Chicago–(ENEWSPF)–February 7, 2011. Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced that a Cook County judge ordered two individuals and the companies they own to pay $1.8 million in penalties for illegally dumping a mountain of construction debris at an unpermitted site near Lynwood.
Judge Richard Billik on Friday ruled that John Einoder and Janice Einoder, both of Orland Park, must pay civil penalties of $500,000 and $50,000 respectively and assessed civil penalties of $750,000 against Tri-State Industries, Inc., as well as $500,000 against J.T. Einoder, Inc., the businesses owned and operated by the Einoders. In June 2009, Judge Billik ruled that all of the defendants were liable for dumping construction and demolition waste at the site adjacent to property owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.
“The ruling is a welcome rebuke of the Einoders’ prolonged disregard for the law on open dumping,” said Attorney General Madigan. “Justice was a long time coming in this case, but the people of this area now no longer will contend with a growing mountain of construction debris and waste in their community.”
J.T. Einoder, Inc. and Tri-State Industries were originally named in a seven-count suit filed by the Attorney General’s office in July 2000. John Einoder and Janice Einoder individually were later added as defendants in the case.
Madigan’s office and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) have pursued the case for more than a decade after initial inspections in 1998 and 1999 revealed rip rap, construction and demolition waste at the 40-acre former sand pit located two miles east of Interstate 94 near Route 30 in unincorporated Lynwood.
In addition to the civil penalties, Judge Billik ordered the removal to a permitted landfill of all waste above ground level, monitoring of groundwater at the site and reimbursing IEPA for costs associated with the Agency’s oversight.
Assistant Attorneys General George Theophilos and Stephen Sylvester of Madigan’s Environmental Bureau and Harpreet Khera of the Special Litigation Bureau handled the case.
Source: illinoisattorneygeneral.gov
