Snake River Sanitation, Inc. v. United States Department of Agriculture

Filing 24

MEMORANDUM DECISION. Signed by Judge B. Lynn Winmill. (caused to be mailed to non Registered Participants at the addresses listed on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) by cjm)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF IDAHO SNAKE RIVER SANITATION, INC. Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE and JOHN DOES 1-X, Defendants. Case No. 4:CV 09-382-BLW MEMORANDUM DECISION

The Court has before it the Government's motion for summary judgment. No response has been filed by the plaintiff, and the deadline for that response has long since expired. Rather than grant the motion as a sanction for the failure to respond, the Court will independently review the record to determine if the motion has merit. In the complaint, plaintiff Snake River Sanitation, Inc. alleges that the Government's negligence destroyed Snake River's truck and garbage container. The Government responded by filing a motion for summary judgment alleging that the record contains no evidence ­ beyond the complaint's allegations ­ that the truck was owned by Snake River. Rather, the evidence submitted by the Government shows that truck was owned by ALLCO Enterprises, Inc. and leased to Snake River Dispose-All, Inc., neither of which are parties here. Moreover, Snake River forfeited is charter in 1996, and thus could not have owned property in 2007 when the property at issue here was destroyed.
Memorandum Decision - 1

For all these reasons, the Court will grant the Government's motion in a separate judgment as required by Rule 58(a).

DATED: November 24, 2010

Honorable B. Lynn Winmill Chief U. S. District Judge

Memorandum Decision - 2