RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

August 2007

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District Court Rejects Abstention in Determining Citizen Claims under RCRA where State Underground Storage Tank Law Offered Alternative Relief
K-7 Enterprises v. Jester, et. al., ___F.Supp.2d___

Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment for alleged violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) stemming from the ownership, operation, and control of underground petroleum storage tanks (USTs). Defendant argued, among other things, that the District Court should abstain from deciding this case under the Burford abstention doctrine. The court declined to abstain because federal District Courts have exclusive original jurisdiction over RCRA citizen claims and denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment because it found that there were genuine issues of material fact to plaintiff’s RCRA claim.