USA v. El Dorado County, et al

Filing 436

ORDER signed by Chief Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. on 4/2/2014. In accordance with parties' Agreement, in accordance with Local Rule 301,and good cause appearing, the assigned Magistrate Judge is hereby speciallydesignated and authorized to do the following: 1) Schedule a Status/Case Management Conference for purposes of setting a hearing date and Briefing Schedule for an Evidentiary Hearing in this matter; 2) Determine what, if any, Discovery is needed prior to Hearing and develop a sche dule and plan for completing any such discovery; and 3) Conduct the Evidentiary Hearing described above and make recommendations to the undersigned for apportionment of additional necessary response costs incurred or to be incurred at landfill site as between plaintiff United States and defendant County of El Dorado. (Marciel, M)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

10
11

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

12
13
14
15
16

No. 2:01-01520-MCE-DAD

Plaintiff,
v.

ORDER

EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA;
and CITY OF SOUTH LAKE TAHOE,
CALIFORNIA,
Defendants.

17
18

AND RELATED ACTIONS.

19

Through the present action, the government seeks to recover response costs to

20

remediate pollution discovered at the site of a former landfill dump located on National

21

Forest Service lands near Meyers, California. In August of 2010, the government and

22

Defendant El Dorado County, entered into a Partial Consent Decree designed to

23

consolidate buried waste mass at the landfill.

24

moved to modify that Decree on grounds that the design drawing and specifications

25

created by the United States Forest Service deviated significantly from actual conditions

26

at the site. The County’s Motion was granted by Memorandum and Order filed July 8,

27

2011, and this Court ordered that a separate evidentiary hearing be held to determine

28

the government’s liability for any additional costs paid by the County, but not reflected by
1

On April 27, 2011, however, the County

1

the original specifications, to effectuate the remediation design. The government’s

2

appeal of that Order was dismissed on January 11, 2013, and the County now

3

represents that it remedial construction is now substantially complete. While the parties

4

represent that they have been engaged in private mediation to settle their

5

reimbursement issues in an attempt to avoid having to proceed with a formal evidentiary

6

hearing, their Joint Status report filed December 20, 2013 indicates they have not yet

7

been successful in settling the matter. The parties accordingly request a referral to the

8

assigned Magistrate Judge for the evidentiary hearing, and ask that the Magistrate

9

Judge submit his recommendations to the undersigned for final order. By subsequent

10

correspondence to the Court the parties have reaffirmed their consent to assigning the

11

evidentiary hearing to the Magistrate Judge for his findings and recommendations.

12

In accordance with the parties’ agreement, in accordance with Local Rule 301,

13

and good cause appearing, the assigned Magistrate Judge is hereby specially

14

designated and authorized to do the following:

15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

1. Schedule a status/case management conference for
purposes of setting a hearing date and briefing schedule
for an evidentiary hearing in this matter;
2. Determine what, if any, discovery is needed prior to that
hearing and develop a schedule and plan for completing
any such discovery;
3. Conduct the evidentiary hearing described above and
make recommendations to the undersigned for
apportionment of additional necessary response costs
incurred or to be incurred at the landfill site as between
Plaintiff United States and Defendant County of El
Dorado.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: April 2, 2014

25
26
27
28
2