ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
April 27, 1989
NORTHERN ILLINOIS ANGLERS’
)
ASSOCIATION, an Illinois
)
Corporation,
Complainant,
V.
)
PCB 88—183
THE CITY OF KANKAKEE,
)
a ~4unicipa1 Corporation,
Respondent.
ORDER OF THE BOARD (by J. Marlin):
On March 17, 1989, the City of Kankakee (Kankakee) filed its
Answer to Amended Complaint. By its Order of March 23, 1989, the
Board construed Kankakee’s filing as a motion to dismiss the
amended complaint and assess costs against Northern Illinois
Anglers’ Association (NIAA). The Board’s Order also allowed NIAA
to file a response to the motion, and NIAA filed its response on
April 4, 1989.
After considering these filings, the Board finds no reason
to dismiss NIAA’s amended complaint, Kankakee’s motion is denied.
In Kankakee’s ?larch 17, 1989 filing, Kankakee seems to be
raising a res judicata defense to NIAA’s amended complaint. That
is, Kankakee is effectively asserting that NIAA’s amended
complaint is completely barred due to a February 7, 1989 judgment
issued by the
circuit court of Kankakee County. That circuit
court order enforced a May
26, 1987 consent decree against
Kankakee concerning a monthly discharge standard for fecal
coliform.
Kankakee was assessed a penalty by the court of
$5,500.00 for
“fecal coliform violations from January 1, 1988
until November 30, 1988.” (Paragraph I, Order of circuit court,
attached to Kankakee’s March 17, 1989 filing.)
One must raise the defense of
res
judicata either by way of
an affirmative defense in
an answer or by way of a motion to
dismiss so as to giv’e adequate notice of the defense prior to
hearing.
Environmental Protection ~~ency v. Peterson/Puritan,
Inc., PCB 78—278, 39 PCB
409, 410 (September 4, 1980). The Board
rinds that Kankakee’s defense has been raised at the appropriate
time with respect to the hearing in this matter.
98—26 5
—2—
The burden of providing information and argument to support
a res judicata defense is upon the respondent. When a former
adjudication is relied upon as a complete bar to a subsequent
action, the questions to be determined are whether the cause of
action is the same in the two proceedings, whether the two
actions are between the parties or their privies, whether the
former adjudication was a final judgment upon the merits, and
whether it was within the jurisdiction of the court rendering
it.
Peterson/Puritan,
Inc., 39 PCB at 410—411; Environmental
Protection Agency v. Giacnini, PCB 77—143, 33 PCB 547, 550—551
(May 24, 1979); Spiller v. Continental Tube Co., 95 ill. 2d 423,
447 N.E.2d 834, 838 (1983).
Given the March
17th filing, Kankakee has not shown that the
doctrine of res judicata bars NIAA’s amended complaint due to the
circuit court’s February 7, 1989 order. However, Kankakee may
attempt to prove
a res judicata defense at hearing and in its
post—hearing brief.
As a final note, the Board’s decision concerning the
duplicitous or
frivolous determination pursuant to Section 31(b)
of the Environmental Protection, as evidenced by the Board’s
Orders of January 5, 1989 and March 9, 1989, remains unchanged
notwithstanding the recently received circuit court order of
February 7, 1989.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify that the above Order was adopted on the
~‘?1~
day of
________________,
1989, by a vote of
70
___
~I77,
______
~~EhyM.u~,C1~k
Illinois P~L1utionControl Board
98—266