ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    May 21, 1998
    JACK DONELSON SALES COMPANY,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    PCB 98-118
    (UST - Appeal)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
    On March 17, 1998, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) and the
    Jack Donelson Sales Company (petitioner) filed a request for extension of the 35-day appeal
    period pursuant to Section 40 of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/40(a)(1)
    (1996)), relating to a February 9, 1998, Agency determination. On May 13, 1998, petitioner
    filed a petition for review.
    This petition was filed on petitioner’s behalf by a consulting firm, World Water
    Consultants, Inc. Although the Board’s current procedural rules would allow the petitioner to
    be represented by a non-attorney (see 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.107(a)(2)), the Board recently
    held that these rules violated the provisions of the Attorney Act (705 ILCS 205/1 (1996)) and
    the Corporation Practice of Law Prohibition Act (705 ILCS 220/1 (1996)). See In the Matter
    of: Petition of Recycle Technologies, Inc. for an Adjusted Standard from 35 Ill. Adm. Code
    720.131(c) (July 10, 1997), AS 97-9 (hereinafter RTI). Specifically, the Board found that a
    non-attorney could not represent a corporation in an adjusted standard proceeding without
    violating both the Attorney Act and the Corporation Practice of Law Prohibition Act. The
    Board has also held that a non-attorney could not represent a not-for-profit corporation in a
    landfill siting appeal pursuant to Section 40.1(b) of the Act (415 ILCS 5/40.1(b) (1996)).
    Sierra Club and Jim Bensman (October 2, 1997), PCB 98-43 (hereinafter Bensman). The
    Board believes that the rationale employed to find that a non-attorney was prohibited from
    representing a corporation in an adjusted standard proceeding or in a landfill siting appeal
    applies equally to the situation presented in this matter. Accordingly, petitioner must be
    represented by an attorney.
    Rather than dismissing this appeal immediately as some case law would suggest, the
    Board finds that special circumstances of the type also found in RTI and Bensman apply here.
    Consistent with RTI and Bensman, the Board grants petitioner 30 days in which to retain an
    attorney and for that attorney to file an amended petition in this case on the petitioner’s behalf.
    If an amended petition and attorney’s appearance are not filed on or before June 20, 1998, this
    action will be dismissed.
    2
    The Board will consider this petition timely filed consistent with the Board’s April 2,
    1998 order (as it was mailed on May 11, 1998).
    1
    The Board’s decision deadline under Section
    40 of the Act (415 ILCS 5/40 (1996)) will restart with the filing of an amended petition.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    Board Members G.T. Girard and J. Theodore Meyer dissented.
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
    the above order was adopted on the 21st day of May 1998 by a vote of 5-2.
    1
    The Board’s order of April 2, 1998, stated that the petition would be due “on or before May
    10, 1998” (the 90th day after February 9, 1998, the date of the Agency decision). Because
    May 10 is a Sunday, the appeal was due on the next business day, Monday, May 11, 1998.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

    Back to top