Industry Warns High Court Over Allowing Judges To Set Strict RCRA Fines

摘要

A natural gas distribution company is urging the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that allowed a judge, rather than a jury, to impose enhanced criminal fines for a waste law violation, warning the justices that allowing the ruling to stand would undermine defendants in a host of environmental enforcement actions. "Defense counsel would be left without even the most basic leverage of insisting to the prosecutor that he or she must prove a particular fact or point to the jury,"according to Southern Union Company's Jan. 12 opening brief.