ILLiNOIS
    VOLLUTX(.Th
    CON’XKOL
    bOA&(D
    September 7,
    1995
    OLIVE STREIT and LISA STREIT,
    Complainants,
    v.
    )
    PCB 95—122
    (Enforcement—UST)
    OBERWEISS DAIRY, INC., RICHARD
    )
    J. FETZER and JOHNNIE W. WARD
    )
    d/b/a SERVE—N-SAVE, and RICHARD
    )
    J. FETZER,
    individually,
    AMOCO
    )
    OIL COMPANY, MOBIL OIL
    )
    CORPORATION and ILLINOIS
    )
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    Respondents.
    DISSENTING OPINION
    (by J. Theodore Meyer):
    I dissent from the Board’s order because I believe this
    matter to be duplicitous.
    As the Board’s order correctly states,
    in citizen
    enforcement actions, the Board must make a determination as to
    whether the complaint is frivolous or duplicitous before sending
    the matter to hearing.
    (415 ILCS 5/31(b) (1994);
    35 Ill.
    Adm.
    Code 103.104.)
    A matter is considered duplicitous if the
    allegations are identical or substantially similar to matters
    previously before the Board or to matters brought in another
    forum.
    (Brandle v.
    Ropp, PCB 85—68,
    64 PCB 263
    (June
    13,
    1985).)
    On April
    4,
    1995,
    Olive Streit and Lisa Streit filed a
    complaint before the Board alleging contamination of their water
    well by one or more of the named defendants.
    (Pet.
    at
    1.)
    In
    1992, Olive Streit and Lisa Streit had filed a complaint in Kane
    County, Illinois, under case name L KA 92-0406 in which the
    exact
    same allegations were made.
    This case was pending at the time of
    the Board filing on April
    4,
    1995, although it was subsequently
    dismissed on April 12,
    1995.
    I believe that the filing of a
    subsequent action with substantially similar allegations makes
    the subsequent action duplicitous, even if the prior action is
    withdrawn.
    The orderly administration of justice should not
    permit a party to proceed on a matter for 4 years in civil court,
    only to file a second action with the same complaints
    in another
    forum.
    Not only does this drain the state’s resources, but also
    forces respondents to refile answers to the same allegations.
    For these reasons,
    I respectfully dissent.
    J~t~~ó~fl!èyer
    B
    rd Member
    2
    I, Dorothy M.
    Gunn,
    Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    was filed
    Board, hereby certify ~
    on the
    _________
    day of
    ________________
    __________
    ___________________
    1995
    V
    ,)1~
    ~~othy
    M/~unn,Clerk
    Illinois ~p’11utionControl Board

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