Megan Dowty

• Representing one of the largest owners and developers of mixed-use communities in coastal California in separate suits against the U.S. government and a global contractor seeking billions of dollars in damages resulting from the widespread fraud and criminal falsification of records that occurred in the environmental cleanup of radiological contamination at a former naval shipyard that is the subject of San Francisco’s largest redevelopment project in over a century.
• Representing a Fortune 10 energy corporation in litigation against the California Department of Conservation, Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) and Governor Gavin Newsom related to the State of California’s de facto moratorium on the issuance of well stimulation permits.
• Providing regulatory and litigation advice to California's largest oil and gas producer.
• Represented and advised clients with respect to putative class actions against one of the nation’s top ranked children’s hospitals arising out of an alleged Aspergillus mold infestation attributed to the hospital’s air ventilation system that resulted in the deaths of numerous child patients.
• Defended clients in litigation brought under Washington’s Model Toxics Control Act over liability for cleanup costs ordered by Washington’s Department of Ecology for contamination allegedly caused by a former sawmill.
• Represented clients in litigation involving numerous personal injury suits brought in connection with contamination at the Libby Asbestos Superfund Site in Montana.
• Advised industry leaders on legal issues of first impression arising out of the global pandemic, including novel issues of contract interpretation.
• Counseled multiple organizations on business disputes involving international entertainment, media, and sporting events, such as the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
• Represented and advised insurers and reinsurers high-profile mass torts and sexual abuse/molestation claims involving complex coverage issues in the nation’s top academic institutions.
• National coordinating counsel for multinational pharmaceutical conglomerates in 3,000+ opioid-related lawsuits in federal multidistrict litigation and state courts throughout the U.S.
• Defended a global pharmaceutical manufacturer against allegations of public nuisance, false and misleading marketing, and unfair competition in the State of Oklahoma’s unprecedented demand for $17.7 billion in the nation’s first opioid-related case to go to trial. After a seven-week nationally televised trial, the court awarded less than 3% of what the state sought.
• Represented energy clients pursuing litigation against various public entities in the State of California for unlawfully denying permits and banning operations.

Megan Dowty represents global industry leaders across the U.S., from pre-litigation through appeal, in a wide variety of matters including toxic torts and environmental law, product liability, insurance, unfair competition, and consumer protection. She has managed the coordination of scientific experts, toxicologists, and epidemiologists from initial vetting to trial. Megan has experience advising clients in disputes involving catastrophic losses, such as the 2021 Surfside condominium collapse in Florida and the 2017 North Bay Fires and 2018 Camp Fire in California.

Megan received her J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law where she was honored as a member of the Order of the Coif, a legal writing fellow, and senior editor of the Southern California Law Review.  She received her B.A., magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Bar Admissions

• California

Education

• University of Southern California (J.D., 2017)
• University of California, Los Angeles (B.A., 2013)

Court Admissions

• U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court, Central District of California

Memberships