Attorney General's News Release

July 21, 2006

Court orders defendants to pay $20,000 in Nixon lawsuit over infectious waste illegally stored at Columbia house

Columbia, Mo. — Two men associated with businesses that illegally stored and transported infectious waste at a home in Columbia have been ordered to pay civil penalties totaling $20,000. Attorney General Jay Nixon sued Majed El-Dweik of Columbia and Moumen Kuziez of Ballwin, Mo., in 2004 for violating state hazardous waste laws after the Missouri Department of Natural Resources discovered 75 containers of infectious waste at the home on Oakland Gravel Road in late 2002. El-Dweik was one of the owners of the home.

Today in Boone County Circuit Court, Nixon obtained court orders requiring Kuziez to pay $15,000 to the state, and El-Dweik to pay $5,000 to the state. Kuziez was the president of M.W.A. Enterprises LLC, which supplied the trucks for and directed the transportation of the infectious waste. El-Dweik was a sales representative for Medical Waste Management Inc., another company that directed the transportation of the waste.

After discovering the infectious waste illegally stored in the house, the Department of Natural Resources instructed El-Dweik and Kuziez that the waste could only be transported from the residence by an infectious waste transporter with a valid Missouri hazardous waste transporter license. A re-inspection two days later determined that Medical Waste Management and M.W.A. Enterprises had removed the infectious waste from the house and illegally transported it to Arkansas for incineration. None of the defendants held a valid Missouri hazardous waste transporter licenses.

El-Dweik, who pleaded guilty in April 2003 to criminal violation of Missouri hazardous waste laws, has already paid the $5,000 penalty the court ordered against him; Kuziez paid half of his $15,000 penalty today and will pay the remaining amount on a scheduled plan. The court also ordered both defendants to permanently cease all storage or transportation of medical waste in Missouri and to comply with state hazardous waste laws in the future.

Nixon also named the two companies and Medical Waste Management president Wally El-Beck, of Springfield, Ill., as defendants in the lawsuit. The court today entered a default judgment against M.W.A. Enterprises, ordering it to pay $240,000 to the state. Previously, the court entered a default judgment against El-Beck and Medical Waste Management, ordering them each to pay $227,000 to the state.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818