California v. M & P INVESTMENTS

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

On April 19, 2002, the court held a hearing on the various jurisdictional and other issues presented by the court’s January 28, 2002 order. In light of the granting of plaintiff People of the State of California’s (the “Plaintiff People”) motion to dismiss the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) claim, many of the issues presented in the January 28 order are now moot. Accordingly, this order addresses only those issues unaffected by the motion to dismiss. The resolution of these issues, however, will have a significant impact on this case.

BACKGROUND

While this case was filed in November 2000, the starting point of the litigation particularly relevant to this hearing began in May 2001. At that time, the Plaintiff People and co-plaintiff City of Lodi (the “City”) (sometimes collectively referred to herein as “plaintiffs”) filed a motion to dismiss the first amended counterclaim of defendants Guild Cleaners, Inc. and Jack Alquist (collectively, “Guild”), which included Guild’s claim under RCRA against the City. On June 19, 2001, the court granted the motion, in part, finding (among other things) that Guild’s RCRA counterclaim against the City…