County Sanitation District No. 2 v. Superior Court

County Sanitation District No. 2 of Los Angeles County (the District) petitions for a writ of mandamus commanding the respondent court to vacate its order sustaining without leave to amend the demurrer of Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) to the second through sixth causes of action of the second amended complaint.

We deny the petition.

*101 Issues Presented

The central issue presented by this proceeding in mandamus is whether the liability and obligation of ARCO to pay the required surcharge or user charge fee, based on its discharge of industrial wastewater into the District’s wastewater collection and treatment system, is a statutory liability, subject to the three-year period of limitations prescribed by Code of Civil Procedure section 338, subdivision (a), or a liability and obligation founded upon a contract in writing, subject to the four-year period of limitations prescribed by section 337 of that code. We hold that the liability and obligation is one created by the District’s Wastewater Ordinance, a statute, and thus is subject to the three-year period of limitations prescribed by section 338.

Procedural Statement

The action was filed on August 5, 1988. On…