FEDERAL COURT DISMISSES DUMP DEVELOPER’S LAWSUIT AGAINST CITY OF LAREDO

LAREDO – The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas has officially dismissed the lawsuit brought by dump developer Rancho Viejo Waste Management against the City of Laredo stemming from the City Council’s May 16, 2016 resolution to oppose the Pescadito Environmental Resource Center (“the dump”).

Once again, Rancho Viejo was flatly rejected by the very court system it has repeatedly tried to weaponize against those who oppose their plan to bring a toxic dump to Webb County. This time in federal court.

Click here to read the court order dismissing the the dump developer’s frivolous case.

In the court order dated March 11, 2019, the U.S. Southern District characterized the dump developer’s lawsuit as “a case about political speech and the impact it can have on the marketplace. It is about a company’s attempts to secure a permit from a state administrative agency and a community’s attempts to have a voice in that process.  But above all else, it is about the proper role of the judiciary in our constitutional republic.”

The court concluded the dump developer had “not carried its burden of establishing (U.S. Constitution) Article III standing because it has not shown that it suffered a concrete and particularized, and actual or imminent injury. The Court is therefore without power to hear this action.”

In its lawsuit – one of a number of lawsuits filed by the dump developer during his quest to build a toxic dump – Rancho Viejo had frivolously claimed that it suffered both “Lost Opportunity” and “Reputational” injury as a result of the Laredo City Council’s resolution to oppose the dump, despite the fact that all parties agreed that the City Council’s resolution was non-binding. According to the court: “The Laredo City Council notably chose to enact only a resolution in opposition to Rancho Viejo’s permit application:  it did not pass an ordinance, regulation, tax, or any other enactment capable of bringing the city’s governmental powers to bear upon Plaintiff’s (Rancho Viejo’s) activity…. Unlike an ordinance, a resolution is not a law, but an expression of an opinion.”

In other words, the Court recognized that the dump developer had sued the City in Federal Court simply because he was upset by the Council’s non-binding resolution.

The dump developer argued that it had been in negotiation with Bernhard Capital Partners Management LP, a Louisiana investment group, which had expressed an interest in buying or investing in the dump. Rancho Viejo claimed that negotiations with Bernhard broke down because of the City Council resolution and sued the City for damages, calling it a “lost business opportunity.”  The court disagreed. 

Another injury the dump developer alleged in its lawsuit was “reputational injury” as a result of the City Council’s resolution.  The court not only disagreed, but also said that allowing Rancho Viejo to claim damages because the City of Laredo expressed its position on a permit application pending state-agency review would “set an ominous precedent,” and pave the way for anyone who disagreed with a point of view taken by a city, county or state in response to another governmental entity to simply sue in federal court.

The court stated that the dump developer had “failed to allege a cognizable injury in fact.”  In other words, the dump developer was unable to prove he had suffered injury as a result of a lost business opportunity or a damaged reputation, and therefore didn’t have a leg to stand on in federal court.

As a result, the court dismissed the dump developer’s frivolous case.

Citizens Against Laredo Landfill applauds the court’s decision and will continue to provide updates on the ongoing efforts to stop this unwanted, unneeded toxic dump.