Supreme Court picks up trash lawsuit

Published: March 2, 2011

By Anna Vitale

Missouri Lawyers Media

The Missouri Supreme Court pulled one St. Louis County trash lawsuit off the curb yesterday when it agreed to hear the case. The suit, which was dismissed by the trial court, stems from a 2006 ordinance that segmented 100,000 homes in unincorporated St. Louis County into eight trash districts.

It was recently learned that the Missouri Supreme Court has agreed to hear the class-action lawsuit brought by three St. Louis County residents (Mike Weber, Paul Marquis, and Cathy Armbruster) against St. Louis County and the three trash haulers (Allied, IESI, and Veolia) who won the county’s eight trash district contracts.  Veolia has since exited the St. Louis market as of the fall of 2010, but is still named as a defendant.

The Missouri Supreme Court ordered the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District to forward a complete transcript of the record and proceedings of that court to the state’s highest court by no later than March 31.  According to reputable sources, the case will most likely be heard by the Supreme Court sometime this summer.  The fact that the subject case has been elevated to the Missouri Supreme Court may be indicative that the issue of trash in St. Louis County may be coming to a head and that a decision by the state’s highest court will decide the fate of the county’s controversial trash districting program.  The major premise of this case is that the plaintiffs and proposed class were illegally and misleadingly required to pay trash fees to St. Louis County and the lawsuit seeks to have all fees paid to the county for trash removal returned to the residents and citizens who were illegally required to pay them pursuant to the county’s illegal and void trash district ordinances.  And, the action further contends that the charges are illegal as are the St. Louis County trash district ordinances.