In Memory of Eric Somers, Longtime Attorney and Counsel for CEH
On March 27, the Center for Environmental Health’s longtime attorney Eric Somers tragically passed away in a skiing accident in Alaska. He was 63 years old.
CEH has held a nearly 30-year partnership with Eric’s firm, the Lexington Law Group (LLG) that continues to this day. Over the course of the last few decades, LLG has represented CEH in hundreds of its legal actions to enforce California’s consumer health and safety law, Proposition 65. The partnership has led to transformational wins for children’s health, public health, and the environment.
Under Eric’s steadfast representation, CEH’s litigation efforts led to the elimination of lead in children’s products such as toys, lunchboxes, baby bibs, diaper rash cream, and countless other common sources of lead exposure for kids. Eric also helped CEH to reach agreements that required companies to remove lead from jewelry, hexavalent chromium from footwear, and arsenic from wood playground equipment.
CEH differentiates itself from other Proposition 65 enforcers in its ability to push companies to reformulate their products to remove toxic chemicals, instead of adhering to the bare minimum requirements of the statute by including a warning for the presence of such chemicals. As a skilled negotiator and pragmatist, Eric was able to thread the needle and bridge the gap between CEH’s systems change goals with what was reasonable for businesses to comply with. He “could think and believe in CEH values, but at the same time he was able to understand what was motivating the business,” said Mark Todzo from LLG, who continues to represent CEH in its legal actions.
Eric is survived by his wife Stirling and their two children, Zeke and Skylar. The Center for Environmental Health sends our deepest condolences to Eric’s family, friends, and our colleagues at the Lexington Law Group.
A number of CEH staff shared fond memories from their time working with Eric, below:
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Eric was ferocious in his representation of CEH. I was always 100% sure that he was more strategic, more well informed, and more well prepared than the highly compensated lawyers on the other side.
When we were in a mediation, I’d usually be sitting with Eric and a CEH scientist, across the table from lawyers wearing $3,000 Brooks Brothers suits. The conversations would be facilitated by a retired judge or professional facilitator. In those meetings, Eric was skilled in advocating for the health-protective goal CEH had defined – like eliminating lead from baby powder or kids’ lunchboxes. He would be assertive and forceful, but never demonized the person across the table. They couldn’t help but admire and respect him, which led our litigation to create even more impact in the world than we otherwise could have accomplished.
In addition to all of that, Eric was fun as hell: even when working 24/7 on our behalf. Outside of CEH, he was one of my best friends and a beautiful human being. I love him and miss him.
-Michael Green, Founder and Former CEO
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When I think about the years I worked with Eric, a few things stand out. One is his persistence. If there was a way to get a toxic chemical out of a product, he kept working until he succeeded. Another was the way he could master details and use them when they were most effective. He was a brilliant negotiator and could almost always find a solution that worked for everyone involved. When his legal adversaries were deep-pocketed corporations, he was never intimidated, and he was proud to represent health, safety, and science.
-Caroline Cox, Former Research Director
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When I started at CEH, Eric and I fought all the time. After a while, we still fought all the time – but I learned that he was a brilliant thinker, a compassionate advocate, and a wonderful colleague and friend. I learned so much from him that it’s impossible to quantify, most importantly how to be a better listener and to enjoy the victories, which thanks largely to Eric, Mark, Howie and their team at LLG, were many.
-Charles Margulis, Former Communications Director
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I am grateful I had the opportunity to work directly with Eric on so many cases that protected countless people from toxic chemicals.
Eric was incredibly personable. In a day and age ruled by technology, Eric would be one of the few people to pick up the phone and give you a call to discuss things.
As CEH’s in-house filmmaker, I’m also grateful for the opportunity to have filmed and directed Eric for a brief cameo in our “here’s what CEH has done” video, shown live at our 2014 gala. In it, Eric humorously interrupted me and prevented me from divulging the latest and greatest Prop 65 case – to preserve attorney client privilege, of course.
I’m glad to have been on the same team as Eric. May his memory be a blessing.
-Matt Nevins, Former Research Manager & Digital Communications Lead
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Eric Somers believed that the companies destroying the environment and making people sick had too much power. He built Lexington Law Group to change that.
He took particular joy in finding just the right stone to bring down a particular Goliath. He could have done that detailed, painstaking work in a downtown office with security guards, lanyards, automatic entrance gates, and views to intimidate adversaries facing the empty prospect of negotiating with him. But that wasn’t Eric. He chose to do this work from a beautiful, century-old, residential Victorian adorned with photos from Jazz Fest. And from an office where, every year, the staff flocked down the street together to the first day of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.
Eric brought extraordinary strengths to his work with the Center for Environmental Health. A few that come immediately to mind: sound judgment, meticulous preparation, and unsurpassed expertise in his corner of the law. He was a consummate professional with a commitment to representing CEH’s uncompromising interests.
I don’t worry about the future of LLG and CEH’s work. The team he assembled has always been an essential element of CEH’s far-reaching victories for people’s health. LLG’s team is solid. They’ll continue doing what they’ve done for thirty years.
But my heart goes out to all who he cared about at work, at home, and beyond. I learned from Eric, I miss him, and I’m grateful for his work.
May his memory be a blessing!
-Charlie Pizarro, Former Associate Director