Splendorio v. Bilray Demolition Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 12 September 1996
• Docket Number: No. 94-696-A,94-696-A
• Citation: 682 A.2d 461
• Parties: Frances M. SPLENDORIO, et al. v. BILRAY DEMOLITION CO., INC. et al. ppeal.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 461

682 A.2d 461

Frances M. SPLENDORIO, et al. v. BILRAY DEMOLITION CO., INC. et al.

No. 94-696-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Sept. 12, 1996.

John Marks, Wakefield, for Plaintiff.

Steven M. Richards, Anchorage, AK, Kristin Rodgers Sullivan, Peter J. McGinn, Providence, RI, for Defendant.

Before WEISBERGER, C.J., and MURRAY, LEDERBERG, BOURCIER and FLANDERS, JJ.

OPINION

BOURCIER, Justice.

This case comes before us on appeal after summary judgment and entry of final judgment in favor of Certified Engineering and Testing Co., Inc. (Certified), one of three named defendants in a pending Superior Court civil action for damages. Plaintiffs' claims against the remaining defendants are pending trial in the Superior Court.

I Facts and Travel

On September 2, 1988, Certified entered into a contract with the Providence Housing Authority (PHA) whereby Certified was required to inspect for the presence of asbestos in three buildings located in a public-housing development, Hartford Park ¹ that were scheduled for demolition. If asbestos was discovered, Certified was then required by its contract to develop a plan for the abatement of the asbestos and, after its removal, to certify its absence in the three buildings. Asbestos was found in the three buildings, and Certified thereafter developed an abatement plan. As part of that plan, the PHA contracted with D. Dixon Donovan Co. to remove the asbestos. After D. Dixon Donovan Co. removed the asbestos, Certified again inspected the three buildings, and determined from its examination that no asbestos remained. Certified then issued its certification. Shortly thereafter, the PHA contracted with Bilray Demolition Co., Inc. (Bilray), another of the defendants, to demolish the buildings. That demolition contract required Bilray to transport the debris from the demolition site. General Laws 1956 § 23-18.9-5 required Bilray to deliver the debris to a licensed solid waste facility. Bilray, however, in the course of its demolition work transported some of the debris from the buildings to its own wrecking yard, located in the town of Johnston, so that it could crush the debris and resell it as fill. That action was in clear violation of § 23-18.9-5.

In 1990, while the third and final building included in the contract between the PHA and Certified was being demolished by Bilray, Certified, during the course of an inspection being conducted pursuant to a different and separate contract with the PHA, discovered a thin coat of asbestos on some walls it was examining in some different buildings located in the Hartford Park housing development. Certified then decided to reexamine the debris from the three buildings demolished by Bilray, both at the demolition yard and at Bilray's wrecking yard in Johnston, to determine if any of that debris contained any similar thin coats of asbestos. A small amount of asbestos was in fact found. As a result, the debris at both sites was then moistened so as to prevent the dispersal of any asbestos fibers into the air, and the debris that had been transported to the Bilray wrecking yard was then removed to a special waste facility in Indiana. Its having been placed at Bilray's wrecking yard in the first instance is the catalyst of this litigation.

Frances M. and Anthony J. Splendorio (the Splendorios) live in the vicinity of the Bilray wrecking yard in Johnston. They filed a civil action in the Superior Court against Bilray, Certified, and R & T Realty, Inc., the last being the owners of the property on which Bilray's wrecking yard is located. Although the Splendorios' complaint was filed as a class-action complaint, it has never been certified as a class action as required by Rule 23 of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure.

In their complaint, the Splendorios allege, inter alia, that the value of their property has been diminished as a result of the defendants' actions. They contend that they must now disclose to any prospective buyers of their property the possible release of asbestos from Bilray's wrecking yard located in the vicinity of their property. Although the Splendorios have never attempted to market their property, they rely upon an affidavit from Robert Colieci (Colieci), a neighboring homeowner in the vicinity of the wrecking yard who is a licensed realtor, for proof of their diminution of property value claim. In his affidavit Colieci asserts that the potential release of asbestos from Bilray's wrecking yard site has reduced property values in the area and has dissuaded local homeowners from marketing their properties because of their fear of having to disclose to any prospective purchasers the possible presence of asbestos in or about their properties. He asserts further that the one house that was actually sold following the discovery of the asbestos at the Bilray wrecking yard was sold at a "25% reduction," from the seller's asking price, and that he "reasonably believe[s]" was attributed to the potential presence of asbestos in the neighborhood. That fact however was not disclosed prior to the sale. Moreover, according to Colieci, the one other house that is listed for sale in the neighborhood of Bilray's wrecking yard has not sold for a full year, a condition that he again attributes to the asbestos fear situation. The Splendorios' claim for damages is based solely upon Colieci's affidavit.

In responding to the Splendorios' complaint, Certified, one of the three named defendants in the civil action, moved for summary judgment on counts 1 and 4 in the Splendorios' complaint. Those counts allege absolute liability and negligence on the part of all defendants, including Certified. The trial justice after hearing on Certified's summary judgment motion found that the Splendorios had no cause of action against Certified. He found, specifically, that Certified was not subject to absolute liability pursuant to Rose v. Socony-Vacuum Corp., 54 R.I. 411, 173 A. 627 (1934). He also found that Certified could not be held liable on the negligence theory advanced by the Splendorios because Certified owed no legal duty to the Splendorios and that in order for a duty to exist, the risk of harm to the Splendorios had to be foreseeable to them. The trial justice concluded that the risk of any harm coming to the Splendorios' property from any actions taken by Certified from which any duty flowed to the plaintiffs was not foreseeable. We affirm the trial justice's decision.

In doing so, we note that the trial justice properly adhered to the rule of precedent in relying upon Rose and its rejection of absolute liability as espoused in Rylands v. Fletcher, L.R. 3 H.L. 330. ²

Understandably, Rose is bound to resurface at center stage in the pending Superior Court trials of the remaining defendants. We deem it incumbent therefore at this time to provide guidance to the trial justice in that regard. ³

Factually, Rose involved a claim for damages by Rose against a neighboring oil refinery arising from the refinery's contamination and pollution of subsurface waters under its land. The refinery's contaminated and polluted subsurface waters had seeped under an adjoining refinery roadway and then into the water supply on Rose's nearby land that was used by Rose not only for domestic purposes but also for his farm business that included a piggery and hennery. Despite proving contamination of his subsurface waters and that he had to obtain water from other sources for his domestic wants and that he had lost 136 hogs and 700 hens, and thereby the ability to continue at his farm business, this Supreme Court in 1934 disposed of his claim by stating:

"It will be observed that in jurisdictions, holding that even though there is no negligence there is liability for the pollution of subterranean waters, the predominating economic interest is agricultural.

"Defendant's refinery is located at the head of Narragansett Bay, a natural waterway for commerce. This plant is situated in the heart of a region highly developed industrially. Here it prepares for use and distributes a product which has become one of the prime necessities of modern life. It is an unavoidable incident of the growth of population and its segregation in restricted areas that individual rights recognized in a sparsely settled State have to be surrendered for the benefit of the community as it develops and expands. If, in the process of refining petroleum, injury is occasioned to those in the vicinity, not through negligence or lack of skill or the invasion of a recognized legal right, but by the contamination of percolating waters whose courses are not known, we think that public policy justifies a determination that such injury is damnum absque injuria." Rose, 54 R.I. at 421, 173 A. at 631-32. ⁴

We believe that Rose has succumbed to "the inaudible and noiseless foot of Time." ⁵ The pull of past precedent, should not propel us into creating small distinctions in an effort to follow precedent, and in the end, result in perverting the once intended and true meaning of that precedent. As Justice Holmes observed in his treatise, "precedents should be overruled when they become inconsistent with present conditions." Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., The Common Law 126 (1881). Rose is today inconsistent with present conditions. It has served us long and well, and we lay it now to final rest, holding its teachings no longer applicable in our law. Its demise does not, however, assist the plaintiffs. Under any theory of absolute liability for ultrahazardous or abnormally dangerous activities, Certified could not be found liable to the plaintiffs under the particular facts present in this case. Those facts mandate affirmance of the trial justice's grant of summary judgment under either Rose or the application of an absolute liability theory.

II The Absolute Liability Count

In reviewing the grant of a summary judgment motion, this Court employs the same standard on review as the...