United States v. Electron Hydro LLC

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: April 28, 2021
• Docket: 2:20-cv-01746
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al., CASE NOS. C20-1746-JCC; C21-5171-JCC 10 Plaintiffs, 11 ORDER v. 12 ELECTRON HYDRO LLC, 13 Defendant. 14

15 This matter comes before the Court sua sponte. There are two cases pending in the 16 Western District of Washington, Seattle Division, that pose the same question: whether Electron 17 Hydro LLC violated the Clean Water Act when it used field turf to line a bypass channel while 18 performing improvements to a dam and spillway that the company operated on the Puyallup 19 River. See United States of America v. Electron Hydro LLC, C20-1746-JCC; Citizens for a 20 Healthy Bay, et al. v. Electron Hydro LLC, C21-5171-JCC. 21 Given the similarity of issues and the parties’ stipulated agreement to consolidation of 22 these cases at the April 28, 2021 status conference, (see C20-1746-JCC, Dkt. No. 16; C21-5171- 23 JCC, Dkt. No. 13), the Court concludes that consolidation is proper. The determination is based 24 on a consideration of the interests of justice, expeditious results, conservation of resources, 25 avoiding inconsistent results, and the potential of prejudice. See Inv’rs Rsch. Co. v. U.S. Dist. Ct. 26 for Cent. Dist. of Cal., 877 F.2d 777 (9th Cir. 1989); see also Adams Apple, Inc. v. Central 1 Washington Bank, 829 F.2d 1484, 1487 (9th Cir. 1987) (“[T]rial courts may consolidate cases 2 sua sponte.”). 3 Accordingly, the Court hereby ORDERS that the following cases be consolidated: United 4 States of America v. Electron Hydro LLC, C20-1746-JCC, and Citizens for a Healthy Bay, et al. 5 v. Electron Hydro LLC, C21-5171-JCC. All future filings shall bear the caption and case number 6 of the first-filed case, United States of America v. Electron Hydro LLC, C20-1746-JCC. 7 The Court DIRECTS the clerk to administratively close the remaining case, Citizens for a 8 Healthy Bay, et al. v. Electron Hydro LLC, C21-5171-JCC. 9 The parties are ORDERED to provide the Court with a proposed consolidated case 10 management schedule within fourteen (14) days of this order. That schedule should include a 11 proposed trial date. All future documents related to either case shall be filed in Case No. C20- 12 1746-JCC. The caption for the filings shall include the words “This Document Relates To:” and 13 followed by either “C20-1746-JCC,” “C21-5171-JCC,” or “Both Cases.” 14 The Court also DIRECTS the Clerk to terminate the outstanding stipulated motion for a 15 protective order, Docket Number 14, in United States of America v. Electron Hydro LLC, Case 16 No. C20-1746-JCC. If the parties seek a protective order for the now-consolidated case, they 17 may so stipulate. 18 DATED this 28th day of April 2021. A 19 20 21 John C. Coughenour 22 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 23 24 25 26