County Commissioners of Charle v. Panda-Brandywine, L.P.

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 09-2238 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF CHARLES COUNTY, MARYLAND, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. PANDA-BRANDYWINE, L.P., Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt. Alexander Williams, Jr., District Judge. (8:08-cv-03369-AW) Argued: October 28, 2010 Decided: November 17, 2010 Before SHEDD and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. ARGUED: William James Murphy, MURPHY & SHAFFER, LLC, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Kurt James Fischer, DLA PIPER US LLP, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Robert T. Shaffer, III, Daniel P. Moylan, MURPHY & SHAFFER, LLC, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Roger Lee Fink, County Attorney, COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF CHARLES COUNTY, La Plata, Maryland; Melissa L. Mackiewicz, DLA PIPER US LLP, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM: On November 10, 2008, the County Commissioners of Charles County, Maryland (the County) filed a petition for declaratory judgment in the Circuit Court for Charles County, Maryland. In its petition, the County sought a judicial declaration of the rights of Panda-Brandywine, L.P. (Panda Energy) under a "Treated Effluent Water Purchase Agreement" (the Agreement) entered into by the parties. Energy filed a Following removal to the district court, Panda motion to dismiss the petition for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, which the district court denied. On August 21, 2009, the parties filed cross-motions for summary granted judgment. the County's Following motion a for hearing, summary the district and court denied judgment Panda Energy's cross-motion for summary judgment. noted a timely appeal. Having arguments, district reviewed and court and considered law, the we the are record, Panda Energy briefs, that both oral the the applicable reached persuaded on correct result jurisdictional issue and on the merits. the district court's judgment based Accordingly, we affirm substantially on the reasoning set forth in the district court's careful and thorough opinions. See County Comm'rs of Charles County v. Panda- Brandywine, L.P., No. 8:08-cv-03369-AW (D. Md. May 26, 2009); - 2 - County Comm'rs of Charles County, Md. v. Panda-Brandywine, L.P., 663 F. Supp. 2d 424 (D. Md. 2009). AFFIRMED - 3 -