{"id":433201,"date":"2026-08-14T22:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T22:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/433201\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T22:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T22:44:15","slug":"san-jose-settles-lawsuit-with-duong-family-waste-company-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/433201\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jos\u00e9 Settles Lawsuit With Duong Family Waste Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Jos\u00e9 and its main recycling contractor, California Waste Solutions, are settling a yearslong lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Aug 14, 2026<\/p>\n

Updated 2:45 pm PT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A California Waste Solutions worker empties recycling bins in the Rockridge neighborhood on April 22, 2020, in Oakland, California. The city and the company are both paying for their own legal costs.\u00a0\u00a0(Yalonda M. James\/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

San Jos\u00e9 will spend about $3.3 million to settle a yearslong lawsuit with California Waste Solutions, the city\u2019s main recycling contractor, whose owners David and Andy Duong<\/a> are charged with bribery and conspiracy in a corruption scheme<\/a> centered in Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The payout will end the lengthy litigation, and is primarily going toward startup costs for CWS, and another small recycling contractor, to begin a curbside battery collection service for single-family homes in the city, according to city memos and contract documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

San Jos\u00e9 will also be on the hook for the ongoing costs of battery collection services through the two contractors for a minimum of five years and potentially as long as a decade as a part of the settlement agreement, the documents said, but an estimate of what the total spend would amount to wasn\u2019t immediately available. The city and the company are both paying for their own legal costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Flags at City Hall in San Jos\u00e9, California, on Aug. 1, 2023.<\/p>\n

The San Jos\u00e9 City Council unanimously approved the settlement agreement in late June. Councilmember Peter Ortiz was absent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCWS is extremely pleased to have achieved a fair settlement with the City of San Jos\u00e9 that will benefit the city\u2019s residents,\u201d Douglas Straus, an attorney for the company, told KQED in a text message. \u201cCWS looks forward to providing recycling services in San Jos\u00e9 for many years to come in a positive, collaborative relationship with the city, its staff and its residents.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Susana Alcala Wood, the city attorney for San Jos\u00e9, did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the settlement Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Then-Oakland mayor Sheng Thao fields questions from press at the election watch and recall party at Fluid510 in Oakland on election night, Nov. 5, 2024.<\/p>\n

San Jos\u00e9 signed a 15-year contract extension with the company in July 2021 that runs through June 2036. The lawsuit\u2019s allegations only applied to CWS\u2019s previous contract with the city, which began in 2010, city reports said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A judge granted the city\u2019s request to throw out the discrimination and unequal treatment allegations in the case due to an expired statute of limitations in late 2025. Following that order, the litigation, including pretrial motions and hearings, as well as settlement discussions, continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About a year and half after the San Jos\u00e9 lawsuit was filed, the powerful, politically connected Duong family was swept up<\/a> in the beginnings of what would become a sprawling FBI corruption probe centering on then-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Oakland waterfront offices CWS occupied were raided by the FBI, along with the homes of CEO David Duong and his son, Andy, in June 2024. Federal authorities alleged a \u201cpay-to-play\u201d corruption scheme involving Thao, her romantic partner Andre Jones and the Duongs, who were all charged with multiple counts of bribery and conspiracy in January 2025. They have all pleaded not guilty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andy Duong also faces an additional charge of making a false statement to a government agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked if the attention on the federal criminal case in Oakland involving David and Andy Duong affected the company\u2019s lawsuit and settlement negotiations in San Jos\u00e9, Straus, the attorney for CWS, said no.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, they are completely unrelated,\u201d he said. Straus and the firm he works for, Buchalter, are not representing the Duongs in the criminal case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A California Waste Solutions manager at a plant in San Jos\u00e9.<\/p>\n

The city said CWS provides recycling services to about 75% of the city\u2019s single-family homes, while the remaining portion is handled by Waste Connections of California, Inc., known as GreenTeam of San Jos\u00e9 in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under the settlement terms, San Jos\u00e9 will pay $1 million to CWS and $250,000 to GreenTeam for their respective startup costs for the battery collection program. The city will also spend $750,000 for program outreach to residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city will pay the two contractors 82 cents per household per month for the battery collection services, the city reports said. In the first year, San Jos\u00e9 estimated the costs of collection services to be about $1.29 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOngoing costs will be evaluated after the first full year of program implementation,\u201d city reports said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike neighboring cities, San Jos\u00e9 does not currently offer battery collection through its residential garbage and recycling program, and the addition of this service provides a convenient way for residents to safely dispose of used batteries,\u201d city reports said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jos\u00e9 and its main recycling contractor, California Waste Solutions, are settling a yearslong lawsuit. Aug 14, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-433201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}