ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January 11, 1995
INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED
AUTOMOBILE, AEROSPACE
AND
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS
OF AMERICA
AND
UAW
LOCAL
974;
AND
CITIZENS FOR A BETTER
ENVIRONMENT,
Complainants,
v.
CATERPILLAR INC.,
)
PCB 94-240
)
(Enforcement)
Respondent,
)
)
)
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
)
Party-in-Interest.
ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C. A. Manning):
This matter is before the Board on a motion to strike
affirmative defenses filed by the complainants on December 13,
1994 in which they object to all 16 affirmative defenses raised
in the respondent, Caterpillar Inc.’s December 2, 1994 answer to
the complaint. Caterpillar filed a response to the motion on
December 22, 1994 asking that we deny the relief requested in the
motion.
In general terms, the affirmative defenses concern the
sufficiency of the pleadings, the reasonableness of the
respondent’s corrective action at the site and Caterpillar’s
participation in the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s
4(q) program. The complainants suggest that the affirmative
defenses are repetitive of argwiients raised in Caterpillar’s
motion to dismiss this case which we denied on November 3, 1994.
Complainants also argue that the defenses are insufficiently pled
because they do not constitute “facts” and are merely conclusions
of law.
We hereby deny the motion to strike in its entirety. We
will not deprive Caterpillar the opportunity to offer facts and
arguments at hearing which would support or prove any of the
affirmative defenses raised in the answer. While Caterpillar may
have set forth its affirmative defenses without pleading any
additional facts to those already alleged in the complaint,
Caterpillar was under no requirement to do so.
When
the defense
2
is directed to the facts set forth in the complaint, no
additional facts need be pled. (Fitzpatrick v. City of Chicago,
131 Ill. App. 3d 582, 475 N.E. 2 995, 998 (1985); see also 35
Ill. Adm. Code 103.122(d).)
Moreover, though many of Caterpillar’s affirmative defenses
are similar to the arguments put forth in Caterpillar’s motion to
dismiss, we do not find this to be an adequate basis to strike
these defenses. Our November 3, 1994 order merely determined
that the complaint pled sufficient facts to survive a motion to
dismiss. Our denying Caterpillar’s motion to dismiss did not
foreclose Caterpillar from raising defenses that based on a fully
developed record, may show that the alleged violations of the
Environmental Protection Act did not occur or that the relief
requested by the compliant is improper. Further, many of the
defenses relate to Caterpillar’s participation in the Agency’s
4(q) program and as we have already determined in our November 3,
1994 order (see page 4), we will not deny Caterpillar, or the
complainants, the opportunity to offer proof regarding this
issue.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy N. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby-~certify that the above order was adopted on the
~
day of
__________________,
1995, by a vote of
~
_
/2
Thorothy N. G~nn, Clerk
Illinois Poll.ution Control Board