Pleasant Hill Bayshore Disposal, Inc. v. Chip-It Recycling, Inc.

The central issue on this timely and authorized appeal from an order granting a preliminary injunction (Code Civ. Proc., § 904.1, subd. (a)(6)) is whether the enactment by Congress of an obscure law concerning the Federal Aviation Administration in 1994 preempted long-established local authority over garbage, specifically the power to grant an exclusive franchise for the collection and disposal of refuse. We conclude that Congress had no intent to occupy this field to the complete exclusion of local regulation. Finding no defect with the order, we shall affirm it.

Background

The injunction restrains defendants Chip-It Recycling, Inc., and its president Bruce McChesney (hereafter collectively referred to as Chip-It), from “soliciting and/or entering into contracts with individuals or entities for the collection and/or disposal of any Solid Waste” within the boundaries of the City of Antioch and the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority (CCCSWA). Chip-It was also restrained from “collecting and/or disposing of any Solid Waste anywhere within the boundaries of the CCCSWA,” but Chip-It was not prohibited “from collecting recyclable materials within the CCCSWA which…