United States Ninth Circuit

In an action under the Clean Water Act, as long as a notice letter is reasonably specific as to the nature and time of the alleged violations, a citizen plaintiff has fulfilled the notice requirement under the Act. A plaintiff can still pursue civil penalties against a defendant under the Act even though the defendant no longer owns and operates the source of pollution.

Appellate Information

• Argued 04/11/2002
• Decided 11/01/2002
• Published 11/01/2002

Judges

• Before:  GOODWIN, Senior Circuit Judge, and THOMAS and W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Robert S. Perlmutter, Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger, San Francisco, CA;  H. Sinclair Kerr, Jr., Timothy J. Fox, Kerr & Wagstaffe LLP, San Francisco, CA;  Leo P. O'Brien, Waterkeepers Northern California, San Francisco, CA, for the appellant., Michael Axline, Western Environmental Law Center, Eugene, OR, for the amicus.


• For Appellees:
  
• John J. Lyons, James L. Arnone, Evelyn Heidelberg, Latham and Watkins, Los Angeles, CA;  Sandi L. Nichols, Lawrence S. Bazel, Christopher J. Carr, Stoel Rives, LLP, San Francisco, CA, for the appellees.