PUTSAVAGE PLLC PRACTICE DESCRIPTION

 Overview

 Telisport W. Putsavage has more than 35  years of experience in environmental law and regulation, with a major focus on pesticides. He has held significant public and private sector environmental positions. He served as an Assistant Counsel of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and as an Assistant Attorney General in the Maryland Department of the Environment. In addition, Mr. Putsavage was a partner at Keller & Heckman and Carter, Ledyard and Milburn, and Of Counsel to Sullivan & Worcester in their Washington, D.C. Offices.

Presently, Mr. Putsavage primarily counsels pesticide producers, distributors, retailers and trade associations on federal and state pesticide regulatory and business matters, including product registration and cancellation, federal and state enforcement, and data compensation, as well as broader environmental issues.

 Pesticide & Chemical Regulation

Mr. Putsavage has an extensive history of successfully counseling U.S. and global pesticide companies on state and federal regulatory, transactional, litigation and enforcement matters under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (“FIFRA”) and related state legislation. Clients have come from across the entire breadth of the pesticide arena, including agricultural chemicals, consumer and home lawn and garden products, as well as structural and commercial turf products and biocides.  His practice covers every step of the regulatory process.

Entry into the U.S. Market

Mr. Putsavage has assisted a number of companies seeking to enter the U.S. crop protection, biocides and biopesticide markets. He has

counseled companies based throughout the world regarding the importation and sale of pesticides in the U.S., and we have worked with many companies from their nascent interest in the U.S. market through successful entry, overcoming difficult barriers to entry imposed by the dominant economic interests. He represented the first Hong Kong company and the first Taiwanese company to enter the U.S. market by obtaining registrations for technical-grade generic pesticides.

Date Compensation

Mr. Putsavage has extensive experience with FIFRA data compensation negotiations and arbitration proceedings before the American Arbitration Association (AAA).  In a precedent setting decision by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a AAA decision to appoint three arbitrators over the objection of the Respondent who sought a single arbitrator was reversed.  In another matter Mr. Putsavage successfully secured from the AAA a stay of an arbitration while a related matter was litigated in Federal District Court.

 Enforcement Defense

Mr. Putsavage has extensive experience in representing pesticide registrants and other market participants in state and federal enforcement actions. Matters defended have included clients whose products have been alleged to lack registration or to be misbranded or adulterated, issues related to EPA’s Good Laboratory Practices and labeling issues related to both pesticide and device imports.  He has secured beneficial settlements in cases where enforcement authorities have sought significant penalties, including an innovative Environmental Benefit Project funded as part of a settlement. He has overseen various post-settlement compliance actions, including pesticide registration and label audits.

Cannabis Law

Mr. Putsavage is active in the emerging practice field of cannabis law, where he focuses on pesticide issues as well as broader environmental concerns with cannabis cultivation and packaging.

Litigation

Mr. Putsavage has represented clients in arbitrations and litigation related to scientific data compensation under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.  He has also pursued false patent claims challenging outdated patent claims on agricultural chemicals.  He as appeared as an expert on FIFRA in private arbitration, and counsels clients on potential regulatory impacts of pesticide industry business litigation.

 Representative Client Work

  • Represented multiple generic agricultural chemical companies entering the U.S. market,
  • including the first Indian company to be awarded a technical registration by the U.S. EPA
  • Secured the first U.S. generic technical registration of paraquat herbicide
  • Prevailed before the EPA Human Studies Review Board in a challenge to EPA’s proposed use of historic data from an outmoded clinical drug trial
  • Assisted counsel in assessing data in multi-million dollar negotiations and arbitrations addressing the compensation due for reliance upon pesticide data previously filed with EPA
  • Designed and supervised audit of pesticide compliance for client holding in excess of
  • 100 pesticide registrations
  • Obtained for clients the first registrations of insect-repellent fabric for use in
  • commercially-available outdoor activity apparel and insect-controlling fabric for use in bedding