Free Declaration in Support - District Court of California - California

Case 3:08-cv-03267-SI

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Farella Braun & Martel LLP 235 Montgomery Street, 17th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 (415) 954-4400

Douglas R. Young (State Bar No. 073248) [email protected] James H. Colopy (State Bar No. 172806) [email protected] Ruth Ann Castro (State Bar No. 209448) [email protected] Farella Braun + Martel LLP 235 Montgomery Street, 17th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 Telephone: (415) 954-4400 Facsimile: (415) 954-4480 Attorneys for Defendant LEGACY VULCAN CORP., formerly known as VULCAN MATERIALS COMPANY UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION

CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE COMPANY, Plaintiff, vs. THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY; E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY; PPG INDUSTRIES, INC.; VULCAN MATERIALS COMPANY; OCCIDENTAL CHEMICAL CORPORATION; VALERO ENERGY CORPORATION; STAUFFER CHEMICAL COMPANY; BOWEPERMAC, INC., individually and d/b/a BOWE TEXTILE CLEANING, INC.; HOYT CORPORATION; R.R. STREET & CO., INC.; MCGRAW EDISON COMPANY, individually and d/b/a AMERICAN LAUNDRY MACHINERY, INC., AMERICAN LAUNDRY MACHINERY, INC., individually and d/b/a AJAX MANUFACTURING DIVISION AND MARTIN EQUIPMENT, WHITE CONSOLIDATED INDUSTRIES, INC., individually and d/b/a WASHEX MACHINERY DIVISION, ELECTROLUX CORPORATION, LINDUS S.R.L., individually and d/b/a LINDUS WEST, COLUMBIA
DECL. OF RUTH ANN CASTRO ISO OPP. TO PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO ENLARGE TIME Case No. 3:08-cv-03267 SI

Case No. 3:08-cv-03267 SI DECLARATION OF RUTH ANN CASTRO IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANT LEGACY VULCAN CORP.'S OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO ENLARGE TIME FOR RESPONDING TO AND HEARING ON MOTION TO DISMISS PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 12(B)(6) (CIVIL L.R. 3-16 AND F.R.C.P. 7.1)

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Farella Braun & Martel LLP 235 Montgomery Street, 17th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 (415) 954-4400

DRYCLEANING MACHINES, a/k/a COLUMBIA/ILSA MACHINES CORP., REALSTAR, INC., individually and d/b/a REALSTAR USA, UNION DRYCLEANING PRODUCTS USA, FIRBIMATIC, BERGPARMA OF AMERICA, LLC, AMA UNIVERSAL, FLUORMATIC MIDWEST LTD., FORENTA LP, WESTERN MULTITEX CORP., MARVEL MANUFACTURING, RENZACCI OF AMERICA, SAIL STAR USA, VIC MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, M.B.L., INC., GOSSJEWETT CO. OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, MCGREGOR SUPPLY COMPANY, S.B. SUPPLY INC., WASHEX MACHINERY OF CALIFORNIA, INC., WORKROOM SUPPLY, INC., TAYLOR HOUSEMAN, INC., UNITED FABRICARE SUPPLY, INC., ECHCO SALES INC., MW EQUIPMENT, ARTHUR KAJIWARA EQUIPMENT CO., INC., KELLEHER EQUIPMENT SUPPLY, INC., US MACHINERY & ENGINEERING CO., INC., WYATT-BENNETT, CORBETT EQUIPMENT, FULLER SUPPLY COMPANY, SAV-ON MACHINERY COMPANY, INC. and DOES 1 through 750, INCLUSIVE, Defendants.

I, Ruth Ann Castro, declare: 1. I am an attorney licensed to practice law before the courts in the State of

California. I am an associate at the law firm of Farella Braun + Martel, which represents defendant Legacy Vulcan Corp., formerly known as Vulcan Materials Company ("Vulcan"), in the above-referenced action. The matters set forth herein are personally known to me and, if called as a witness, I could and would testify competently thereto. 2. The Motion to Enlarge Time filed by Plaintiff California Water Service Company

seeks to (1) stay the hearing on Vulcan's Motion to Dismiss until after Plaintiff's Motion for Remand is heard and ruled upon, and (2) enlarge the briefing schedule so that the remaining

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briefs (Plaintiff's Opposition and Vulcan's Reply) are not due until after the ruling on Plaintiff's Motion for Remand. 3. On July 18, 2008, I spoke by telephone with Marnie Riddle, counsel for Plaintiff,

regarding Plaintiff's request for a stipulation to continue the hearing on Vulcan's Motion to Dismiss. In support of Plaintiff's request, Ms. Riddle indicated that it "did not make sense" to have Vulcan's Motion to Dismiss heard before Plaintiff's Motion to Remand was decided. In response, I told Ms. Riddle that the legal authority clearly supports dismissal of Plaintiff's Seventh Cause of Action for utility tampering under California Civil Code Section 1882 and that the case properly belonged in federal court for the reasons stated in the Petition for Removal. I also questioned the need for Plaintiff's Opposition to Vulcan's Motion given Plaintiff's counsel's recent stipulation to dismiss Section 1882 claims brought by its client in another case involving similar claims of groundwater contamination. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of a stipulation that I reviewed before my conversation with Ms. Riddle, signed by Plaintiff's counsel, Victor Sher and Todd Robins, in which they stipulated to dismiss Section 1882 claims based on groundwater contamination in several matters coordinated in San Bernardino County. 4. Following that discussion, on July 21 and 23, 2008, Ms. Riddle and I exchanged

e-mails regarding Plaintiff's request for a stipulation and our respective positions regarding the briefing on Vulcan's Motion to Dismiss. Attached hereto as Exhibit B is a true and correct copy of the e-mail correspondence exchanged between Plaintiff's counsel, Marnie Riddle, and me on July 21, 2008 and July 23, 2008 relating to topics addressed in this Motion. 5. In Vulcan's opinion, good cause does not exist here to enlarge the time for briefing

its Motion to Dismiss. Vulcan believes that judicial economy counsels in favor of completing the briefing according to the current schedule, which would allow Vulcan's Motion to Dismiss to be expeditiously heard and ruled upon once the question of federal jurisdiction is resolved ­ to the benefit of all parties. Keeping the current briefing schedule would also not prejudice Plaintiff since Plaintiff will have had almost ten weeks to prepare its Opposition. In addition, Plaintiff's

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counsel has already briefed in similar cases the precise legal issue raised in Vulcan's Motion to Dismiss. I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. Executed this 11th day of August, 2008 at San Francisco, California

/s/ Ruth Ann Castro Ruth Ann Castro

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