CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced on Monday that two individuals and their companies were ordered by a court to pay $1.8 million for allegedly dumping construction debris illegally.

John Einoder and Janice Einoder and their companies, J.T. Einoder Inc. and Tri-State Industries Inc., allegedly dumped construction debris at a site near Lynwood, Ill., without the proper permits.

Under terms of the court order, the Einoders are required to pay a total of $550,000 in civil penalties, while Tri-State must pay $750,000 and J.T. Einoder must pay $500,000.

"The ruling is a welcome rebuke of the Einoders' prolonged disregard for the law on open dumping," Madigan said. "Justice was a long time coming in this case, but the people of this area now no longer will contend with a growing mountain of construction debris and waste in their community."

A judge ruled in June 2009 that all of the defendants were liable for dumping construction and demolition waste at a property adjacent to land owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

The case has been ongoing for more than a decade. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency first learned of the alleged illegal dumping in 1998 when inspections of the 40 acre former sand pit located two miles east of Interstate 94 near Route 30 were completed.

Both businesses were named in an original seven-count lawsuit. The Einoders were later added as defendants.

The defendants are also responsible for removing a permitted landfill of all waste above ground level and must monitor the site's groundwater and reimburse the IEPA for all costs associated with the oversight.