Goldstein v. Peacemaker Props., LLC
| Decision Date | 15 March 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. 17-0796,17-0796 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | Ben and Diane GOLDSTEIN, husband and wife, Plaintiffs Below, Petitioners v. PEACEMAKER PROPERTIES, LLC, a West Virginia Limited Liability Company, Peacemaker National Training Center, LLC, a West Virginia Limited Liability Company, Defendants Below, Respondents |
Joseph L. Caltrider, Esq., Bowles Rice LLP, Martinsburg, West Virginia, Attorney for Petitioners
Kevin B. Burgess, Esq., Hamilton, Burgess, Young & Pollard, PLLC, Fayetteville, West Virginia, Attorney for Amicus Curiae, National Rifle Association of America
Christopher P. Stroech, Esq., Gregory A. Bailey, Esq., Arnold & Bailey, PLLC, Charles Town, West Virginia, Attorneys for Respondents
Ian T. Masters, Esq., Manypenny Raines Law Office, PLLC, Chester, West Virginia, Attorney for Amicus Curiae, West Virginia Citizens Defense League
Petitioners Ben and Diane Goldstein sued Respondents Peacemaker National Training Center, LLC, and its related entity, Peacemaker Properties, LLC, for nuisance in 2015. The Petitioners own land in Frederick County, Virginia, and they claim that noise from Respondents’ nearby shooting ranges substantially and unreasonably interferes with their use and enjoyment of their rural property.
In 2017, the West Virginia Legislature amended West Virginia Code § 61-6-23 (2014) to bar nuisance claims against a shooting range if the shooting range is in compliance with local noise ordinances. The Legislature specified that that amendment applied retroactively. Based upon that statutory amendment and Berkeley County’s noise ordinance, the circuit court concluded that Petitioners’ nuisance claim was retroactively barred, granted Respondents summary judgment, and dismissed Petitioners’ suit. Petitioners now appeal that order, along with the circuit court’s order denying their petition for attorneys’ fees and costs under West Virginia Rule of Civil Procedure 37 and motion for additional sanctions due to Respondents’ alleged discovery misconduct.
We find that the circuit court correctly applied the 2017 amendment to West Virginia Code § 61-6-23 to dismiss, retroactively, Petitioners’ nuisance claim seeking injunctive relief because Berkeley County’s noise ordinance specifically exempts shooting ranges, such as Respondents’, from complying with its limitations. But, because Petitioners’ plea for money damages accrued prior to the 2017 amendment of § 61-6-23, Petitioners’ right to pursue those damages was vested and the Legislature could not retroactively bar Petitioners from pursuing their nuisance claim for money damages. So, we reverse that part of the circuit court’s order granting summary judgment to Respondents on Petitioners’ nuisance claim for money damages and we remand the matter back to the circuit court for further proceedings. Finally, we find that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion by denying Petitioners’ petition for attorneys’ fees and costs and motion for additional sanctions for litigation misconduct, and we affirm the circuit court’s order denying that petition and motion.1
We present the facts and procedural history of this case in two parts. First, we address the allegations giving rise to Petitioners’ nuisance complaint, Respondents’ motion for summary judgment, and the circuit court’s order granting that motion. Second, we address the parties’ lengthy discovery dispute leading to the circuit court’s denial of Petitioners’ petition for attorneys’ fees and costs (fee petition) and motion for additional sanctions for litigation misconduct.
Petitioners bought property in rural Frederick County, Virginia, in 1976. They designed and built a home on the land, and from 1983 until 2010, Mr. Goldstein commuted from the property to Washington, D.C., for work. Respondent Peacemaker Properties, LLC (Peacemaker Properties) owns a 501-acre parcel of land near Petitioners’ property, straddling the Berkley County, West Virginia, and Frederick County, Virginia, line. In 2011, Peacemaker National Training Center (the Training Center), a large complex of shooting ranges, commenced operations on Peacemaker Properties’ land.2 Peacemaker National Training Center, LLC (Training Center LLC) operates the Training Center.
Petitioners filed a verified, nuisance complaint against Peacemaker Properties and the Training Center (collectively, Respondents) in the Circuit Court of Berkeley County in September 2015. Petitioners alleged that before operations at the Training Center commenced, Respondents’ manager, Cole McCulloch (McCulloch) made representations regarding its hours of operation and the noise that activities at Respondents’ range would generate. Petitioners further alleged that, after commencing operations, shooting at the Training Center frequently occurred outside of its set hours of operation and in excess of the noise levels promised by McCulloch. These conditions, Petitioners alleged, substantially and unreasonably interfered with their use and enjoyment of their nearby property.
For relief, Petitioners sought a temporary and permanent injunction from the circuit court to impose specific hours of operation and maximum noise levels upon Respondents. Should Respondents deviate from those prescriptions, Petitioners further asked that the circuit court require them (1) to implement noise abatement measures on Peacemaker Properties’ land, or (2) in the event those abatement measures were unsuccessful, to compensate Petitioners for the cost of noise abatement measures on their own property "and any other damages permitted by West Virginia law and supported by the evidence." Petitioners also prayed for "such other legal and equitable relief as the [circuit court] shall deem just and proper under the circumstances."
On June 24, 2017, Respondents filed a four-page motion for summary judgment with supporting memorandum of law, in which they argued that amendments to West Virginia Code § 61-6-23 enacted in 2017 retroactively "prohibit[ed] nuisance actions against gun ranges." Specifically, Respondents argued that subsections (e) and (f) of § 61-6-23, enacted in 2017, operated in combination with Berkeley County’s noise ordinance to bar Petitioners’ suit. The circuit court agreed, and, on August 11, 2017, entered an order granting summary judgment to Respondents and dismissing Petitioners’ complaint with prejudice. Petitioners now appeal from that final order.
Petitioners served discovery on Respondents on April 1, 2016, approximately six months after filing their verified complaint. Importantly, in that discovery, Petitioners requested that Respondents produce all documents in their possession or control identifying each person, organization, or entity that had used the ranges at the Training Center for approximately the previous ten years (requests for production 23 and 24). After receiving Respondents’ responses3 and objections, and an unsuccessful "meet and confer," Petitioners filed their First Motion to Compel in July 2016, seeking from Respondents complete responses to numerous interrogatories and requests for production, including requests for production 23 and 24. The circuit court referred Petitioners’ motion to compel to a discovery commissioner, who conducted a lengthy hearing on September 2, 2016.
On September 30, 2016, the discovery commissioner issued a recommended order granting-in-part and denying-in-part Petitioners’ motion to compel. As for requests for production 23 and 24, the recommended order directed Respondents to produce responsive information subject to a protective order. Also in the recommended order, the discovery commissioner concluded that Petitioners had "substantially prevailed" and gave Petitioners leave to petition for attorneys’ fees and expenses pursuant to West Virginia Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(4). Petitioners filed their first fee petition on December 12, 2016.
Respondents filed exceptions and objections to the discovery commissioner’s recommended order on October 14, 2016, arguing that the identity of their patrons was not relevant to Petitioners’ nuisance claim; that their customer list was proprietary and confidential information; and, that "some military groups that use [Respondents’] ranges forbid the disclosure of member information." In November 2016, the circuit court overruled Respondents’ objections, adopted the discovery commissioner’s recommended order, in full, and entered the discovery commissioner’s recommended protective order.
Respondents then moved the circuit court to reconsider and stay its November 2016 order. With regard to requests for production 23 and 24, Respondents again argued that their client information was proprietary and beyond the scope of discovery. They also claimed that disclosure of this information could violate state and federal law pertaining to concealed carry permits and firearm sales and infringe upon those range users’ right to freely associate and to keep and bear arms under the First and Second Amendments to the United States Constitution, respectively. In January 2017, the circuit court denied Respondents’ motion for reconsideration and ordered Respondents to produce the requested information under the previously entered protective order. Respondents made their business records available to the Petitioners on March 22, 23, 29, 31, and April 7, 2017.
On March 15, 2017, the West Virginia Citizens Defense League (CDL), Dominic Applegate (Applegate), and Keith Morgan (Morgan) served a motion to intervene4 in this matter to "prevent the disclosure of information relating to [Respondents’] members and guests[.]" On March 17, 2017, Respondents posted a statement to their website regarding the circuit court’s order granting Petitioners’ motion to compel and identified...
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