United States v. Kelley

145 F.R.D. 432, 36 ERC (BNA) 1888, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 192, 1993 WL 4212
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedJanuary 7, 1993
DocketCiv. A. No. 85-CV-10309
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 145 F.R.D. 432 (United States v. Kelley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Kelley, 145 F.R.D. 432, 36 ERC (BNA) 1888, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 192, 1993 WL 4212 (E.D. Mich. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

NEWBLATT, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is the Motion of the United States and the State of Michigan to hold Monitor Sugar Company (“Monitor” or “the Company”) in civil contempt and to assess stipulated penalties for a determination of the appropriate damages award for Monitor Sugar’s failure to abide by the terms of the 1987 consent decree (signed by the Court on December 10, 1987, hereinafter “consent decree” or “consent judgment”, and paragraphs of this document shall be denoted with the ¶ symbol).

I. Preliminary Issues1

A. Special Master

The Court finds that a special master is not appropriate in this matter because all issues are capable of resolution by the Court on the evidence before it. Any factual disputes remaining unresolved by this Order shall be addressed at an evidentiary hearing.

B. Legal Authority of this Court to Enforce the Consent Decree

A consent decree is both a judgment of the court and a contract between the parties. Local Number 93, International Assoc. of Firefighters v. Cleveland, 478 U.S. 501, 519, 106 S.Ct. 3063, 3073, 92 L.Ed.2d 405 (1986). This Court has retained jurisdiction over the Consent Judgment, 1144. In addition, Fed.R.Civ.P. 70 expressly authorizes a court to adjudge in civil contempt a party that fails to comply with a judgment of the court requiring performance of a specific act. Oral argu[434]*434ment was heard on several of the issues arising from the consent judgment violations on September 14, 1990.

II. Opacity Limit Violations For Sugar Campaigns: 1988-89, 1989-90

Section V, ¶ 14 of the Consent Judgment provides that “Monitor shall achieve, demonstrate and maintain compliance at all times with the [Clean Air] Act and the Michigan Air Pollution Control Commission [MAPCC] Rules 336.1301(l)(a) and 336.1331 of the Michigan SIP at the stack serving boilers 1, 2 and 3.” MAPCC Rule 336.-1301(l)(a) limits visible emissions from fuel burning sources to a six minute average of 20 percent opacity, except for one six-minute period of not more than 27 percent opacity. Page 7 of the Plaintiff's Memorandum of August 27, 1990 lists data supplied by Monitor that shows visible emissions in violation of MAPCC Rule 336.1301 and the stipulated penalties pursuant to ¶ 29(a) of the Consent Judgment. Monitor disputes neither the occurrence of the emissions, nor the calculation of the stipulated amount, $98,000.00.

Plaintiffs have filed a supplemental complaint that seeks penalties for similar violations during the 1989-1990 sugar campaign. The penalties sought for that campaign’s eight opacity violations are $38,500. See Supplemental Motion of the United States and the State of Michigan For an Order to Show Case Why Defendant Should Not be Held in Civil Contempt and for the Assessment of Stipulated Penalties at 3 (filed August 27, 1990). Thus, the combined penalties for opacity violations are $136,500.

Monitor claims the force majeure clause in the consent decree requires it to pay penalties for circumstances beyond its control, such as “those occasions where mechanical breakdown or other reasonably unforeseeable events caused equipment not to function to design parameters.” In particular, the coal-fired boiler broke down during the sugar campaign, and the startup of it afterwards resulted in the release of “high opacity particulate matter.” Memorandum in Opposition to Motion, filed September 24, 1990 at 3-4. Monitor claims that this problem was beyond its control, and cites the force majeure clause of the Consent Judgment, Section VIII, ¶[¶ 24-28.

The key provisions of the force majeure clause state:

24. Monitor’s failure to achieve or maintain timely compliance with any requirement of this Consent Judgment may be excused pursuant to this Section only to the extent that such failure is caused solely by circumstances beyond its control.
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28. * * * The burden of proving that any failure to achieve or maintain timely compliance was caused solely by circumstances beyond the control of the Monitor shall rest with Monitor. Economic hardship or increased costs shall not constitute circumstances beyond Monitor’s control.

Consent Judgment.

The Plaintiffs’ position, supported by affidavits, see Affidavits of Brenda Brouillet and Mark Reed, is that Monitor could have installed “preheaters” that would have prevented the opacity exceedences. Plaintiff’s Memorandum of August 28, 1990 at 9. Moreover, MAPCC Rule 336.1301(l)(a) provides no exception for boiler startups. On one occasion, October 24, 1988, Plaintiffs claim the shut-down was caused by poor maintenance. Id.

Monitor contends that the startup exceedences were impossible to avoid employing standard industry practices, and that it did not use poor maintenance of its boilers. Its position is also supported by affidavits. See affidavit of William Stephenson. Therefore, it claims that the force majeure clause applies to the dispute.

At oral argument, this Court stated, “A contract is a contract is a contract, and if the language is unambiguous I have no choice not to apply that language.” Court Tape Record of September 14, 1990. This Court has previously analyzed the force majeure clause in the Order of August 16, 1991. The Court stated in that Order, “Circumstances beyond one’s control has to [435]*435mean circumstances that arose after the Judgment or circumstances as to which the parties were neither aware nor capable of being aware.” Order of August 16, 1991 at 7. Circumstances as to which the parties were not capable of being aware is, in essence, a foreseeability standard. If the grounds for the emissions were foreseeable to Monitor at the signing of the Consent Judgment, then Monitor must pay.

Mr. Stephenson’s affidavit, submitted by Monitor, explains the contested emissions as falling into three categories: (1) cold starts at the beginning of the sugar campaign; warm starts, from shutdowns due to mechanical failure and cleaning fire grates; and (3) “near cold restarts” on October 24, 1988 and repeatedly in December, 1988 resulting from a shutdown due to sugar leaking into the boiler.

Under the Consent Judgment, the burden rests on Monitor to show that circumstances were entirely outside its control, 1128, and this Court has found that foreseeable circumstances are not entirely outside Monitor’s control. The need to start the boilers at the beginning of the campaign was certainly foreseeable. Therefore, the penalties apply to those emissions.

Maintenance difficulties with the boilers are also a foreseeable problem. Monitor was represented by competent counsel when it agreed to the stipulated penalties for violation of the consent judgment provisions. Had the parties intended for mechanical problems to provide Monitor with an excuse for noncompliance, the parties could have stated so in clear language. It is therefore irrelevant whether the type

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
145 F.R.D. 432, 36 ERC (BNA) 1888, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 192, 1993 WL 4212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-kelley-mied-1993.