Belmont Learning Complex-LAUSD Contractor Threatens Lawsuit.LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 1999-- "Mullinax can't read a map," charges one of the environmental contractors at the controversial Belmont Learning Complex who has threatened legal action against the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. (LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) ) for alleged inaccuracies and false statements in the highly publicized Mullinax Report. El Capitan El Cap·i·tan A peak, 2,308.5 m (7,569 ft) high, in the Sierra Nevada of central California. Its dramatic exposed monolith rises some 1,098 m (3,600 ft) above the floor of the Yosemite Valley. Environmental Services The various combinations of scientific, technical, and advisory activities (including modification processes, i.e., the influence of manmade and natural factors) required to acquire, produce, and supply information on the past, present, and future states of space, atmospheric, Inc., an environmental contractor specializing in the removal of underground storage tanks, was hired by LAUSD in 1997 to remove two underground storage tanks discovered during the grading of the Belmont Learning Complex. Contrary to the findings in the Mullinax Report, El Capitan asserts that the Mullinax Report is wrong when it concludes that the storage tanks were part of two former business operations. Instead, El Capitan maintains that the storage tanks were simply home heating fuel tanks associated with former residential uses. The Mullinax Report charges that El Capitan breached its duty to LAUSD by not properly analyzing the impacted soils beneath the two underground storage tanks. According to the Mullinax Report, the storage tanks may have contained hazardous waste Hazardous waste Any solid, liquid, or gaseous waste materials that, if improperly managed or disposed of, may pose substantial hazards to human health and the environment. Every industrial country in the world has had problems with managing hazardous wastes. such as paint thinners and solvents. El Capitan produced a laboratory analysis report from LAUSD itself which, according to El Capitan, disproves these charges. The laboratory report concludes that the substance in the storage tanks was in fact diesel oil. The laboratory report also confirms that the chemicals which Mullinax feared might have been present were not actually present. The Mullinax Report claims that the storage tanks were located at the site of two former businesses. El Capitan has produced a diagram which the company claims shows that the storage tanks were located on two residential properties, more than 200 feet north of the businesses. Contrary to the Mullinax Report's allegations, the two businesses could not possibly have disposed of their wastes into the two tanks, according to Al Maurad, El Capitan's Project Director. "I am outraged that the Mullinax Report published such grave errors, severely damaging El Capitan's reputation, without checking the basic facts," stated Maurad. "Apparently, Mullinax can't read a map." According to El Capitan, the Mullinax Report acknowledges that the company removed the tanks and the impacted soils under the supervision, and with the approval, of the appropriate regulatory agency regulatory agency Independent government commission charged by the legislature with setting and enforcing standards for specific industries in the private sector. The concept was invented by the U.S. , the Los Angeles City Fire Department. El Capitan has demanded that LAUSD immediately publish a retraction In the law of Defamation, a formal recanting of the libelous or slanderous material. Retraction is not a defense to defamation, but under certain circumstances, it is admissible in Mitigation of Damages. Cross-references Libel and Slander. of the Report's alleged inaccuracies and issue a formal apology. If LAUSD fails to do so, El Capitan has threatened to file a lawsuit. For more information, contact Jeffrey Z.B. Springer, Esq., or Michael A. Francis, Esq., of Demetriou, Del Guercio, Springer & Moyer LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol , counsel for El Capitan, at 213/624-8407. |
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