SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A California city alleges an abandoned property is contaminating soil and groundwater and is seeking damages from the property's current and former owners.
City of West Sacramento, California; and People of the State of California filed a complaint on April 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California against R and L Business Management, formerly known as Stockton Plating Inc. and doing business as Capital Inc., et al. over alleged violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that a real property at 310 Third St. formerly housed a metal plating business and has been vacant since 1991. The plaintiffs allege contamination from the West Sacramento property "has migrated and is migrating in the soil and groundwater to areas off-property, creating an ever-growing plume of contamination," the suit states.
"The defendants have known for over three decades about the contamination, the serious threat that it poses to public health and the environment, that it needs to be investigated and cleaned up, and that, as the polluters who caused or contributed to it or allowed it to happen and failed to address it, they are responsible for such investigation and cleanup," the suit states.
The plaintiffs allege the defendants caused or contributed to the past or present handling, storage, treatment, transportation, generation, release, and/or disposal of the contaminants in the environment but failed to prevent or abate such contamination.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek preliminary and permanent injunction, compensatory and consequential damages of more than $1 million, award for costs of litigation, pre- and post-judgment interest, costs of suit, and for such other and further relief as the court deems just and proper. They are represented by Bret A. Stone and Brian R. Paget of Paladin Law Group LLP in Santa Barbara, California.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California case number 2:18-cv-00900-WBS-EFB