CRY, Inc. v. Mill Service, Inc.
| Decision Date | 29 March 1994 |
| Citation | 536 Pa. 462,640 A.2d 372 |
| Parties | CRY, INC., Gary and Diana Steck, David L. and Carol Rupp, Raymond Rupp, Herman and Carol Lee Gardner, John and Eleanor Ondrejko, Antoinette Bazala, Tim Kautz, Carl and Joan Kodrin, Peter and Hattie E. Seaton, Anthony Sr. and Melbry Bolk, Appellees, v. MILL SERVICE, INC., Appellant. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Robert L. Byer, R. Timothy Weston, Richard W. Hosking, Thomas M. Reiter, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, Pittsburgh, for appellant.
Robert P. Ging, Jr., Confluence, Terrence M. Ging, Confluence, for Cry, Inc.
Diana J. Stares, Asst. Counsel, Pittsburgh, Jody Rosenberg, Dennis W. Strain, Asst. Counsel, Dept. of Environmental Resources, Harrisburg, for amicus curiae.
Before LARSEN, FLAHERTY, ZAPPALA, PAPADAKOS, CAPPY and MONTEMURO, JJ.
The issues in this case are whether a citizen lawsuit under certain environmental statutes against an alleged polluter requires the joinder of the Department of Environmental Resources (DER) as an indispensable party, and secondly, whether the action should be heard in the Court of Common Pleas or in Commonwealth Court. For the reasons that follow, we hold that DER must be joined in this action as an indispensable party and that the action is within the original jurisdiction of Commonwealth Court.
On May 22, 1990, the Concerned Residents of Yukon, Inc. (CRY), and sixteen individuals (citizens) who reside in Yukon, an unincorporated village in Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania brought an action against Mill Service, Inc. (Mill Service) in the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County. The complaint alleges that plaintiffs have been and continue to be harmed by Mill Service's operation of its Yukon plant, which treats and stores hazardous waste from steel making and other industries. Plaintiffs alleged that they were authorized to bring their suits pursuant to the Air Pollution Control Act, the Clean Streams Law, and the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act. 1
On May 30, 1990, Mill Service removed the suit to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. On or about June 1, 1990, CRY et al. filed an amended complaint and moved to remand the action to the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County. On July 23, 1990 the federal court remanded this action to the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County. Mill Service filed preliminary objections on or about August 29, 1990, which were addressed by an opinion and order dated September 10, 1991 of the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County. In this opinion and order, the court required CRY et al. to file an amended complaint joining DER as an indispensable party plaintiff. The Second Amended Complaint, filed September 30, 1991, names DER as an involuntary plaintiff. The second amended complaint consists of fourteen counts, including Count I, "Violation of the Hazardous Sites Clean-Up Act," which alleges, inter alia:
61. At all times material hereto, commencing in or before 1980 and continuing to the present, Mill Service has without the benefit of permit or otherwise discharged hazardous wastes to the surface and groundwaters of the Commonwealth, and continues to do so.
62. The hazardous substances released by Mill Service into the environment have had a negative health impact on residents of Yukon and members of the Corporate Plaintiff and individual Plaintiffs, and have caused them serious and substantial bodily injury and personal harm, as well as having seriously and substantially degraded the natural resources upon which they rely, including, inter alia, land, air and water.
63. Members of the Corporate Plaintiff have attempted to pursue the normal administrative rights available to them, by taking appeals to the Environmental Hearing Board from those activities which constitute appealable activities, and otherwise attempting to involve themselves in the process involving the ongoing releases at the Mill Service site, however, these methods of administrative and judicial review have failed to provide any relief or meaningful review to the Plaintiffs, in that Mill Service continues to discharge hazardous waste into the waters of the Commonwealth, and the ambient air.
64. The Department of Environmental Resources has allowed Mill Service to adversely effect [sic] the public health, safety and welfare and the natural resources of the Commonwealth both on a short term and long term basis, by approving and condoning the discharge of hazardous waste into surface and groundwaters of the Commonwealth, and into the air.
* * * * * *
71. The Plaintiffs and members of the Corporate Plaintiff are individuals who have experienced and are threatened with personal injury and property damage as a result of the release of hazardous substances by Mill Service, Inc. into the surface, groundwaters, and air of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Plaintiffs and members of the Corporate Plaintiff have suffered severe and substantial impairments to their health, property damage, damage to their livestock and pets, and have otherwise been injured as a result of the actions of Mill Service, Inc. in violation of this Act.
72. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has failed to halt, cease, or abate the nuisances set forth herein, and accordingly notice of this lawsuit have [sic] been previously and timely served upon the Attorney General, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Mill Service, Inc.
The relief which CRY and individuals seek in this count and in each count of the complaint includes:
a. Enjoining preliminarily and after final hearing Mill Service from disposal or treatment of hazardous wastes at its Yukon facility.
* * * * * *
d. Requiring the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, upon intervention to forebear [sic] in the issuance of any further permits to Mill Service, Inc. including but not limited to permits which would cure violations alleged in this lawsuit, solely for the purposes of affecting [sic] that cure.
e. Appointing a trustee of natural resources for the Mill Service site, until such time as a full and final determination of the effects on the health, safety and welfare of the members of the Yukon community have been decided and determined or requiring the Department to strictly enforce the environmental laws of the Commonwealth.
* * * * * *
h. Appointing a receiver to marshal the assets of Mill Service, Inc., and to assure that said assets are not dissipated in anticipation of the outcome of this litigation, and to conduct the day to day business of Mill Service without further degradation of the environment.
i. Requiring Mill Service to immediately cease discharge of hazardous waste leachate to the groundwaters of the Commonwealth to the surface waters, and into the air.
Amended Complaint (Second) filed by CRY et al. on September 30, 1991.
In ruling on preliminary objections, the trial court held that DER was an indispensable party because some of the relief sought necessarily involves DER. Moreover, without DER, there could be a duplication of the requirement to defend and, more importantly, a confusing and incomplete disposition which would prejudice the defendant. Further, the trial court determined that the action would lie in the court of common pleas because except for the Solid Waste Management Act, the other environmental statutes invoked specifically indicate jurisdiction in the court of common pleas. 2
Commonwealth Court reversed, holding that DER is not an indispensable party and that the action lies in the court of common pleas, 153 Pa.Cmwlth. 13, 619 A.2d 807. According to Commonwealth Court, the test of whether a party is indispensable is "that an indispensable party's rights must be so closely connected to those of the litigants that an order or decree cannot be made without impairing those rights," citing Pennsylvania Dental Association v. Commonwealth, Insurance Department, 126 Pa.Cmwlth. 628, 635, 560 A.2d 870, 873 (1989). The court added:
a Commonwealth agency should not be declared an indispensable party unless meaningful relief cannot conceivably be afforded without the sovereign itself becoming involved. Pennsylvania State Education Association [v. Commonwealth,] ] 101 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. [497,] 501, 516 A.2d [1308,] 1310 [ (1986) ].
Slip Op. Id.
The initial question which arises in this case is the proper test for determining the indispensability of a party.
In Scherbick v. Community College of Allegheny County, 479 Pa. 216, 220, 387 A.2d 1301, 1303 (1978), this court stated:
In Pennsylvania, an indispensable party is one whose rights are so directly connected with and affected by litigation that he must be a party of record to protect such rights, and his absence renders any order or decree of court null and void for want of jurisdiction.
Id., citing Columbia Gas, Etc. v. Diamond Fuel Co., 464 Pa. 377, 346 A.2d 788 (1975). (Emphasis omitted.)
In Action Coalition v. Allegheny County Institution District, 493 Pa. 302, 311, 426 A.2d 560, 564 (1981), this writer, in a plurality opinion, described the traditional indispensable party rule as requiring that "a court should not adjudicate a case if an absentee was so closely related to the matters in dispute that further litigation would probably be required to define the position of the absentee or to protect the defendant." It was suggested that the best way to determine whether an absentee is so closely related is to balance the interests of the plaintiff, the defendant, the absentee and society's interest in the orderly and efficient administration of justice.
Five months after Action Coalition, this court decided Mechanicsburg Area School District v. Kline, 494 Pa. 476, 431 A.2d 953 (1981), holding that an indispensable party consideration involves "at least" the following:
1. Do absent parties have a right or interest related to the claim?
2. If so, what is...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Pa. State Educ. Ass'n v. Commonwealth
...4 A.3d at 1164 (quoting Foreman v. Chester–Upland Sch. Dist., 941 A.2d 108, 113 (Pa.Cmwlth.2008)); see also CRY, Inc. v. Mill Serv., Inc., 536 Pa. 462, 469, 640 A.2d 372, 375 (1994) (stating that “the basic inquiry in determining whether a party is indispensable concerns whether justice can......
-
Com. v. Rice
...by Justice Hutchinson, accepted by only one other Justice, is not binding precedent upon this court. See CRY, Inc. v. Mill Service, Inc., 536 Pa. 462, 640 A.2d 372, 376 n. 3 (1994). Additionally, we specifically rejected reliance upon Holcomb for the argument raised by Appellant in Commonwe......
-
City of Philadelphia v. Com.
...whether a party is indispensable concerns whether justice can be done in the absence of" him or her. CRY, Inc. v. Mill Serv., Inc., 536 Pa. 462, 469, 640 A.2d 372, 375 (1994). In undertaking this inquiry, the nature of the claim and the relief sought must be considered. See id. at 469, 640 ......
-
Philadelphia v. Philadelphia Parking Authority
...whether a party is indispensable concerns whether justice can be done in the absence of a third party...." CRY, Inc. v. Mill Service, Inc., 536 Pa. 462, 640 A.2d 372, 375 (1994). The determination of indispensability involves "at least" the following considerations: 1. Do absent parties hav......