Dive summary:
- The Ratto Group of Companies, Inc. was ordered to pay a $3.5 million settlement to Waste Connections including $1 million in attorney’s fees and costs.
- The case stems from a breach in contract in 2010 where the Ratto Group of Companies agreed to include Waste Connections Potrero Hills landfill as the exclusive disposal site then later submitted a bid to transport waste to a competing landfill.
- Jack Hursh, Waste Connections’ attorney said that long term contracts are extremely important to run a waste management business which is why it was so important to make sure the contract was enforced.
From the press release:
The arbitrator, the Hon. Fern Smith (ret'd) of JAMS issued the Final Award in August and the San Francisco Superior Court confirmed it in October 2012. The case stems from an arbitration demand for breach of contract Waste Connections filed against The Ratto Group of Companies, Inc. in July 2010. The two companies entered a long-term Solid Waste Disposal Agreement in May 2009 pursuant to which The Ratto Group agreed to include Waste Connections' Potrero Hills Landfill as the exclusive disposal site in any bid it submitted to Sonoma County. The Ratto Group violated the exclusive disposal obligations when it submitted a bid to transport the County's waste to a competing landfill operator. ...