Paid a fine of $80,000 in November, 1993 and agreed to $3.5 million inimprovements to abate odors emanating from "bio-sludge.". 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. The district court is empowered to enforce permit requirements and assess civil penalties, which are payable to the United States Treasury. On June 12, 1992, FOE filed this citizen suit against Laidlaw, alleging noncompliance with the NPDES permit and seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and an award of civil penalties. Laidlaw II, 956 F. Supp. The court's ruling rests on a mistaken understanding of the Clean Water Act's citizen-enforcement provisions, CWA 505, 33 U.S.C. 1319. Its resolution will have a direct and substantial effect on enforcement of the Act. See CWA 505(a), 33 U.S.C. The Court applies the doctrine of mootness to assess 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. In 1998, the company acquired American Medical Response, another nationwide U.S. ambulance service provider and CareLine, Inc., U.S. ambulance consolidator of smaller ambulance contractors. 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. West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor. 523 U.S. at 102-104. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, INC., ET AL. 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. WebLAIDLAW ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC., Defendant. App. 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. Section 402 of the Act establishes the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), which authorizes the federal government and qualifying States to issue permits for controlling the point-source discharge of pollutants. The court stated that "these elements must continue to exist at every stage of review" or else "the action becomes moot." Laidlaw used these Container Corp., a South Carolina subsidiaryof Allied that was responsible for the Fort Mill transfer station, paida $55,000 fine and the station was closed. Ask them, in public, for the background and experienceof the management for your local facility. Grant Co., 345 U.S. at 633 ("The purpose of an injunction is to prevent future violations."). As we next explain, the court's ruling overlooks established principles that guide how the mootness doctrine should be applied in this case. on Public Works and Transp., 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 4, In the meanwhile, Degroote busied himself building a new waste empire.In 1991, DeGroote took over Republic Waste from Browning Ferris Industriesfounder Tom Fatjo.5In 1995 DeGroote gave up control of Republic to Waste Management Inc. founderWayne Huizenga. 9a. WebLaidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. May 1985 - May 19916 years 1 month Charleston, SC Education University of North Carolina at Greensboro Master of Science (M.S. ; 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. Cadence developed the use of Chem-Fuel using industrial wastes to replace the use of non-renewable resources as fuels for use in cement kilns. The district court in this case expressly applied civil penalties in that manner for the specific purpose of deterrence. Nevertheless, the district court found that, within two months after petitioners filed their complaint, Laidlaw was in "substantial compliance." 3078. 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. at 314. WebLaidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167 (2000). 122; pp. 33 U.S.C. Specifically, the court of appeals incorrectly concluded that the district court's discretionary decision to withhold injunctive relief in the face of Laidlaw's post-complaint cessation of its permit violations necessarily rendered petitioners' enforcement action moot. This article is about the transportation corporation. 1365. Rather, "[t]he test for mootness in cases such as this is a stringent one." 2d 584 (S.D. The company`s registered agent is FL. Br. References1 "Pricing Surfaces on LaidlawFund Tranches," Institutional Investor, Bank Letter, March 10, 1997.2 "Allied Waste Announces Completionof Shareholder Transactions Closes Senior Discount Note Offering," PR Newswire,May 15, 1997, "Drexel to Pay $650 million in Guity Plea," Chicago Tribune,December 22, 1988.3 "Class Action Suits Lure Shareholders:But Laidlaw case shows it's not easy money," Eric Reguly, Financial Post,September 30, 1993.4 "Cragnotti pays $ 2.67 million,"Tony van Alphen, Toronto Star, April 29, 1993.5 "Fatjo and Hall Return to WasteManagement Business with ENVIRx," Integrated Waste Management, July 22,1992.6 "Odd Union Intrigues Wall St.;Waste Manager Joins with Insurer," Terrence L. Johnson; and Stephen Phillips,The Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 26, 1996.7 "Attwoods PLC - BFI Offer Extended,etc," Extel Financial Limited, Regulatory News Service, November 4, 1994,"Laidlaw expands hazardous waste business with purchase of Union Pacific[sic]" The Ottawa Citizen, December 7, 1994.8 "Waste Plant Fined $10,000 AfterLime Leak," Rob Moritz; The Nashville Banner, October 31, 1995.9 "Law Laid Down for Laidlaw,"Louisiana Industry Environmental Advisor April, 1994.10 "Laidlaw Hammered by DEQ,"Louisiana Environmental Compliance Update, March, 1994.11 "EPA Targets Waste-BurningViolators For Penalties," Reuters, November 15, 1994; "EPA Cites MonsantoFor Hazardous Waste Violation; Seeks $555,900 Fine," PR Newswire, November16, 1994.12 "Laidlaw: No Collusion," APOnline, December 13, 1994.13 "EPA Fines Two South CarolinaIncinerators," South Carolina Environmental Compliance Update, March, 1994.14 "EPA Announces Hazardous WasteCombustion Enforcement Iniative," Arnall Golden & Gregory; GeorgiaEnvironmental Law Letter, October, 1993.15 "Sewer District Annexes Laidlaw,"Shelly Haskins; Spartanburg Herald-Journal, July 11, 1996.16 "SCDHEC Issues Twenty-ThreeConsent Orders," Haynsworth, Marion, McKay & Guerard, L.L.P. BBB Rating: A+. 183). See, e.g., Steel Co., 523 U.S. at 102-104; Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 559-560 (1992). The court reasoned that "this action is moot because the only remedy currently available to [petitioners]-civil penalties payable to the government- would not redress any injury [petitioners] have suffered." It directs that the court may impose a maximum penalty of $25,000 per day of violation and that, when assessing the penalty, the court shall consider "the seriousness of the violation or violations, the economic benefit (if any) resulting from the violation, any history of such violations, any good-faith efforts to comply with the applicable requirements, the economic impact of the penalty on the violator, and such other matters as justice may require." WebAbout us. 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. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, INC., ET AL. at 716 n.21 (collecting cases). Laidlaw undertook those steps to interpose a bar to the citizen suit under Section 505(b)'s "diligent prosecution" provision, 33 U.S.C. The order also contains the following: CONCLUSION OF LAW. Ibid. If this case were truly like Steel Co., and petitioners had brought suit simply to seek imposition of civil penalties for past violations, then they would lack standing, because punishing pre-complaint conduct, discontinued before the suit began, would not redress any cognizable injury to petitioners that could provide the basis for the suit. Get the latest business insights from Dun & Bradstreet. ", Named a potentially responsible party (prp) in at least 6 Superfund sites.And they are also listed in EPA court data as defendents at several otherSuperfund sites, according to EPA data. See Arizonans for Official English, 520 U.S. at 67-68. 1319(d). This Court's decision in Gwaltney rested on a determination that Congress intended to authorize citizens to initiate suit only to abate violations and compel compliance. Id. Cf. Under this Court's normal practice, the case should be remanded for resolution of the remaining issues that the court of appeals did not reach. 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. <25 Employees . Ibid. Furthermore, the court, "in issuing any final order in any action brought pursuant to this section, may award costs of litigation (including reasonable attorney and expert witness fees) to any prevailing or substantially prevailing party, whenever the court determines such award is appropriate." EPA's policy expressly stated that a core objective of civil penalties is to deprive the defendant of the economic benefit of the violation in order to provide effective deterrence. FOE appealed as to the amount of the District Court's civil penalty judgment, but did not appeal the denial of declaratory or injunctive relief. 9a n.5. Id. 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." See CWA 505(a), 33 U.S.C. In 1984, Laidlaw Inc. exited the trucking business, as the company began a consolidating smaller school bus contracting companies in the U.S. and Canada. In 1979, it acquired a Canadian contract school bus business. Petitioners Friends of the Earth, Inc., Citizens Local Environmental Action Network, Inc., and the Sierra Club brought this citizen suit against respondent Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc., to enjoin Laidlaw's violations of its Clean Water Act permit. Grant Co., 345 U.S. at 633, 635-636 ("although the actions were not moot, no abuse of discretion has been demonstrated in the trial court's refusal to award injunctive relief"); see generally City of Mesquite, 455 U.S. at 289. 33 U.S.C. (J.A. The company later sold American Medical Response and EmCare, its EMS contract operations, to new owners. 523 U.S. at 108. 1365(a); W.T. 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 In the 1990s, Laidlaw continued to acquire hundreds of smaller school bus and public transit contractors in the U.S. and Canada. WebCode Environmental Services, Inc. has been providing turn-key remedial and environmental construction services to a repeat customer base of Fortune 500 corporations, national engineering firms, and major utility companies for almost 30 years. (TOC), Inc., 956 F. Supp. Heard October 7, 1999. As this Court recognized in Gwaltney, the primary function of the citizen-suit provisions is to compel compliance with the law, 484 U.S. at 59-63, and it is therefore reasonable to conclude that Congress provided for "appropriate civil penalties" (33 U.S.C. 1365(a). The court of appeals erred in this case by failing to take those principles into account. Laidlaw International, Inc. listed its common shares on the New York Stock Exchange (Ticker: LI), on February 10, 2004, and emerged from reorganization on June 23, 2003, as the successor to Laidlaw Inc. Canadian Pacific sold its remaining 17% interest in Laidlaw Inc. at 477 (J.A. 1365(a). CWA 505(d), 33 U.S.C. STATEMENT Section 505 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. WebHistorically Laidlaw Waste and Laidlaw Environmental Services have been subsidiaries of Laidlaw, Inc., which in turn is a 47.5% owned subsidiary of Canadian Pacific. This Court concluded that the Clean Water Act does not "deny courts the discretion to rely on remedies other than an immediate prohibitory injunction." 7 Congress drafted Section 309(d)'s standards for assessing civil penalties (see note 6, supra) with deterrence of violations specifically in mind. C. The Court of Appeals' Decision Petitioners appealed solely on the ground that the district court's penalty was inadequate, and Laidlaw cross-appealed on the grounds that petitioners lacked standing to bring the suit and that the district court had improperly rejected Laidlaw's diligent prosecution defense. at 478 (J.A. 106-136). In 1983, BFI pleadedno contest to charges of price-fixing and conspiracy in Atlanta from 1974to 1979. Petitioners sought to deter violations that caused them, and would in the future cause them, injury in fact. (a) The Constitution's case-or-controversy limitation on federal judicial authority, Art. 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. If the Court concludes that petitioners' suit is not moot, the issue of petitioners' standing would be resolved on remand. App. Virginia Overland Transportation was an operator of public service transportation and a much smaller industry consolidator in the state. Art. Laidlaw is offering $30 per share for the Elgin, Ill.-based oil and chemicals recycler. Laidlaw Environmental Services is a company that operates in the The permit authorized Laidlaw to discharge treated water and limited pollutants. A dispute may become moot as a result of changes in the underlying facts, see, e.g., Mosley v. United States, 119 S. Ct. 484 (1998) (per curiam) (death of the defendant mooted review of his criminal conviction); Vitek v. Jones, 436 U.S. 407 (1978) (grant of parole may moot prisoner's challenge to conditions of confinement), or the controlling law, see, e.g., United States v. Chesapeake & Potomac Tel. See Tull, 481 U.S. at 422 n.8. On-Call Environmental Services for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. 182))-was designed to redress that specific interest by compelling compliance. (TOC), Inc., 890 F. Supp. Id. DREC acceded to Laidlaw's request to file a lawsuit against the company. The court of appeals also stated that petitioners are not entitled to recover their costs of litigation because they are not "prevailing or substantially prevailing part[ies]" within the meaning of Section 505(d). The court added that FOE's failure to obtain relief on the merits precluded recovery of attorneys' fees or costs because such an award is available only to a "prevailing or substantially prevailing party" under 1365(d). The Court has previously indicated, in connection with other federal statutes that authorize "prevailing parties" to recover attorneys' fees, that a plaintiff whose suit induces the defendant to comply with the law voluntarily is a "prevailing party." The Court has applied mootness principles in a practical manner when defendants facing injunctive remedies urge that their voluntary cessation of allegedly unlawful actions renders the case moot. The United States is also a potential defendant in citizen enforcement actions against federal facilities. Like most States, South Carolina has obtained EPA's approval to issue and enforce NPDES permits. Nevertheless, Congress has recognized, in light of the sheer size of a water pollution program requiring a permit for every point-source discharge in the Nation, that the federal and state governments cannot adequately enforce the NPDES permit program without citizen cooperation and assistance. No. 1993); Atlantic States Legal Found., Inc. v. Pan Am. The Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act creates a comprehensive program "to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters." Pet. See 33 U.S.C. 1990). Pet. A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. at 59. 7 Civil penalties are an effective "forward-looking" remedy because a coercive monetary sanction allows the court to compel compliance through a mechanism that directly removes the economic incentives that could induce a defendant "to return to his old ways." CWA 505(g), 33 U.S.C. West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor. 1319(d)]" to deter future violations. City of Mesquite, 455 U.S. at 289 n.10. [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. . Safety-Kleen provides cleaning services for parts and tools and is a processor of used lubricating oil. WebCode Environmental Services, Inc. has been providing turn-key remedial and environmental construction services to a repeat customer base of Fortune 500 corporations, national engineering firms, and major utility companies for almost 30 years. Otherwise, that party could resume the behavior as soon as the case was dismissed for mootness. App. In particular, the permit, at that time, limited Laidlaw to a daily average maximum discharge of 1.3 parts per billion (ppb) of mercury. See 523 U.S. at 106. See, e.g., City of Mesquite v. Alladin's Castle, Inc., 455 U.S. 283, 288-289 (1982). Laidlaw I, 890 F. Supp. Id. Id. (TOC), Inc., 956 F.Supp. 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. 1998); see also Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Texaco Refining & Marketing, Inc., 2 F.3d 493, 503 n.9 (3d Cir. If the United States has not filed its own action, it may intervene in the citizen action.
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