Rutter v. Carroll's Foods of Midwest, Inc.
| Decision Date | 10 June 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. C98-4099-MWB.,C98-4099-MWB. |
| Citation | 50 F.Supp.2d 876 |
| Parties | Dwight and Beverly RUTTER, Henry and Mary Ellen Sonius, Bob and Karla Eberly, Gary Kane, Travis and Heather Rutter, Albert Johnson, Thomas and Suzanne Herrick, Sid and Marge Roskens, and Paul and Lois Benson, Plaintiffs, v. CARROLL'S FOODS OF THE MIDWEST, INC., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. BACKGROUND .................................................... 877
II. LEGAL ANALYSIS ................................................ 878
A. Subject Matter Jurisdiction ................................ 878
1. Statutory requirements and exceptions .................. 878
2. Application to the Property Owners ..................... 880
3. Is the mediation release "jurisdictional"? ............. 881
B. Failure To State A Claim ................................... 883
1. Applicable standards ................................... 883
2. Are the claims cognizable under Iowa law? .............. 884
3. Are the claims adequately pleaded? ..................... 886
C. More Definite Statement .................................... 886
III. CONCLUSION .................................................... 887
Novel claims and issues of statutory interpretation are presented in this dispute over whether a swine nursery and confinement facility in northwestern Iowa threatens an alluvial aquifer and the plaintiff property owners' use and enjoyment of adjacent land. The defendant company has moved to dismiss on a variety of grounds, including failure of some of the plaintiffs to pursue statutorily required mediation of their claims before filing suit; failure of the property owners to plead claims of "anticipatory nuisance" and "anticipatory trespass" upon which relief can be granted; and failure to plead such claims with sufficient definiteness.
The plaintiffs — referred to herein as the "Property Owners," because all assert standing on the basis of ownership of property in Clay County, Iowa, in proximity to the defendant's property — filed this action on October 29, 1998, in Iowa District Court for Clay County against defendant Carroll's Foods of the Midwest, Inc. (CFM), a North Carolina corporation. All live within approximately two miles of a swine nursery and confinement facility that CFM is establishing. The Property Owners contend, inter alia, that CFM's swine facility will be located above a vulnerable alluvial aquifer that will be irremediably damaged by waste from the swine facility. They have therefore asserted claims in this action denominated "anticipatory nuisance" and "anticipatory trespass," on which they seek primarily injunctive relief to bar the swine facility from contaminating the aquifer and otherwise damaging surrounding property or the use and enjoyment of that property. The Property Owners also seek damages, costs, and fees associated with the action. CFM removed this action to federal court on November 25, 1998, on the basis of diversity of citizenship.
Just before removing the action, however, on November 23, 1998, CFM filed in the state court a "Combined Motion To Dismiss Pursuant To Iowa Rule Of Civil Procedure 88 For Lack Of Jurisdiction Over The Subject Matter For Certain Claims, For Failure To State A Claim Upon Which Relief Can Be Granted And For More Definite Statement Pursuant To Rule 102." The Property Owners resisted the motion to dismiss in this court on December 10, 1998, and CFM filed a reply on December 23, 1998. The Property Owners subsequently filed an "addendum" to their resistance on March 16, 1999. No party has requested oral arguments on the motion, and the court deems the matter fully submitted and ripe for consideration upon the written submissions.
CFM's first challenge to the complaint is lack of subject matter jurisdiction over the claims of most, but not all, of the Property Owners. CFM asserts that, pursuant to IOWA CODE §§ 657.10 and 654B.3, the Property Owners must attempt mediation of the present dispute, and more importantly obtain a mediation release, as prerequisites to suit, but that only two of the Property Owners, Dwight and Beverly Rutter, have obtained such a mediation release. The Mediation Release of Dwight and Beverly Rutter is attached to the complaint. Therefore, CFM contends that the claims of the remaining Property Owners must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The Property Owners counter that compliance with the mediation requirements of the statutes cited by CFM should be excused, because they meet statutory exceptions to the mediation requirements, specifically, because of an unreasonable delay arising from compliance with mediation requirements and because their action could and perhaps should be brought as a class action. CFM argues in reply that the Property Owners did not seek or obtain judicial determination that they fit the statutory exceptions prior to filing suit, and CFM expresses doubt that this court has original or diversity jurisdiction to make that determination. Even if it is proper for this court to make the determination of whether a statutory exception to mediation applies, CFM contends the exceptions simply aren't available here. In their "addendum" to their resistance, the Property Owners add a contention that CFM has waived compliance with the statutory mediation requirements.
"Iowa Code sections 657.10 and 654B require a party to obtain a mediation release prior to initiating a civil proceeding claiming a nuisance against an entity that is covered by the statutes." Arends v. Iowa Select Farms, L.P., 556 N.W.2d 812, 814 (Iowa 1996). The Iowa legislature has established statutory procedures for resolution of disputes involving "farm residents," such as the Property Owners, and any "other person," such as CFM, in IOWA CODE CH. 654B.2 "Dispute" is defined for the purposes of this code chapter to mean the following:
[A] controversy between a person who is a farm resident and another person, which arises from a claim eligible to be resolved in a civil proceeding in law or equity, if the claim relates to either of the following:
a. The performance of either person under a care and feeding contract, if both parties are parties to the contract.
b. An action of one person which is alleged to be a nuisance interfering with the enjoyment of the other person.
IOWA CODE § 654B.1(2). The court finds that the present dispute between the Property Owners and CFM appears to fall within subsection (b), because it is "a controversy between a person who is a farm resident [the Property Owners] and another person [CFM], which arises from a claim eligible to be resolved in a civil proceeding in law or equity [that] relates to ... [an] action of one person [CFM] which is alleged to be a nuisance interfering with the enjoyment of the other person [the Property Owners]." No party has argued that Chapter 654B is inapplicable.
Chapter 654B imposes certain mandatory mediation requirements as a prerequisite to suit to resolve "disputes" within the meaning of the chapter. Specifically, IOWA CODE § 654B.3 provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
1. A person who is a farm resident, or other party, desiring to initiate a civil proceeding to resolve a dispute, shall file a request for mediation with the farm mediation service. The person shall not begin the proceeding until the person receives a mediation release, or until the court determines after notice and hearing that one of the following applies:
a. The time delay required for the mediation would cause the person to suffer irreparable harm.
b. The dispute involves a claim which has been brought as a class action.
IOWA CODE § 654B.3(1). Thus, the statute requires a plaintiff "desiring to initiate a civil proceeding to resolve a dispute" within the scope of chapter 654B to take certain steps before bringing suit: (1) the plaintiff must "file a request for mediation," and (2) the plaintiff cannot file the action itself until either (a) the plaintiff obtains a mediation release, or (b) a court determines, "after notice and hearing," that the dispute falls within one of the two statutory exceptions to the mediation requirement. Cf. Arends, 556 N.W.2d at 814 ( ).
Similarly, IOWA CODE CH. 657 "defines nuisance and provides for civil remedies." Bormann v. Bd. of Supervisors for Kossuth County, 584 N.W.2d 309, 314 (Iowa 1998), cert. denied sub nom. Girres v. Bormann, ___ U.S. ___, 119 S.Ct. 1096, 143 L.Ed.2d 96 (1999). Section 657.1 defines a nuisance as "[w]hatever is injurious to health, indecent, or unreasonably offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as essentially to unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property." IOWA CODE § 657.1; see also § 657.2 (identifying specific nuisances). Furthermore, this statute provides that "a civil action by ordinary proceedings may be brought to enjoin and abate the [nuisance] and to recover damages sustained on account thereof." IOWA CODE § 657.1 Again, however, there is a prerequisite of mediation before such a suit may be brought if the dispute is also subject to IOWA CODE CH. 654B:
Notwithstanding this chapter, a person, required under chapter 654B to participate in mediation, shall not begin a proceeding subject to this chapter until the person receives a mediation release under section 654B.8, or until ...
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