Opinion ID: 1436710
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the sierra club's suit

Text: In 1990, the Sierra Club instituted this action in the Superior Court. The Sierra Club alleged that the District had failed in several respects to comply with the DCRL, and prayed for injunctive relief. The District filed a motion to dismiss the complaint or, in the alternative, for summary judgment, contending that the Sierra Club lacked standing to sue [2] and that the injunction sought by the Sierra Club would intrude upon a core executive function in violation of the principle of separation of powers. On September 30, 1992, Judge Stephen S. Eilperin denied the District's motion. On November 10, 1992, the judge, concluding, inter alia, that the DCRL contemplated curbside collection, issued a preliminary injunction. That injunction provided, in pertinent part, that [t]he District shall provide curbside collection of newspapers, metals, glass and yard waste ... to all occupants of residential property in the District of Columbia by January 1, 1993, and shall provide for the recycling of such materials. The District did not appeal from the preliminary injunction. In early April 1995, the Department of Public Works (DPW) announced that, in light of the District's financial crisis, it would be necessary to suspend temporarily the curbside recycling program. On April 28, 1995, the contracts of thirty-six DPW employees assigned to the recycling program were allowed to expire. In lieu of that program, the DPW identified for District residents certain centralized collection points at which they could deposit their recyclables. On April 26, 1995, the Sierra Club filed a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting the suspension of the curbside recycling program. Two days later, Judge Bruce Beaudin issued a TRO requiring the District to continue operation of that program. Subsequently, in a series of orders entered in May 1995, Judge Susan R. Winfield granted the Sierra Club's application for a preliminary injunction and ordered that the program be maintained in effect. These appeals followed.