ILLINOIS POLLUTION

CONTROL BOARD

December 20,

1995

PEOPLE OF THE STATE

)

OF ILLINOIS,

)

Complainant,

)

)

v.

)

PCB 94—174

(Enforcement-Air)

FEENEY OIL COMPANY,

INC.,

)

an Illinois corporation,

)

Respondent.

CONCURRING OPINION

(by J. Theodore Meyer):

I concur with the

majority’s

acceptance of the stipulation

of settlement in this case.

However,

I continue to be troubled

by the absence of any mention of attorney’s fees and costs in

these settlement agreements.

Section 42(f)

of the Environmental Protection Act (Act)

provides that the Board may award costs and reasonable attorney’s

fees in cases brought on behalf of the citizens of IllinoIs.

(415 ILCS

5/42(f)

(1994).

This section should be construed

broadly to allow the violator of the Act to reimburse the

Illinois taxpayer for all fees and costs incurred by the Attorney

General.

Attorney’s fees should include the employer’s share of

federal and Social Security taxes as well as health insurance and

life insurance.

Attorney’s costs should not only include direct

costs incurred by the individual attorney, but also indirect

costs such as:

travel time, administrative support, printing,

copying and overhead.

The time and money spent by Attorney

General in prosecuting this matter should have been used to

handle other matters.

In addition to fees, costs should include a “user fee” for

services like photocopying, and violators of the Act should pay

the user fees.

This case presented an opportunity for the

Attorney General to submit an affidavit of all fees and costs,

and I believe that the Board should have requested the Attorney

General to include these costs in its settlement.

If the Board

would pursue these fees and costs,

then the Illinois taxpayer

could be reimbursed.

For these reasons,

I concur.

f4~’44

2J.

~

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Theodo’~eMeyer

‘

Board Member

---

2

I, Dorothy M. Gunn,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify that

e above concurring opinion

was filed on the

~.4L~/—~

day of

~

—,

1996.

7,2

Dorothy M/~iGunn,Clerk

Illinois/~ollutionControl Board