INDIANAPOLIS — The seemingly endless legal battle over a piece of property in rural Richland Township found an audience in Indianapolis on Tuesday.

Attorneys representing J.M. Corp. and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) testified before Judge Michael D. Keele in Marion Superior Court’s Environmental Division. At issue is whether a judge with the Office of Environmental Adjudication (OEA) acted appropriately in allowing the permit process to continue for the proposed Mallard Lake landfill.

The parties have 30 days to submit findings of fact and conclusions of law; Keele is expected to make a ruling 30 days later.

“I have not been asked to decide whether a landfill is appropriate, only to determine whether the environmental law judge erred in the permit process,” Keele said. “I have all the information I need to make a decision. The ball, you might say, is in my court.”

IDEM claims that environmental law judge Mary Davidsen acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in October 2004 when she ruled that J.M. Corp. could continue the permit process even after its five-year deadline to obtain a permit had expired.

To further complicate matters, Consolidated Waste Industries (CWI) had stepped forward as a potential buyer of the property and requested a permit extension from IDEM. Deputy Attorney General Valerie Tachtiris, representing IDEM, argued Tuesday that CWI could not act on behalf of J.M. Corp.

“IDEM is arguing that CWI was not the authorized representative of the J.M. Corporation,” said Staci Schneider, press secretary for the Indiana Office of the Attorney General.

“Since they had acted as authorized representatives from the IDEM perspective, their actions could not be considered in determining whether J.M. Corp.’s request for additional time was timely or whether J.M. Corp. had made a good-faith effort. IDEM, then, is asking the court to overturn the environmental adjudication decision.”

J.M. Corp. attorney John M. Ketcham, of Indianapolis-based Plews, Shadley, Racher and Braun, argued that years of legal wrangling have done a grave disservice to J.M. Corp.

“The OEA ruled that J.M. Corp. should have additional time to submit additional information. We’re asking that IDEM treat the applicant fairly as it would anyone else,” said Ketcham, noting that J.M. Corp.’s request reached IDEM one day late on Aug. 6.

“We found it somewhat unusual that a request for an extension was denied because it was one day late when IDEM has requests that have been lying around for four years.”

In 1978, J.M. Corp. announced plans to create a landfill in northern Madison County. A year later, the company purchased a 154-acre farm at the corner of County Road 300 East and County Road 300 North in Richland Township.

But the project has been mired in controversy and legal opposition for parts of four decades. J.M. Corp. has encountered opposition from governmental entities and from an activist group formed in 1979 called the Killbuck Concerned Citizens Association (KCCA).

“We feel really good about it, we’re going to get our permit back,” said J.M. Corp. founder Ralph Reed of Tuesday’s proceedings. “I’m surprised the remonstrators even showed up. This is a case where we’re right.”

Tuesday’s oral arguments were originally scheduled for April 13, but negotiations between J.M. Corp. and IDEM put the proceedings on hold. When those negotiations fell through, the matter reverted back to Marion Superior Court.

“Four courts now have found that IDEM unreasonably and irreparably harmed J.M. Corp. This is something that has gone on for more than 25 years, and we hope to bring it to a close,” Ketcham said.

In December 2004, Reed filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, claiming $975 in assets. Reed owns 34 percent of J.M. Corp.

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