Sweet v. Sheahan
| Decision Date | 01 August 2000 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 00-7350,EAGLE-PICHER,FULLER-O |
| Parties | (2nd Cir. 2000) NANCY SWEET, Individually and as Mother and Natural Guardian of Thomas Sweet a/k/a Thomas Brown, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ROBERT SHEAHAN, Defendant-Appellant, AMERICAN CYANAMID COMPANY, Successor in interest to MacGREGGOR LEAD COMPANY, ATLANTIC RICHFIELD COMPANY,INDUSTRIES, INC., LEAD INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATIONS, INC., N.L. INDUSTRIES, INC., SCM CORPORATION, as Successor in interest to the GLIDDEN COMPANY, SCM CHEMICALS, INC., f/k/a SCM PIGMENTS and GLIDDEN PIGMENTS, THE GLIDDEN COMPANY, THE O'BRIEN CORPORATION, d/b/a'BRIEN PAINTS, THE SHERWIN WILLIAMS COMPANY, and E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & CO., Defendants |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Defendant appeals a decision of the District Court for the Northern District of New York (David N. Hurd, J.), denying his motion to dismiss plaintiff's claim on the grounds that the regulations creating defendant's duty to plaintiff were not in effect at the time that plaintiff's claim accrued. Reversed and Remanded with Instructions to Dismiss. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] GARY C. HOBBS, Poklemba, Hobbs & Ulasewicz, LLC, Saratoga Springs, NY for Plaintiff-Appellee Nancy Sweet.
JAMES E. CULLUM, McPhillips, Fitzgerald & Cullum LLP, Glens Falls, NY for Defendant-Appellant Robert Sheahan.
Clarin Nardy Riddle and Charles N. Rock, Rock & Rosmarin, LLP, White Plains, NY submitted a brief for Amici Curiae The National Multi-Housing Council, et al.
Laurene K. Janik, Ralph W. Holmen, Finley P. Maxson, National Association of REALTORS Institute of Real Estate Management, Chicago, IL, submitted a brief for Amicus Curiae National Association of REALTORS Institute of Real Estate Management.
R. Justin Smith and Bruce Nilles, Attorneys, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington D.C., and Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Div. submitted a brief for Amicus Curiae United States of America.
Before: CABRANES, POOLER, KATZMANN, Circuit Judges.
Introduction
Defendant Robert Sheahan ("Sheahan" or "defendant") appeals a decision of the District Court for the Northern District of New York (David N. Hurd, J.), which denied his motion to dismiss plaintiff's claim. Plaintiff Nancy Sweet, individually and on behalf of her son Thomas Brown ("plaintiff" or "Sweet"), brought suit against defendant on the grounds that, inter alia, defendant failed to provide her with warnings about lead-based paint in the apartment defendant rented to her and in which she lived with her son. Plaintiff alleges that defendant's failure to provide the warnings was in violation of the Residential Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 4851 4856. Defendant moved to dismiss plaintiff's case, arguing that the regulations creating defendant's duty to warn her about lead-based paint hazards were not in effect at the time that plaintiff's claim allegedly accrued. The district court denied defendant's motion to dismiss. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse and remand with instructions to dismiss.
Defendant Sheahan owned an apartment located at 59 Elm Street in Glens Falls, New York, and leased said apartment from December 1, 1995, until October 1996, to plaintiff Sweet, who lived there with her infant son Thomas Brown. Sweet claims that Brown was severely injured and hospitalized after he came into contact with lead-based paint, which was allegedly used on both the interior and exterior walls of the leased apartment.
On March 30, 1999, Sweet commenced an action against Sheahan on behalf of herself and her infant son. Subsequently, Sweet added as defendants a number of manufacturers of lead-based paint (or their successors-in-interest) and an industry trade association (collectively referred to as "the manufacturer defendants"), by filing an amended complaint. The amended complaint alleges that, as a result of his exposure to lead paint, Thomas Brown suffered permanent injuries to, among other things, his central nervous system. The complaint also claims that defendants have caused Sweet herself "serious physical, mental and cognitive injuries." Sweet asserts one federal cause of action against Sheahan, pursuant to the Residential Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act ("the Lead Based Paint Act" or "the statute"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4851 4856. This federal claim is grounded on her allegations that "defendant Sheahan failed to disclose to plaintiffs the presence of any known lead based paint, or any known lead based paint hazards, in the residential housing and failed to provide to plaintiffs any lead hazard evaluation report available to the defendant," and that he failed to provide plaintiffs with a lead hazard information pamphlet or a lead warning statement, pursuant to 42 U.S.C.§ 4852d(a). Sweet also makes numerous state law claims against Sheahan, including claims based in negligence, negligence per se, breach of contract and implied warranty of habitability, strict product liability, and strict liability for ultrahazardous substances. With regard to the manufacturer defendants, the complaint asserts only state law claims.
By separate motions, the manufacturer defendants and Sheahan moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). Sheahan's motion argued that Sweet's purported federal claim against Sheahan is wholly insubstantial because the Lead Based Paint Act did not impose any obligations on Sheahan, who rented to Sweet prior to the effective date of the implementing regulations.1
By Memorandum-Decision and Order dated November 5, 1999, the district court denied defendant's motion to dismiss. See Sweet v. Sheahan, No. 97-CV-1666, 1999 WL 1011921, at *5 (N.D.N.Y. Nov. 5, 1999). The district court found that, although the applicable regulations themselves may not have been in effect at the time the apartment was leased to plaintiff, the statute itself created a duty on defendant to disclose information about lead-based paint. See id. at *3.
After the district court denied his motion to dismiss, Sheahan moved for amendment of the district court's order or, alternatively, for an order certifying the case as one involving a controlling question of law as to which there was substantial ground for difference of opinion, such that Sheahan could present the case for an interlocutory appeal to this court. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), the district court agreed to certify the case for an interlocutory appeal, and, on March 30, 2000, this court accepted the appeal. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the decision of the district court.2
We review the district court's decision on a motion to dismiss under F.R.C.P. 12(b)(1) or 12(b)(6) de novo. See Jaghory v. New York State Dep't of Educ., 131 F.3d 326, 329 (2d Cir. 1997). When considering a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1), the court must take all facts alleged in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of plaintiff. See id. Dismissal is inappropriate unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts which would entitle him or her to relief. See Securities Investor Protection Corp. v. BDO Seidman, LLP, 222 F.3d 63, 68 (2d Cir. 2000), certified question accepted by 95 N.Y.2d 831, 734 N.E.2d 1211 (N.Y. 2000).
Congress enacted the Residential Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act as Title X of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992. See Pub. L. No. 102-550, codified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 4851 4856. After setting forth Congressional findings that lead poisoning affected as many as three million children under the age of six, and that the ingestion of household dust arising from lead-based paint was the most common cause of lead poisoning in children, see 42 U.S.C. §§ 4851(1), (4), the Lead-Based Paint Act declares as an objective the development of "a national strategy to build the infrastructure necessary to eliminate lead-based paint hazards in all housing as expeditiously as possible." 42 U.S.C. § 4851a(1). To implement this goal Congress, inter alia, provided grants to evaluate and reduce lead-based paint hazards in privately owned low-income housing and set forth requirements to ensure that federally owned housing is free from lead-based paint hazards. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 4852, 4822.
Additionally, and more directly relevant to the case at hand, the Lead Based Paint Act directs the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") to promulgate regulations mandating the disclosure of lead-based paint hazards in privately owned housing that is sold or leased. See 42 U.S.C. § 4852d. The statute states that HUD and the EPA "shall," no later than October 28, 1994, "promulgate regulations for the disclosure of lead based paint hazards in target housing which is offered for sale or lease." 42 U.S.C. § 4852d(a)(1). It further specifies that "[t]he regulations shall require that, before the purchaser or lessee is obligated under any contract to purchase or lease the housing, the seller or lessor shall (A) provide the purchaser or lessee with a lead hazard information pamphlet ; (B) disclose to the purchaser or lessee the presence of any known lead based paint, or any known lead based paint hazards ; and (C) permit the purchaser a 10 day period to conduct a risk assessment or inspection for the presence of lead based paint hazards." 42 U.S.C. § 4852d(a)(1). The statute provides that the regulations "shall" require a lead warning statement in all contracts for the purchase and sale of target housing and details exactly the language to be used in the lead warning statement which will be included...
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