Appellate Court Raises Bar For Plaintiffs Seeking To File Citizen Suits

摘要

A federal appellate court has ruled that citizens' notices of intent (NOI) to sue under the Clean Water Act (CWA) must identify each pollutant being discharged in violation of the law in order to be granted relief, setting a stringent standard for plaintiffs that sources say will needlessly delay litigation to the extent that it could make suits untenable. In a Jan. 5 ruling in Friends of the Earth, et al, v. Gaston Copper Recycling Corp., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to include several discharge permit violations in their NOI that were later included in their complaint, and therefore could not seek penalties because the defendants did not have adequate opportunity to correct their violations before the plaintiffs brought their suit.