Coakley
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has asked a Superior Court judge to find the owner of a landfill in contempt of court for failing to meet the requirements of a 2009 judgment and a 2010 court ruling.
The complaint argues that New Ventures LLC is in contempt of a March 29, 2010, ruling by Suffolk Superior Court Judge John C. Cratsley, who had required the company to submit an estimate to MassDEP on the cost of closing its Newburyport, Mass., landfill and post-closure responsibilities.
The Attorney General's Office also filed a motion to find New Ventures in default of the April 2009 final judgment, which ordered the company to make necessary stability changes to the landfill's perimeter berm and build the berm according to a MassDEP approved plan.
In that case, Coakley had settled with New Ventures on a 2006 lawsuit and, under terms of the agreement, New Ventures was required to finish capping the landfill by the end of Nov. 2009 and to finish all remaining landfill closure work by the summer of 2010.
Coakley is asking the court to fine the company a civil penalty, to be determined by the court, for each day New Ventures remains in contempt of the March order.