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REPORTED

IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 1717 SEPTEMBER TERM, 1999 _________________________________ __

NATIONAL WASTE MANAGERS, INC.

v.

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY , MARYLAND

_________________________________ __

Murphy, C.J. Hollander, Kenney, JJ. _________________________________ __

Opinion by Hollander, J. _________________________________ __

Filed: December 6, 2000

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The

protracted

history1

of

this

case

arises

from

the

tireless efforts of National Waste Managers, Inc. ("National"), appellant, to establish and operate a rubble landfill in Odenton (the "Landfill"), and the equally persistent opposition of Anne Arundel County (the "County"), appellee, to that project.2 County's effort opposition to acquire to the the Landfill has impeded from the The

National's Maryland

requisite

permit

Department of the Environment ("MDE"). endless numerous dispute legal concerning battles in the

Moreover, the seemingly Landfill of has this spawned State,

proposed

various

courts

including many appellate proceedings. The requests provision. current for appeal concerns relief the and an denial of National's purging

injunctive

appropriate

National sought to require the County to take the

necessary steps to enable MDE to process National's request for a State rubble it may landfill legally permit, operate which the National must In procure

before

Landfill.

addition,

following a remand from this Court in connection with an earlier appeal, National asked the trial court to set an appropriate

Our opinion in this appeal was originally filed as an unreported decision. We have published it pursuant to the County's request. National, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Halle Companies ("Halle"), was formerly known as Chesapeake Terrace, Inc. ("Chesapeake"). We shall refer to Halle, Chesapeake, and National collectively as "National."
2

1

purge provision with respect to the trial court's finding of contempt by the County. These requests resulted in two orders

issued by the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, both dated September 10, 1999. In one, the trial court declined to

establish a purge provision, reasoning that it was "unnecessary" because appellant's special exception expired by operation of law on August 17, 1997. In the other, the court denied

National's related requests for injunctive relief. National dismiss. noted this appeal,3 which the County

Thereafter, moved to

has

Appellant presents four rather lengthy questions for our review: I. Did the trial court (Lerner, J.) err in denying injunctive relief on the ground that a modification to purging provisions to a contempt order had modified the underlying judgments that Anne Arundel County violated State law by deleting all reference to Chesapeake Terrace from its SWMP, where the original judgments had become law of the case by their affirmance by this Court and the denial of a writ of certiorari by the Court of Appeals, and where this Court specifically rejected the argument raised in the County's prior appeal, holding that the underlying writ and order had not been modified? Did the trial court improperly deny injunctive relief on the ground that [National] failed to

II.

Maryland Code (1998 Repl. Vol., 1999 Supp.),

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