CT Supreme Court Sides with Towns in $36 Million Suit against CRRA

Date: May 12, 2009

Source: News Room

The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA) lost another and perhaps its final round in its long-running lawsuit from its 70 member towns as the state's Supreme Court upheld a lower court's award of $35.8 million against the waste agency. The towns sued more than five years ago claiming the quasi-public agency overcharged them to recoup losses from a bad loan made to Enron Corp. A Waterbury judge ruled that the CRRA breached its contract with the local governments and gained "unjust enrichment" by raising its garbage disposal fees. The judge said the higher fees were to cover losses from a failed $220 million loan to Enron, which went bankrupt soon after the deal was made in 2001. In its unanimous decision last week, Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers said the definition of unjust enrichment is easily understood. The original plan involved a CRRA agreement to sell Enron electricity generated at the state agency's Hartford waste-to-energy plant from 2001 to 2012. CRRA advanced $220million to Enron for a 7 percent return, bringing the total deal to more than $280 million. The agency managed to recoup most of the money it lost through legal settlements, but had to borrow $21.5 million to fill the remaining loss gap.

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