics at venues such as the Harvard Club, Nassau County Bar Association, CLE providers as well as for the New York State Bar Association.
Nick has been quoted or appeared in various media outlets including Newsday, The New York Post, News12, ABC News, NPR, Bloomberg BNA, the Garden City News, Port Washington News, Riverhead News Review, East Hampton Star, Bethpage Newsgram, and the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.
Education
- Graduated cum laude from St. John’s University School of Law in 2008.
- Cum laude from the School of Management at Binghamton University in 2005.
- Nominated a New York Super Lawyers Rising Star every year since 2013.
Admitted to Practice:
- State of New York
- Eastern District of New York
- Southern District of New York
- United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit
Attorney
Nicholas C. Rigano
Nicholas Rigano joined Rigano LLC in 2017. Prior to joining the firm, he worked at well-known firms located in Manhattan and Long Island.
Nick represents clients in litigation and transactional real property matters involving environmental issues. His practice primarily concentrates on subsurface contamination, solid waste, and wetland issues. Nick is Chair of the PFAS Committee for the New York State Bar Association Environmental and Energy Law Section and is an appointed member of the New York State Bar Association Environmental Justice Committee. He was the Chair of the Environmental Law Committee for the Nassau County Bar Association and served on the Environmental Advisory Board for the Village of Garden City.
Nick also represents key constituents involved in Chapter 5 bankruptcy litigation and as well as creditors to Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcies.
Nick has authored numerous articles published in periodicals such as the Bloomberg Law Reporter, Wall Street Journal Pro, the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, the New York Real Estate Journal, and the New York Environmental Lawyer. He has lectured extensively on various environmental, bankruptcy and litigation topics at venues such as the Harvard Club, Nassau County Bar Association, CLE providers as well as for the New York State Bar Association.
Nick has been quoted or appeared in various media outlets including Wall Street Journal, Newsday, The New York Post, News12, ABC News, NPR, Bloomberg BNA, the Garden City News, Port Washington News, Riverhead News Review, East Hampton Star, Bethpage Newsgram, and the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.
Notable environmental experience
- Serve as lead counsel for various municipalities in multi-million dollar CERCLA, RCRA and tort litigations seeking recovery of costs and related damages associated with PFAS contamination.
- Serve as lead litigation counsel for several municipalities in the Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) Multi District Litigation associated with damage recovery resulting from PFAS contamination detected at municipal airports designated as superfund sites.
- Represent property owner, developer and other potentially responsible parties as defendants in various environmental multi-million dollar cost recovery litigation alleging CERCLA, RCRA and/or tort-based claims brought by DEC, EPA and private parties.
- Represent numerous parties as lead regulatory counsel in superfund and brownfield EPA/DEC cleanups.
- Serve as lead regulatory counsel to manage DEC superfund process to investigate and remediate PFAS contamination resulting from firefighting foam use at municipal-owned airports.
- Represent defendant in putative class action alleging contamination of private drinking water wells.
- Represent municipality as landlord in Yellowstone injunction litigation for tenant’s failure to comply with environmental provisions (among others) under the lease.
- Represent municipality as respondent in Article 78 proceeding associated with SEQRA issues.
- Represent water districts as creditors in Chapter 7 bankruptcy resulting in a multi-million dollar recovery from the sale of a superfund site
- Represent community group in support of obtaining alternative drinking water source for Long Island and Article 78 proceeding associated therewith
- Represent buyer and seller (with a conflict waiver) of a superfund site resulting in administrative releases of both parties
- Represent community group with respect to SEQRA and municipal consideration of a large multi-family property development on Long Island
- Represent defendant in $100 million tort action brought by municipality for drinking water contamination
- Obtained eight figure federal tax deduction resulting from a conservation easement on behalf of a developer client
- Represent clients in resolution of various tidal wetlands enforcement actions brought by the NYSDEC by guiding client through bulkhead and wetlands processes
- Guide multiple clients through brownfield process for superfund sites and non-superfund sites
- Represent well-known developers in pre-closing environmental due diligence and contract/lease negotiations
- Procure environmental insurance policies for various parties
Notable bankruptcy experience
- Represent Chapter 7 trustee of mid-market broker dealer by spearheading multi-million dollar breach of contract litigations against former clients, the recoveries from which enabled the trustee to make a 75% distribution to unsecured creditors
- Represent creditors committee for one of the largest Chapter 11 subprime mortgage lender filings
- Represent Chapter 11 creditors committee for mid-market hardware manufacturer
- Represent various defendants in Chapter 5 actions brought by liquidation trusts or chapter 11 trustees
- Represent trade creditors with 503(b)(9) claims
- Represent landlords in connection with assumption and rejection of leases pursuant to section 365 of the bankruptcy code
- Represent creditors owed over $10 million in Ponzi scheme resulting in multi-million dollar recovery
- Represent Chapter 7 trustee regarding international Ponzi scheme by handling multi-million dollar international fraudulent conveyance actions