Waste Industries files suit to stop alleged dealings in Gwinnett

By Patrick Fox

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Waste Industries has launched a preemptive strike over speculation that Gwinnett County intends to draw up a new solid waste plan behind closed doors.

The company, one of 10 licensed garbage haulers in Gwinnett County, has filed suit in U.S. District Court claiming county officials are on the verge of implementing an "illegal and unconstitutional solid waste hauling program." The suit claims the county's new solid waste ordinance will settle pending litigation with haulers by granting them exclusive franchises.

Rumors of a new waste ordinance surfaced a month ago, just weeks after the county entered into negotiations with five haulers who had filed suit over its failed 2008 solid waste program.

Southern Sanitation and Sanitation Solutions sued the county late that year after the private agency administering the solid waste plan awarded exclusive franchises to two large haulers to service all unincorporated residents. Gwinnett Superior Court Judge Michael Clark enjoined the county from implementing the plan, ruling it had unlawfully awarded governmental power to the private, nonprofit agency. He also questioned the method by which the two successful haulers were chosen.

Since then, a third company, Robertson Sanitation, has joined that suit.

In addition, the two companies assigned franchises under the outlawed plan, Advanced Disposal and Waste Pro,  filed suit seeking $40 million each in damages.

All five haulers involved in litigation met with county officials in November to hammer out a settlement, but no accord has been announced.

At the county commission's last meeting on Dec. 15, attorney Kellam Warren, representing Waste Industries, told officials he had heard of a plan to settle the pending suits at the expense of fair play.

In its suit, filed Dec. 30 in Atlanta, Waste Industries said it has "learned that the county commissioners" plan to approve a settlement of the 2008 suit by granting exclusive solid waste hauling rights to one or more of the litigants.

When asked for specifics about the county's dealings, attorney James J. Thomas II, who filed the suit on behalf of Waste Industries, would not comment.

Waste Industries, based in Raleigh, N.C., services about 26,000 residents in unincorporated Gwinnett.

In a statement issued late Monday, Joe Sorrenson, Gwinnett County communications director, said the county is aware of the lawsuit, and it is currently under review.