Ecological Rights Foundation v. City of Eureka

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 ECOLOGICAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION, Case No. 22-cv-01459-JST

8 Plaintiff,

ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR

9 v. ATTORNEY’S FEES AND COSTS

10 CITY OF EUREKA, Re: ECF No. 47 Defendant. 11

12 13 Before the Court is Defendant City of Eureka’s motion for attorney’s fees and costs. ECF 14 No. 47. The Court will deny the motion. 15 I. BACKGROUND 16 The City operates the Elk River Wastewater Treatment Plant (“WWTP”) under a Clean 17 Water Act (“CWA”) Permit issued by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, 18 North Coast Region (“Regional Board”). Plaintiff Ecological Rights Foundation (“EcoRights”) 19 filed this action in March 2022, alleging that the City’s operation of the WWTP violated the CWA 20 Permit. ECF No. 1. The parties participated in mediation on September 2, 2022 and reached an 21 agreement in principle to resolve the action. ECF Nos. 34, 37. On November 17, 2022, the 22 parties filed a proposed consent decree, ECF No. 38, and on January 27, 2023,…