Waste Facility Company Files Lawsuit

A Connecticut company that disposes of construction and demolition debris is suing Warren Recycling, Warren, Ohio, for $1.6 million, claiming breach of contract.

The federal lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court claims Warren Recycling did not return the company's rail cars in a timely fashion and also accepted construction debris from a competitor.

Waste Conversion Technologies of Milford, Conn., filed the suit in U.S. Northern District Court Friday, asking for compensatory damages of $600,000 and punitive damages of $1 million. The case has been assigned to Magistrate George Limbert in Youngstown.

Anthony Dicenso III, a spokesman for Warren Recycling, said the reason the lawsuit is being filed is because Warren Recycling refused to accept any more loads from Waste Conversion because Waste Conversion has not paid their bills.

''That company owes us thousands and thousands of dollars,'' Dicenso said. ''They were the ones that breached the contract. The bottom line is they will be defeated in court. It's frivolous, it's ludicrous, and they're only doing it to get out of paying their bill.''

According to the suit, Waste Conversion entered into a contract with Warren Recycling in 1999 to unload its railroad cars - with up to 100 tons of construction debris per car - within 72 hours. The suit said this is important because Waste Conversion is limited by a permit as to the amount of waste it can keep at its facility, so it needs a constant flow of loaded cars leaving their facility so they wont violate their permit.

Also, the agreement stipulated that Warren Recycling could not accept any construction debris from facilities within 50 miles of Waste Conversion, according to the suit.

The suit states that beginning this March, Warren Recycling has failed to unload the rail cars within the required time, which causes a backlog of debris at the Waste Conversion facility. The suit also alleges that Warren Recycling began accepting debris from a facility in Portland, Conn., which is inside the 50-mile radius in the competitor clause of the contract. That also coincided with the failure to unload the rail cars, according to the suit.