The City Of East Liverpool v. Buckeye Water District

2010 WL 2676900 (2010)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D entered into the 30-year Agreement in 1995, agreeing to purchase a minimum of 235,000 gallons of water per day from P. D failed to pay the amount required under the Agreement starting in 2004, and eventually notified P that they were repudiating the Agreement due to various alleged breaches by P. P filed a breach of contract complaint in 2005. D claimed that P did not provide the proper quantity and pressure of water called for in the contract and failed to provide safe potable drinking water, particularly water that was free from trihalomethanes (THMs). THMs are a byproduct of the chlorination process, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) limits the amount of THMs that may occur in drinking water. Ds claimed that their water was contaminated with THMs. D asserted that P had been cited 13 times by the OEPA and that these citations constituted a breach of the contract. The court held that receipt of the citations did not amount to a breach of the Agreement as they were for a failure to monitor and not any actual violation. The court determined that P maintained sufficient volume and pressure over the course of the Agreement. The court awarded $1,480,963.91 in damages for the period from August 2004, to December of 2007. It awarded $8,233,082.46 for future damages starting from January of 2008 and continuing for the remaining 18 years of the contract based on the contract price of $5.64 per 1000 gallons, and further based on the minimum contractual amount of 235,000 gallons per day. The total award was $9,714,046.37. Ds appealed in part that the award should have been reduced to prevent value.