Morton College Board Trustees v. Town of Cicero

• Decision Date: 01 September 1998
• Docket Number: No. 97 C 8766.,97 C 8766.
• Citation: 18 F.Supp.2d 921
• Parties: MORTON COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF ILLINOIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT NO. 527, Plaintiff, v. The TOWN OF CICERO, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

18 F.Supp.2d 921

MORTON COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF ILLINOIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT NO. 527, Plaintiff, v. The TOWN OF CICERO, Defendant.

No. 97 C 8766.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

September 1, 1998.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Stanley T. Kusper, Jr., David A. DeYoung, Kusper & Raucci, Chartered, Chicago, IL, Michael John Maher, Gregory Linn Cochran, Elizabeth Schroer Harvey, McKenna, Storer, Rowe, White & Farrug, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.

Bradley Daniel Birge, Pulliam & Birge, Chicago, IL, Merrick Scott Rayle, Rayle and Partners, Chicago, IL, Maureen Martin, Martin Law Firm, Chicago, IL, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ALESIA, District Judge.

Before the court is defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's second amended complaint. For the following reasons, the court denies defendant's motion.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Morton College Board of Trustees of Illinois Community College District No. 527 ("the College") has filed suit against the Town of Cicero ("the Town") in this court. The College's second amended complaint contains nine counts. Counts 1, 2, and 3 are claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act ("CERCLA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9675. Counts 4, 5, 6, and 7 are claims under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 6901-6992. Count 8 is a state-law claim for nuisance. Count 9 is a state-law claim for continuing intentional trespass. This court has subject matter jurisdiction over the CERCLA claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 9613 and 9659; over the RCRA claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 6972(a); and over the state-law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367.

The dispute between the parties centers on a piece of land that the Town sold to the College. In its second amended complaint, the College contends that while the Town owned the property, several different types of hazardous wastes were dumped on it. The College alleges that those hazardous wastes have contaminated the property.

Before suit was filed in this court, two other suits between the parties had been commenced. The first is a suit before the Illinois Pollution Control Board ("the Board") in which the College is the plaintiff and the Town is the defendant. In that suit, the College alleges violations of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act. The second is a suit before the Circuit Court of Cook County in which the Town is the plaintiff and the College is the defendant. In that suit, the Town asks the circuit court to grant the following relief: (1) to declare that an "as is" provision contained in the purchase agreement between the parties immunizes the Town from any liability under either state or federal environmental regulations with respect to the property in question; (2) to order the College to abate the public nuisance created by the contaminated property; (3) to enjoin the Board from adjudicating the action between the College and the Town; and (4) to grant a preliminary injunction enjoining the College from proceeding on its case before the Board.

This case is currently before the court on the Town's motion to dismiss the College's second amended complaint. In its motion to dismiss, the Town argues that this court should abstain from exercising jurisdiction over this case pursuant to either the abstention doctrine stated in Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U.S. 315, 63 S.Ct. 1098, 87 L.Ed. 1424 (1943), or the abstention doctrine stated in Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976).¹

II. DISCUSSION

The sole question before this court is whether the court should abstain from adjudicating this case. The Town argues that abstention is "required" under either the Burford abstention doctrine or the Colorado River abstention doctrine. The College argues that abstention would not be proper under either doctrine.

"[F]ederal courts have a strict duty to exercise the jurisdiction conferred upon them by Congress." International College of Surgeons v. City of Chicago, 153 F.3d 356, 359 (7th Cir.1998) (citing Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins. Co., 517 U.S. 706, 716, 116 S.Ct. 1712, 135 L.Ed.2d 1 (1996)). The Supreme Court has described this duty as "`virtually unflagging.'" New Orleans Pub. Serv., Inc. v. Council of New Orleans, 491 U.S. 350, 359, 109 S.Ct. 2506, 105 L.Ed.2d 298 (1989) (quoting Deakins v. Monaghan, 484 U.S. 193, 203, 108 S.Ct. 523, 98 L.Ed.2d 529 (1988)). Because this is so, the doctrine of abstention is "`an extraordinary and narrow exception to the duty of a District Court to adjudicate a controversy properly before it' and may be invoked only in those `exceptional circumstances' in which surrendering jurisdiction `would clearly serve an important countervailing interest.'" International College of Surgeons, 153 F.3d at 359 (quoting County of Allegheny v. Frank Mashuda Co., 360 U.S. 185, 188-89, 79 S.Ct. 1060, 3 L.Ed.2d 1163 (1959)).

The party requesting abstention bears the heavy burden of showing that abstention is warranted. Seay v. Dodge, No. 95 C 3643, 1995 WL 557361, at *6 (N.D.Ill. Sept. 18, 1995); Illinois Pub. Interest Research Group v. PMC, Inc., 835 F.Supp. 1070, 1076 (N.D.Ill.1993). The decision of whether to abstain is committed to the sound discretion of the district court. International College of Surgeons, 153 F.3d at 359.

A. Burford abstention

The first issue is whether this court should abstain from adjudicating this case based on the Burford abstention doctrine. Under that doctrine, a federal court should abstain from deciding an unsettled question of state law that relates to a complex state regulatory scheme. International College of Surgeons, 153 F.3d at 360. The Burford abstention doctrine "is concerned with protecting complex state administrative processes from undue federal influence." New Orleans Pub. Serv., Inc., 491 U.S. at 362, 109 S.Ct. 2506. It is not concerned with the rights of the parties in the case at hand. International College of Surgeons, 153 F.3d at 360.

There are two different situations in which Burford abstention is appropriate. The first is in a case involving a "`difficult question of state law bearing on policy problems of substantial public import whose importance transcends the result in the case then at bar.'" Quackenbush, 517 U.S. at 726-27, 116 S.Ct. 1712 (quoting New Orleans Pub. Serv., Inc., 491 U.S. at 361, 109 S.Ct. 2506 (quoting Colorado River, 424 U.S. at 814, 96 S.Ct. 1236)). The second is where exercise of federal jurisdiction "`would be disruptive of state efforts to establish a coherent policy with respect to a matter of substantial public concern.'" Id.

Determining whether to abstain under Burford requires the court to make a fact-intensive inquiry. General Ry. Signal Co. v. Corcoran, 921 F.2d 700, 709 (7th Cir. 1991). In making such an inquiry, the court should consider (1) whether the suit is based on a cause of action which is exclusively federal; (2) whether difficult or unusual state laws are at issue; (3) whether there is a need for coherent state doctrine in the area; and (4) whether state procedures indicate a desire to create special state forums to adjudicate the issues presented. Id.; White & Brewer Trucking, Inc. v. Donley, 952 F.Supp. 1306, 1311 (C.D.Ill.1997).

1. Whether the suit is based on a cause of action which is exclusively federal

First the court must consider whether the College's suit in this court is based on a cause of action which is exclusively federal. "The presence of federal-law issues must always be a major consideration against surrender." Moses H. Cone Mem'l Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 26, 103 S.Ct. 927, 74 L.Ed.2d 765 (1983); see also General Ry. Signal Co., 921 F.2d at 709 (explaining that the existence of federal-law questions tends to make abstention less appropriate). However, "a federal court may abstain even from a case posing mixed federal and state law issues." General Ry. Signal Co., 921 F.2d at 709. It is up to the district court to weigh the relative importance of the state and federal-law issues in the particular case at hand. Id.

In this case, seven of the nine-counts in the College's second amended complaint are based on federal law. Counts 1-3 are CERCLA claims. Counts 4-7 are RCRA claims. Counts 8 and 9 are state-law claims. Thus, this case involves both state and federal law.

One important factor which weighs heavily against abstention, however, is the fact that Counts 1, 2 and 3 of the complaint contain CERCLA claims. See Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Health and Welfare Fund v. Old Sec. Life Ins. Co., 600 F.2d 671, 677 (7th Cir.1979). This court has exclusive original jurisdiction over the College's CERCLA claims. 42 U.S.C. § 6913. Thus, Burford abstention would not be appropriate because the state courts could not adjudicate the College's CERCLA claims. New Orleans Pub. Serv., 491 U.S. at 361, 109 S.Ct. 2506 (explaining that Burford abstention is only appropriate "[w]here adequate state-court review is available").

The Town does not dispute that this court has exclusive jurisdiction over Count 1. (See Def.'s Reply at 5.) The Town, however, argues that this court does not have exclusive original jurisdiction over the CERCLA claims in Counts 2 and 3 because those claims "have direct analogs in the Illinois Environmental Protection Act." (Id.) The Town misses the point. Congress has created a remedy for citizens to recover under CERCLA and explicitly has granted exclusive jurisdiction to the federal courts to hear those claims. The fact that the College could have brought a claim under the Illinois Environmental Protection Act does not mean that the court does not have exclusive jurisdiction over the College's CERCLA claims.

The Town raises the interesting issue of whether this court has exclusive jurisdiction over the College's RCRA claims contained in Counts 4-7. Several courts have found...