Royal v. Campbell County

BY JUDGE J. MICHAEL GAMBLE

I am writing to rule on the pleas in bar of Steams, Conrad, and Schmidt, Consulting Engineers, Inc. (“SCS”) to the third-party and fourth-party complaints of Joyce Engineering, Inc. (“Joyce”). In this regard, I overrule both pleas in bar and grant Joyce’s motion to strike the pleas in bar.

These cases arise from the alleged contamination of groundwater, surface water, and air on the real estate of Claude M. Royal, his wife, and their corporation (“Royals”). This contamination is alleged to have come from a landfill operated by Campbell County, Virginia, since 1979.…