Professional Background and Accomplishments
Mr. Vacchio has significant experience beneficially representing clients in all stages of the adversary process including negotiation, litigation, mediation, arbitration, bench trials, jury trials, and appeals. His practice historically has focused on general business and commercial litigation, and trial work. Mr. Vacchio has a solid background in environmental litigation, CERCLA, RCRA, Clean Water Act, and the California equivalents, in both private party and government enforcement matters (administrative, civil, and criminal).
Mr. Vacchio is also experienced in White Collar criminal matters such as internal company investigations and the attendant follow-up proceedings including Grand Jury investigations, as well as criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement proceedings in all types of business and commercial contexts. He has substantial experience in complex commercial litigation including contract disputes, business torts, fraud claims, real estate cases including disclosure frauds, trade secret disputes, breach of fiduciary duty claims, construction defect matters and product liability claims.
Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Vacchio has represented clients in a variety of industries, including a publicly traded aerospace company and a geothermal energy producer in federal and state investigations and prosecutions for the alleged illegal storage, transportation, and disposal of hazardous wastes (rocket fuel and geothermal filters). He represented a Fortune 500 paper recycling company in a grand jury investigation and avoided indictment in a Clean Water Act case that involved the illegal dumping of more than 2,500 tons of waste in protected wetlands. Mr. Vacchio also represented a secondary smelter metals recycling facility in a criminal prosecution charging multiple counts of workplace exposure violations. He has represented various commercial transportation entities in criminal oil spill prosecutions and similar Hazmat matters, as well as defending statutory violations such as excess weight per axle, improperly secured loads, improper placarding, improper loading of incompatible materials, weights and measures violations, failures to comply with the DMV and CHP Pull Notice Program, and hours of service violations.
Publications and Speaking Engagements