ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
December 3, 1998
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
Complainant,
v.
CRAIG LINTON, an individual, and
RANDY ROWE, an individual,
Respondents.
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PCB 98-80
(Enforcement - Land)
ORDER OF THE BOARD (by M. McFawn):
Before the Board is “Complainant’s Motion for Summary Judgment,” filed on
September 29, 1998. Respondents did not respond to the motion. Because the record does not
establish all elements of complainant’s case when viewed in the light most favorable to
respondents, the motion for summary judgment is denied.
This proceeding was initiated by the filing of a complaint on December 9, 1997. By
the complaint, the State seeks reimbursement for costs incurred cleaning up an accumulation of
used and waste tires and punitive damages, pursuant to Section 55.3 of the Environmental
Protection Act (Act), 415 ILCS 5/55.3 (1996). The relevant subsections of Section 55.3
provide:
d.
The Agency shall have authority to provide notice to the
owner or operator, or both, of a site where used or waste
tires are located, whenever the [Illinois Environmental
Protection] Agency finds that the used or waste tires pose
a threat to public health or the environment, or that the
owner or operator, or both, is not proceeding in
accordance with a tire removal agreement under Section
55.4
The notice provided by the Agency shall include the
identified preventive or corrective action, and shall
provide an opportunity for the owner or operator, or both,
to perform such actions.
e.
In accordance with constitutional limitations, the Agency
shall have authority to enter at all reasonable times upon
any private or public property for the purpose of taking
whatever preventive or corrective action is necessary and
appropriate in accordance with the provisions of this
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Section, including but not limited to the removal,
processing or treatment of used or waste tires, whenever
the Agency finds that used or waste tires pose a threat to
public health or the environment.
* * *
g.
Except as otherwise provided in this Section, the owner or
operator of any accumulation of used or waste tires at
which the Agency has undertaken corrective or preventive
action under this Section shall be liable for all costs
thereof incurred by the State of Illinois, including
reasonable costs of collection. Any monies received by
the Agency hereunder shall be deposited into the Used
Tire Management Fund. The Agency may in its
discretion store, dispose of or convey the tires that are
removed from an area at which it has undertaken a
corrective, preventive or consensual removal action, and
may sell or store such tires and other items that are
removed from the area. The net proceeds of any sale
shall be credited against the liability incurred by the
owner or operator for the costs of any preventive or
corrective action.
h.
Any person liable to the Agency for costs incurred under
subsection (g) of this Section may be liable to the State of
Illinois for punitive damages in an amount at least equal
to, and not more than 2 times, the cost incurred by the
State if such person failed without sufficient cause to take
preventive or corrective action pursuant to notice issued
under subsection (d) of this Section.
Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings, depositions, admissions on file,
and affidavits disclose that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving
party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Dowd & Dowd, Ltd. v. Gleason, 181 Ill. 2d
460, 483, 693 N.E.2d 358, 370 (1998). In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the
Board “must consider the pleadings, depositions, and affidavits strictly against the movant and
in favor of the opposing party.”
Id
. Summary judgment "is a drastic means of disposing of
litigation," and therefore it should be granted only when the movant's right to the relief "is
clear and free from doubt."
Id
., citing Purtill v. Hess, 111 Ill. 2d 229, 240, 489 N.E.2d 867,
871 (1986).
In this case, the record includes admissions and affidavits. Admissions consist of
responses to complainant’s first requests to admit facts (Responses), filed by each respondent
on May 15, 1998, as well as facts admitted by operation of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 103.162(c) due
to respondents’ failure to reply to complainant’s second requests to admit facts, filed on
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September 2, 1998. Complainant has supplied affidavits of Paul M. Purseglove, who was
manager of the Agency’s Used Tire Unit at the time of the events alleged in the complaint, and
Katherine Geyer, an Agency Field Inspector who inspected the site.
To prevail on its claims, complainant must establish that the respondents were owners
and/or operators of a site from which used or waste tires were removed. Geyer states in her
affidavit that on May 20, 1991, respondents Craig Linton and Randy Rowe admitted that they
owned and operated respectively a site at which used and waste tires were disposed.
Complainant has also proffered, as Exhibit C to its motion, a quitclaim deed purportedly
conveying a parcel of land in LaSalle County to Randall Rowe and Craig Linton as tenants in
common. This deed is dated June 19, 1990. Neither of these documents establishes that
Linton or Rowe owned or operated the site in March of 1996 when, according to the
contractor’s invoice appended as Exhibit I to complainant’s motion, the tires were removed.
Furthermore, in their Responses, both Linton and Rowe deny owning the property as joint
tenants. While these denials are subject to multiple interpretations, for the purposes of this
motion the Board must construe them strictly against complainant and liberally in favor of
respondents. Purtill,
supra
, 489 N.E.2d at 871. Viewed in this way, the Board cannot find
that there is no material issue as to the status of respondents as owners or operators of the site
at the time liability would have been incurred,
i.e.
, in March of 1996.
Complainant’s motion for summary judgment is denied.
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 3rd day of December 1998 by a vote of 6-0.
Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
