All Trademarks and Copyrights are owned by their respective companies and/or entities. See 456 U.S. at 314. III, 2. at 478 (J.A. Business Week said of these companies. The court noted that the penalty amounted to less than one half of the economic benefit that Laidlaw had obtained through non-compliance, but it concluded that the "total deterrent effect" was adequate, because "Laidlaw will be required to reimburse [petitioners] for a significant amount of legal fees and has, itself, incurred significant legal expenses." 1993) (collecting cases and secondary sources). Settled for a $100,000 fine for more than four years of mercury dischargeviolations. After Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. bought a wastewater treatment plant, it was granted a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. City of Mesquite, 455 U.S. at 289 n.10. 7a n.3. CWA 505(d), 33 U.S.C. See Laidlaw I, 890 F. 2d at 478-479 (J.A. Laidlaw Id. Although the court of appeals appears wrong in suggesting that petitioners are not entitled to recover their litigation costs, that matter should be addressed, if it becomes necessary, through the proceedings on remand. The LAIDLAW ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC. principal address is 1301 GERVAIS STREET, SUITE 300, COLUMBIA, SC, 29201. <25 Employees . See generally Robert L. Stern, et al., Supreme Court Practice 710-721 (7th ed. Id. at 613-621 (J.A. Gwaltney, 484 U.S. at 66 (quoting Concentrated Phosphate Export Ass'n, 393 U.S. at 203) (emphasis added by the Court in Gwaltney). LAIDLAW ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES at 111, does not repudiate the reasoning in Hewitt and Maher. 1365(a). Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. ("LESI"), 220 Outlet Pointe Boulevard, Columbia, SC 29210; and BDT, Inc. ("BDT"), 4255 Research Parkway, Clarence, NY 14031, (collectively, the "Applicants") seek modification of existing Hazardous Waste Facility and Air Permits; and Certificates to Operate; and approval by the Department of Environmental It argued that the case was now moot because it had corrected the problems from which it had stemmed. Moreover, even if the court of appeals' methodology were proper, its analysis overlooks the relationship between injunctive relief and civil penalties under the Clean Water Act, which would be an essential consideration in evaluating whether petitioners' citizen suit against Laidlaw is indeed moot.5 The court of appeals should have begun by applying this Court's teachings that a defendant's voluntary cessation of unlawful conduct does not automatically moot a case. If the Court concludes that petitioners' suit is not moot, the issue of petitioners' standing would be resolved on remand. at 7a.3 The court of appeals noted that the district court had denied injunctive relief and, instead, assessed civil penalties, which are payable to the United States Treasury. Safety-Kleen provides cleaning services for parts and tools and is a processor of used lubricating oil. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Pinellas Plant in Largo, FL is proposing to ship and dispose of hazardous sludge, listed as F006 waste, to the Laidlaw Environmental Services of South Carolina, Inc. (Laidlaw) treatment, storage, and disposal facility in Pinewood, South Carolina. ; South Carolina EnvironmentalCompliance Update, August, 1994.19 "DHEC Levies $214,000 LandfillFine," The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.) August 21, 1996 Wednesday.20 "Don't Let Industry Hide Audits,"William Want, Special to The Herald; The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.) May 11,1996 Saturday.21 "Laidlaw fined $94,000, "Financial Post, March 24, 1993.22"$10,000 Fine For Laidlaw DecriedAs 'Pro-Polluter'," Alexander Norris, The Gazette; CP The Gazette (Montreal),September 17, 1996.23 "Company Hired To Sniff OutOdors Near Hilliard School," Jeff Ortega; The Columbus Dispatch, December21, 1996.24 "School Principal Hoping NewSewage Building Will Clear Air," Randall Edwards; The Columbus Dispatch,September 15, 1996"25 Laidlaw-A Corporate Profile,CCHW, 703-237-224.26 "Campbell Board Best, ADMWorst," Reuters, November 14, 1996.27 "Mrs. Robinson's neighborhood,environmental activist Florence Robinson;" The Sierra Club Bulletin, July,1996.28 "Up in smoke; Clean Air Actamendments," The Nation, October 23, 1989. 33 U.S.C. Soc'y, 343 U.S. 326, 333 (1952). 98-822. App. Cadence Environmental Energy See pp. After incurring heavy losses through its investments in Safety-Kleen and Greyhound Lines. 182-183). 158); see also id. LAIDLAW ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC LAIDLAW ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES 1311(a), 1342. WebThis past terms decision in Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc.7 raises the deference issue. Civil penalties, as an alternative to an injunction, would continue to be available unless it is "absolutely clear that the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur." Gwaltney, 484 U.S. at 66. The court accordingly vacated the district court's decision and remanded with instructions to dismiss the action. Nevertheless, the Court has treated the doctrines of standing and mootness as separate jurisdictional concepts and subjected them to different standards because of the distinct role that each plays, as a practical matter, in the conduct of litigation. United States v. Oregon State Med. Get notified about new Service Crew jobs in Phoenix, AZ. In February 2007, FirstGroup, a bus and rail transportation operator in the United Kingdom with subsidiaries in North America, acquired Laidlaw International, Inc.[1][2][3] FirstGroup completed the acquisition of Laidlaw International on October 1, 2007, and rebranded Laidlaw services under the First umbrella. Gwaltney, 484 U.S. at 59. Environmental C. The court of appeals erred in failing to apply the Court's teachings in City of Mesquite and other decisions, which establish that a defendant's mere voluntary cessation of unlawful conduct does not automatically moot a case. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, INC., ET AL. Penalized $1.825 million, the state's largest penalty ever, for repeatedviolations including improper disposal of infectious waste and wastewatersludge (36 total). BURY PLUS PARTNERS-INC., Chantilly, Virginia, VA 20151-1128 Gwaltney, 484 U.S. at 66-67. The permit Pushed for a bill that would make environmental audits priviledged informationwhich is inadmissable as evidence. The citizen plaintiffs in Steel Co. brought a citizen suit against an industrial facility that had violated EPCRA's requirements but came into compliance before the citizens filed their complaint. LAIDLAW ENVIRONMENTAL Before the litigation was resolved on appeal, Laidlaw started to comply with the Clean Water Act limits and closed the plant that had exceeded them. For other uses, see, "Laidlaw International Announces Agreement to Be Acquired by FirstGroup", Chicago Business News, Analysis & Articles | British bus firm to acquire Laidlaw | Crain's, "Allied Agrees to Purchase Laidlaw's Waste Operation", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Laidlaw&oldid=1150694941, Transportation companies of the United States, Transportation companies based in Illinois, Waste management companies of the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Solid Waste, Recycling, School bus, transit, and charter services. 470, 475 (D.S.C. In issuing its judgment, the. Laidlaw Environmental Services has laid off 23 employees at its Reidsville office and its Columbia, S.C., headquarters in its third round of layoffs in eight months. An official website of the United States government. Specifically, the court stated that "a defendant in substantial compliance with its NPDES permit is not required to show that there is no chance of a future permit violation in order to defeat a request for injunctive relief." See Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204 (1962).8 D. The Court of Appeals' Judgment Should Be Vacated And The Case Remanded For Further Proceedings, Including Appropriate Proceedings Respecting Petitioners' Entitlement To Litigation Costs For the foregoing reasons, we submit that the court of appeals erred in concluding that the district court's determination not to award injunctive relief rendered this case moot. Like most States, South Carolina has obtained EPA's approval to issue and enforce NPDES permits. The court stated that "these elements must continue to exist at every stage of review" or else "the action becomes moot." A citizen who is aggrieved by permit violations has standing to sue to enforce the permit and thereby abate those violations. Cadence Environmental Energy The Court applies the doctrine of standing as a threshold jurisdiction requirement that a plaintiff must normally satisfy to invoke the federal judicial power. 158), with Steel Co., 523 U.S. at 88, and Gwaltney, 484 U.S. at 55. See 33 U.S.C. If there were no such exception to the mootness doctrine, a defendant could thwart the efforts of other parties or the government to enforce the law indefinitely. LAIDLAW The court refused to grant petitioners' request for injunctive relief, reasoning that an injunction was inappropriate because "Laidlaw has been in substantial compliance with all parameters in its NPDES permit since at least August 1992." 159-181). In 2019, ECOS is celebrating its 15th year anniversary due to our highly regarded customer service. Syllabus On April 10, 1992, petitioners notified Laidlaw of their intention to bring a citizen suit under Section 505 of the CWA. Laidlaw It apparently saw no need to invoke the foregoing mootness principles, and it did not make specific findings on the question whether it was clear that Laidlaw's permit violations could not reasonably be expected to recur. ARGUMENT The Court of Appeals Erred In Holding That A Citizen Suit Must Be Dismissed As Moot Unless The Citizen Plaintiff Obtains Injunctive Relief The court of appeals' ruling that petitioners' citizen suit is moot rests on a misunderstanding of the Clean Water Act's citizen-enforcement provisions and this Court's mootness jurisprudence. at 102-110. 1365(d). See Laidlaw II, 956 F. Supp. Laidlaw also has operated landfills and hazardous waste incinerators among v. LAIDLAW ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES (TOC), INC. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT, No. Laidlaw I, 890 F. Supp. at 477, 478-479 (J.A. Laidlaw Environmental Services 7a-9a. WebHe also served as Senior Compliance Official with the Rollins Environmental Services Company, Laidlaw Environmental Services Company and Safety-Kleen, Inc. Mr. Retallick holds a Bachelor of Sciences Degree in Geosciences from the Pennsylvania State University. OCTOBER TERM, 1999 Soc'y, supra). Whether a citizen suit under Section 505 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. The facility included a wastewater treatment plant that removed pollutants from water generated by the facility's air pollution control system. 159). By the late 1980s, the only 3 remaining district school bus contracts were at Petersburg, Norfolk and Hopewell. at 611 (J.A. DREC acceded to Laidlaw's request to file a lawsuit against the company. Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. WebFriends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. 528 U.S. 167 (2000) Study Aids Case Briefs Overview Casebooks Case Briefs From our private database of 38,100+ NEWS; SAFETY-KLEEN APPROVES TAKEOVER OFFER FROM LAIDLAW On the date of acquisition there were approximately ninety roll-off containers which held odiferous bio-sludge material on site. In 1979, it acquired a Canadian contract school bus business. The court declined to order injunctive relief because Laidlaw, after the lawsuit began, had achieved substantial compliance with the terms of its permit. This Court applies the mootness doctrine to determine whether circumstances have changed during the course of the litigation so as to eliminate the case or controversy that the plaintiff had previously shown to exist. Laidlaw discharged the treated wastewater into the North Tyger River. As the Court has explained: "Mere voluntary cessation of allegedly illegal conduct does not moot a case; if it did, the courts would be compelled to leave '[t]he defendant . The court of appeals should not have based a determination of mootness on the mere fact that the district court imposed civil penalties but did not provide injunctive relief. On-Call Environmental Services for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. 1365(a); W.T. Under the Clean Water Act, corporations such as Laidlaw Environmental Services received permits that limited them to certain amounts of discharges of dangerous substances. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. - Corporation Wiki See, e.g., City of Mesquite v. Alladin's Castle, Inc., 455 U.S. 283, 288-289 (1982). However, DeGroote is still one of Republic's largest shareholdersand is Vice-Chairman.6, Rollins Environmental ServicesBusiness Week ranked Rollins Environmental's board of directors asone of the worst. Heard October 7, 1999. 123.1 et seq. In addition, if the defendant knows that it faces the prospect of civil penalties as well as an injunction, it will not have an incentive to engage in "dilatory tactics" to prolong the litigation in the hope of eliminating the need for an injunction and then claiming that the citizen's claim for assessment of the accumulated civil penalties is moot. Pet. Id. But if the court of appeals nevertheless believed that Laidlaw's "voluntary" compliance, by itself, may have eliminated any reasonable prospect of future violations, then the court of appeals should have remanded the case to the district court for an express finding on that matter. The district court did deny petitioners' request for injunctive relief, which would have gone beyond a simple prohibitory injunction and imposed special reporting obligations. Ibid. SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT The court of appeals erred in ruling that a Clean Water Act citizen suit, brought to compel a regulated entity to comply with its NPDES permit, must be dismissed as moot if the district court concludes that injunctive relief is unwarranted. See 33 U.S.C. 1998); Atlantic States Legal Found., Inc. v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 897 F.2d 1128, 1137 (11th Cir. After almost 20 years of expansion, Laidlaw Inc. filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in June 2001. 1011, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. The Court explained: A lawsuit sometimes produces voluntary action by the defendant that affords the plaintiff all or some of the relief he sought through a judgment-e.g., a monetary settlement or a change in conduct that redresses the plaintiff's grievances. Decided November 22, 1999. WebFind 6 listings related to Laidlaw Environmental Svc Inc in Newport News on YP.com. It ruled, based on an extrapolation of this Court's decision in Steel Co., that the district court's denial of petitioners' request for an injunction rendered this case constitutionally moot and prohibited the district court from assessing civil penalties. Laidlaw Environmental Services - Interim Decision, December 1. free to return to his old ways.'" We note that Laidlaw's decision to close the facility after receiving a penalty assessment designed to deter future violations would not provide a basis for setting aside the civil penalty assessment as moot. See, e.g., Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. at 561; Lujan v. National Wildlife Fed'n, 497 U.S. 871, 883-889 (1990); Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U.S. 91, 114-115 & n.31 (1979). Servs. The former Virginia Overland subsidiary operation in the Norfolk area acquired from Laidlaw operates as Transquest and is now owned by Serco. In this case, unlike Gwaltney and Steel Co., it is clear that, even after the citizen plaintiffs filed suit, the defendant continued to violate environmental requirements. (TOC), Inc., 956 F.Supp. A district court can properly conclude that the prospect of recurrence is not so small as to moot a case, but is sufficiently unlikely to warrant denial of injunctive relief. 141-143); Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. 1342(a)(2); 40 C.F.R. Formore on strategy and organizing see our Strategy Guide. Indeed, this Court has suggested that mootness might be described as "'the doctrine of standing set in a time frame: The requisite personal interest that must exist at the commencement of the litigation (standing) must continue throughout its existence (mootness).'" See CWA 309, 33 U.S.C. Finally, we show why the court of appeals erred in holding that, because the district court denied injunctive relief, the petitioners' enforcement action is moot.4 A. Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167 (2000), exposes fundamental incoherencies within environmental standing doctrine, even while it ostensibly makes standing easier to prove for 1365(a)) in citizen suits specifically to facilitate that objective. [5] In 1993, Laidlaw acquired San Diego based MedTrans, a high quality industry leader which began as Harrison Ambulance in San Diego, operating emergency medical services operating in California, Washington, Nevada and Texas, and continued to grow it through 138 acquisitions across the country, reaching over $1B in revenue. Id. Renewable Energy Semiconductor Manufacturing. Laidlaw used these May 21, 2018. Laidlaw II, 956 F. Supp. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The citizen "may seek civil penalties only in a suit brought to enjoin or otherwise abate an ongoing violation." LAIDLAW WASTE SYSTEMS INC In 1978, Laidlaw entered the United States solid waste industry, Laidlaw Waste Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Laidlaw Inc, In 1986 Laidlaw acquired Genstar Corp (GSX) of Boston and in 1996 then sold its solid waste business to Allied Waste Industries and many former Laidlaw operations where then rebranded to local names depending on the locations. In 1998, a watershed year, Laidlaw Inc. acquired Greyhound Lines U.S. operations, Greyhound Canada, the DAVE Companies (specialists in paratransit) and emergency management companies EmCare and Spectrum Emergency Care. Congress accordingly enacted Section 505 of the Clean Water Act, which empowers citizens who are adversely affected by permit violations to bring civil enforcement actions to compel compliance. Laidlaw II, 956 F. Supp. Id. 183). INC 92-93). The court rejected Laidlaw's diligent prosecution defense after an extensive analysis of the substance of the settlement and the circumstances by which it was reached. The United States is also a potential defendant in citizen enforcement actions against federal facilities. D. Because the court of appeals erred in concluding that the district court's decision to withhold injunctive relief rendered petitioners' citizen suit moot, there is no occasion for this Court to review the court of appeals' suggestion that a finding of mootness would preclude petitioners from recovering their costs of litigation. 33 U.S.C. Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), 1365(a)(1).1 Section 505(b) generally bars a citizen from suing until 60 days after the citizen gives notice of the alleged violation to EPA, the relevant State, and the alleged violator, 33 U.S.C. This Court ruled in Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., 484 U.S. 49 (1987), that Section 505 authorizes citizens to bring citizen suits to compel compliance with the Clean Water Act, but not to sue merely to punish past violations. Servs. Compunnel Inc. hiring Environmental Services Worker in - LinkedIn WebLaidlaw (/ l e d l /), organized as Laidlaw International, Inc. (with corporate headquarters in Naperville, Illinois) was the largest provider of intercity bus services, contract public 2 The citizen may intervene in the government enforcement action. Friends of the Earth, Inc. brought an action against Laidlaw on the grounds that one of its plants was discharging more mercury than its permit allowed. The Court has explained that voluntary cessation "is an important factor bearing on the question whether a court should exercise its power to enjoin the defendant from renewing the practice, but that is a matter relating to the exercise rather than the existence of judicial power." The Court has since indicated in Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 523 U.S. 83 (1998), a case involving the citizen-suit provisions of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), 42 U.S.C. Legal 5 The courts of appeals, other than the Fourth Circuit, have concluded under various rationales that a citizen plaintiff who proves that the defendant was in violation of a NPDES permit at the time of suit may obtain civil penalties to deter future violations, even if the violations by that time ceased. Pet. See Hewitt, 482 U.S. at 761 ("In all civil litigation, the judicial decree is not the end but the means."). Friends of Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc The facility included a wastewater treatment plant that removed pollutants from ACTION CLEANUP ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES INC Environmental Services As we next explain, the court's ruling overlooks established principles that guide how the mootness doctrine should be applied in this case. WebIT Services and IT Consulting. The bid includes $15 in cash per share and $15 of Laidlaw stock, as well as assumption of $249 million in debt. The district court found that Laidlaw had violated its permit both before and after petitioners filed their citizen suit, but had ceased the violations before final judgment. Pet. 8a-9a. It would deny that flexibility and exalt form over substance to require the district court to add a pro forma injunction order in order to avoid mootness. The District Court also denied Laidlaw's motion to dismiss on the ground that the citizen suit was barred under 1365(b)(I)(B) by DREC's prior action against the company. In 1969 DeGroote began to expand beyond trucking by acquiring a solid waste management company. The potential for future violations gives rise to a disputed question of fact in this instance, since the company has retained its permit. Co., 385 U.S. 533, 535 (1967) (directing that "the District Court should determine in the first instance the effect of an intervening event upon the appropriateness of injunctive relief"); Stern, supra, at 257. WebFriends of Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167 (2000) Argued: October 12, 1999 Decided: January 12, 2000 Annotation Primary Holding A party trying to show that the mootness doctrine applies because it will voluntarily cease an activity must show that the activity would not recur. 1365(d)). Br. Laidlaw . Get the latest business insights from Dun & Bradstreet. at 611 (J.A. 1251(a). Attorney (s) appearing for the Case Required to pay into a trust fund, to total $133 million cash in the year2004, to cover any clean-up costs. Congress's authorization of civil penalties in citizen suits, however, is properly viewed as limited to the "forward-looking" objective of deterring the defendant from further non-compliance. Between 1987 and 1991, Laidlaw violated the mercury limitation contained in its NPDES permit 363 times. [6] Allied Waste sold the Canadian operations to USA Waste Services, Inc. Laidlaw American branches were re-branded to many different names, depending on their location. (TOC), Inc., 890 F. Supp. But as this Court explained in Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo, 456 U.S. 305 (1982), the Clean Water Act does not employ injunctions as "the only means of ensuring compliance." In 1983, Laidlaw entered the U.S. school bus transportation sector with its acquisition of ARA Transportation, a major contract school bus provider which also owned a Wayne Corporation bus dealership. Section 402(a) provides that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shall issue NPDES permits authorizing effluent discharges in strict compliance with conditions specified in the permit. Laidlaw Environmental Services Environmental Services ENVIRONMENTAL App. 8 In its brief in opposition, Laidlaw indicated that it closed the facility after the district court assessed civil penalties.
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