Lawsuit Filed to Limit Cleanup

UPDATE: The request was denied.

Mainebiz reports on company’s attempts to prevent the DEP from requiring extensive remediation of a waste site.

Mallinckrodt LLC today said it has filed an action in federal court to prevent the Maine Department of Environmental Protection from enforcing an order that requires Mallinckrodt to implement what it calls “extreme and unnecessary remediation measures” at the former HoltraChem manufacturing facility in Orrington.The commissioner of the DEP signed an order in late November that requires St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt, which owned and operated the former HoltraChem chlorine and chemical manufacturing facility from 1967 to 1982, to undertake an extensive cleanup that includes the excavation of five landfills that contain mercury-contaminated soil above the state’s clean-up standards, according to a press release from the company. Mallinckrodt has been working with a consultant on the cleanup of the site and said the excavation of the landfills was already rejected as an option because it would expose the public to potentially harmful amounts of mercury, would be extremely costly with no environmental benefit and would require 60,000 truck trips carrying approximately 360,000 tons of soil to a licensed facility in Canada.

Mallinckrodt claims it has spent more than $35 million on remediation efforts at the site over the past 15 years.

By downeastlaw, ago

Verrill Dana One Year Later

Mainebiz has an article on the aftermath of John Duncan’s embezzlement.  Two things still stick out: of course Duncan’s outrageous actions, but also the firm’s failure to take action for four months.

John Duncan is now in federal prison in Brooklyn, hundreds of miles from the state where his theft still raises hackles in part because it was so unusual and the retribution so public. Of the more than 4,869 lawyers licensed to practice in Maine, 13 were publicly sanctioned in 2007, according to the American Bar Association. As a percentage of lawyers licensed, Maine’s rate of public disciplinary action has historically been among the country’s lowest.

By downeastlaw, ago

Portland Starbucks Age Discrimination Suit

The Press Herald reports on the progress of a woman’s claim that she was denied a job at Starbucks because of her age.  The article indicates that she has presented data that Starbucks hires younger applicants at a higher rate than those over 35.

In this type of lawsuit, the plaintiff needs to present a ‘prima facie’ case that there has been discrimination.  The data of disproportionate hiring can be used to show that.  Starbucks will have the burden of proving that they truly did not hire her for the reasons they stated, and not just based on her age.

The article notes that the judge found actions by the manager at the Hay Building Starbucks on Congress St. to be why he allowed the case to go forward.  As with any company, the wrong actions of one employee can cost you greatly.

If this does not settle, I hope to sit in on some of the trial.  Stay tuned!

Photo by Hint of Plum

By downeastlaw, ago

Bad lawyer or fall guy?

Kennebec Journal reports on a fine imposed on Fed Up With Taxes. Their lawyer is taking the blame.

The ethics commission on Monday fined Fed Up With Taxes $10,000 for failing to file two campaign finance reports on time.

The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices voted 4-0 to impose the maximum fine on the political action committee.

Portland attorney William Dale, who was hired by Fed Up With Taxes to handle the campaign finance reports, told the commission he did all the filings himself.

He asked for a waiver of the fine.

“I have no excuse other than I forgot,” he said.

By downeastlaw, ago

Deed issue dooms Portland pier plans

Months after the plans for the Maine State Pier in Portland were supposed to have been set, it has fallen through.  The problem is ownership of the ocean floor beneath the pier, and who actually owns it.

City officials and a spokesman for the developer confirmed Wednesday night that negotiations broke down after the state asserted its rights to ownership of the sea floor beneath the pier.

The city has consistently maintained that it owns the ocean floor beneath the pier, based on a deed it was granted by the Maine Department of Transportation in the 1980s for a Bath Iron Works project in Portland.

In a letter dated Oct. 14, Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe said, “After reviewing the history of the Bath Iron Works project in Portland, we do not believe the facts support a stipulation that the city has clear and complete title to these submerged lands.”

– Press Herald

By downeastlaw, ago

Transmission line upgrade hearing

Portland Press Herald:

“Hearings to allow public comment on a $1.4 billion proposal to upgrade much of the state’s electrical-transmission infrastructure will begin Wednesday with a session in Waterville.The Maine Public Utilities Commission has scheduled two public hearings to allow residents to offer their opinions on a Central Maine Power Co. proposal to add 350 miles of high-voltage transmission lines.

A PUC spokesman said the agency will plan additional public sessions after November.

The proposed 345,000-volt transmission lines would stretch from the southern end of the state through 80 municipalities in the Portland, Augusta and Pittsfield areas. The lines would end near Bangor.

The Waterville public-comment session will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Waterville City Hall. Lewiston City Hall will host a session at 6 p.m. on Nov. 24.”

By downeastlaw, ago

Supreme Court to hear Maine case

MaineToday.com

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today in a Maine case that pits 20 current and former state workers against the state and the Maine State Employees Association.

The case stems back to 2005, when lawmakers allowed the union to charge nonunion state workers a fee for being represented by the union in collective bargaining agreements. The workers who filed suit say the union is using the money to pay for litigation that is not related to their workplace.

The union has said that it spends those dues only on expenses allowed by law.

By downeastlaw, ago

Land Trust Purchase

BangorDailyNews.com:

BAR HARBOR, Maine — A land trust that held a conservation easement on a local stable is the new owner of the Crooked Road property, now that it has been sold at a foreclosure auction.

Maine Coast Heritage Trust, which had lent the previous owner the money she needed to buy the 37-acre property, acquired it on Sept. 23 for $410,000.

Joanne Sullivan, former owner of Eochaidh (pronounced yawkee) Stables, defaulted on her mortgage on the property after she became involved in a custody battle with the state over her horses.

Citing concerns about the health of the animals, the state seized 18 horses from the farm in April 2007, about a month after a horse died of colic at the property. Sullivan successfully took the state to court to get back custody of the animals. A judge in Ellsworth District Court ruled last summer that the Maine Animal Welfare Program could keep five of the horses temporarily, but that the rest were healthy and should be returned to Sullivan immediately. The others were to be returned to Sullivan when they regained their health.

Horses not owned by Sullivan that were being boarded at the stables had been returned to their owners while another died in state custody. Eight of the horses were returned to Eochaidh Stables last October.

By downeastlaw, ago