Sludge Watch ==> Los Angeles Demands $1.9 M from Kern County in Court Costs

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

The sludgers want their victims to pay their legal fees.  Note in a similar 
story today sludge slinger Jim Willett has been awarded $12 M in his lawsuit 
against tiny La Paz County AZ - population: 19,715. (yes, that is $608.67 
per man, woman, and child in the county)

In the story below LA wants another pound of flesh from Kern.
This is very unfair.  The huge cities that generate the waste first slather 
little communities with their sewer wastes, and then extort huge costs in 
these 'Davey and Goliath' lawsuits.

Kern needs to fight back.  So does La Paz County.
......................................................................

http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/245332.html

L.A. wants Kern to pay $1.9 million in legal fees
BY JAMES BURGER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jburger at bakersfield.com | Tuesday, Sep 25 2007 9:40 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Sep 25 2007 9:46 PM

Southland lawyers who sued Kern County over its sludge ban are asking a Los 
Angeles judge to make Kern County pay $1.9 million in attorney fees after he 
overturned the county ordinance banning land-application of sewage sludge -- 
treated human and industrial waste.

U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess could decide whether to award those 
fees during a hearing set for Oct. 15, said Kern County Assistant County 
Counsel Steve Schuett.

Southland lawyers said they should get the fees because the judge ruled in 
their favor.

Schuett said Tuesday that Kern County, which is appealing the ruling that 
overturned the local ordinance, should not have to pay the attorney fees 
until the appeal is heard in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San 
Francisco.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Don Maben was in a fighting mood when asked 
about Los Angeles' request for attorneys' fees.

"They can ask for whatever they want," he said. "Getting it will be a horse 
of a different color."

Feess ruled against Kern County's anti-sludge ordinance in early August in a 
case brought by the city of Los Angeles, Orange County and the businesses 
that drive the sludge to Kern County and farm local land with the material.

His ruling effectively overturned Measure E -- a ban on the spreading of 
sewage sludge on unincorporated areas of Kern County that was passed in 
2006, largely because of environmental concerns.