Washington Suburban Sanitary Com'n v. CAE-Link Corp., CAE-LINK

• Decision Date: 01 September 1992
• Docket Number: No. 52,CAE-LINK,52
• Citation: 622 A.2d 745,330 Md. 115
• Parties: , 37 ERC 1863 WASHINGTON SUBURBAN SANITARY COMMISSION v.CORPORATION et al. ,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 115

330 Md. 115

622 A.2d 745, 37 ERC 1863

WASHINGTON SUBURBAN SANITARY COMMISSION v. CAE-LINK CORPORATION et al.

No. 52, Sept. Term, 1992.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

April 8, 1993.

Richard J. Magid, William F. Ryan, Jr. (Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, both on brief), Baltimore, for petitioner.

David H. Bamberger (Leonard L. Gordon, Piper & Marbury, all on brief), Washington, DC, David L. Rutland, Annapolis, for respondent.

Argued before MURPHY, C.J., and RODOWSKY, McAULIFFE, CHASANOW, KARWACKI, ROBERT M. BELL and CHARLES E. ORTH, Jr., (retired, specially assigned), JJ.

ROBERT M. BELL, Judge.

We granted certiorari to consider whether, as the Court of Special Appeals held, CAE-Link Corp. v. WSSC, 90 Md.App. 604, 602 A.2d 239, cert. granted, 327 Md. 304, 609 A.2d 312 (1992), the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission ("WSSC"), ¹ the petitioner, is strictly liable for nuisance as a result of its construction, and operation, of a sewage sludge composting facility pursuant to federal court orders. ² This issue had its genesis in litigation, initiated in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 1973, to rectify an environmental crisis at the Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant, and in consent decrees, to which WSSC was a party, arising out of that litigation. ³

Pursuant to an order entered by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Montgomery County reported that it would dispose of its share of the Blue Plains sewage sludge by building a composting facility on a large tract of undeveloped land adjacent to the Montgomery Industrial Park. Petitioner's brief p. 11. That undeveloped tract of land, which was on the Montgomery County--Prince George's County border, was known as Site 2. ⁴

Subsequently, on July 10, 1978, the district court issued an order requiring the user jurisdictions to proceed to develop the designated sites. Montgomery County was ordered to have the Site 2 composting facility operational by July 1, 1979. WSSC thus was required to take all necessary action to accomplish that goal, including acquiring the land and obtaining the necessary permits.

Action by Prince George's County, which opposed development of a composting facility on Site 2, precipitated additional orders. The district court, on April 25, 1980, issued an order compelling WSSC to restore the funds caused to be removed by the WSSC Commissioners from Prince George's County and to move forward with the project. It issued a third order on June 27, 1980, in response to two state court suits filed by Prince George's County. One of those suits challenged the validity of the state sewage sludge permit and alleged that Site 2 was a prospective nuisance. In the other, which alleged that restrictive covenants benefitting the land made acquisition of the Site 2 property so expensive that the WSSC Commissioners would likely be subject to liability for breach of fiduciary duty if they acquired it, the Circuit Court for Prince George's County issued an injunction enjoining WSSC from proceeding with development and ordering it to withdraw purchase offers made to the Site 2 owners. United States v. District of Columbia, 654 F.2d 802, 806 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Prince George's County v. United States, 454 U.S. 1082, 102 S.Ct. 637, 70 L.Ed.2d 616 (1981). The district court, reiterating the directives set forth in its prior orders, enjoined WSSC from complying with the state court injunction. It also ordered WSSC to proceed expeditiously to obtain the land and build and operate the composting facility. Finally, the court ordered Prince George's County to withdraw from the state court suits, and all parties to refrain from taking any action which would frustrate or impede the execution of its order.

Pursuant to the district court's July 10, 1980 order, WSSC filed, in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, a condemnation action to acquire Site 2. The 115 acres to which it acquired title were burdened by certain restrictive covenants. ⁵ Consequently, WSSC filed an action against neighboring landowners, including the respondents, CAE-Link Corporation, AT & T Resource Management Corporation, International Fabricare Institute, Erie Indemnity Company and The Washington Post Company, seeking a declaration that the covenants' beneficiaries need not be compensated for their value. The defendants filed counterclaims for inverse condemnation, breach of covenant, nuisance, bad faith, pursuant to Maryland Rule 1-341, and violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking monetary damages. Concluding that the restrictive covenants, which had been extinguished when WSSC condemned the land, were compensable property interests, the trial court denied WSSC declaratory relief. ⁶

The trial court granted WSSC's motion for summary judgment as to the counterclaims alleging violation of § 1983, bad faith, and punitive damages, but denied it as to the inverse condemnation and breach of covenant claims. WSSC was granted partial summary judgment on the nuisance claim to the extent of requiring the respondents to prove that WSSC negligently created the nuisance. At trial, the breach of covenant claims having been dismissed by stipulation of the parties, ⁷ WSSC moved for judgment on the inverse condemnation and nuisance claims. Denying the motion as to the former, the trial court ruled, as to the latter:

With respect to the nuisance claim, the motion to dismiss is granted for two reasons. The first reason being that right or wrong I have held that in this case, based upon the facts in this case, that in order to recover on the nuisance theory, the Plaintiffs have to show simple negligence in the construction and operation of the facility. There is no evidence that I can recall to support that theory.

The second basis upon which I grant the motion on the nuisance, is that the law is set forth not only in [Maryland Port Administration v.] QC [Corp., 310 Md. 379, 529 A.2d 829 (1987) ], but language in Electro-Nucleonics [, Inc. v. WSSC, 315 Md. 361, 554 A.2d 804, cert. denied, 493 U.S. 854, 110 S.Ct. 158, 107 L.Ed.2d 115 (1989) ] in that the court can find no substantial diminution in the use of any of these properties by any of the Plaintiffs as the result of the odor.

The inverse condemnation claim was submitted to the jury, which returned a verdict in favor of WSSC. The jury found that "the covenants extinguished on July 8, 1980 [did not] add measurable value to the respondent's land." Their motion for new trial having been denied, the respondents appealed. WSSC cross-appealed.

The Court of Special Appeals held that, because of its savings clause, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act does not preempt neighboring property owners' state law nuisance claims against WSSC for maintaining a facility that emits noxious odors. CAE-Link Corp. v. WSSC, 90 Md.App. 604, 615, 602 A.2d 239, 244, cert. granted, 327 Md. 304, 609 A.2d 312 (1992). It also held that nuisance law in Maryland is a matter of strict liability; hence, negligence is not a prerequisite to recovery. Id. at 616, 602 A.2d at 244. Additionally, the intermediate appellate court determined that the trial court erroneously instructed the jury that, in determining the value of the respondents' property, for inverse condemnation purposes, it was appropriate to consider whether extinguishment of the covenants substantially interfered with its use and enjoyment. Id. at 619, 602 A.2d at 245. Moreover, the court concluded, property appraisals prepared at the request of two of the respondents should not have been admitted under the business records exception. Id. at 623, 602 A.2d at 248. On WSSC's cross-appeal, the court reversed the trial court's rulings on "standing." It held that the respondents AT & T, BancTec Systems, Incorporated, and CAE-Link Corporation, which purchased their property after the land had been condemned, were "late-takers" and lacked standing to maintain an inverse condemnation action. Id. at 625-26, 602 A.2d at 249.

Both WSSC and the respondents filed petitions for certiorari. We granted WSSC's petition, but denied the respondents'.

I.

A.

The law of nuisance frequently has been discussed in the opinions of this Court. See Eanes v. State, 318 Md. 436, 455 n. 8, 569 A.2d 604, 613 n. 8 (1990); Tadjer v. Montgomery County, 300 Md. 539, 552, 479 A.2d 1321, 1327-28 (1984); Corbi v. Hendrickson, 268 Md. 459, 464, 302 A.2d 194, 197 (1973); Slaird v. Klewers, 260 Md. 2, 9, 271 A.2d 345, 348 (1970); Stottlemyer v. Crampton, 235 Md. 138, 143-44, 200 A.2d 644, 646 (1964); Bishop Processing Co. v. Davis, 213 Md. 465, 474, 132 A.2d 445, 449 (1957); Gorman v. Sabo, 210 Md. 155, 159, 122 A.2d 475, 478 (1956); Fox v. Ewers, 195 Md. 650, 658, 75 A.2d 357, 360 (1950); Meadowbrook Swimming Club, Inc. v. Albert, 173 Md. 641, 645, 197 A. 146, 148 (1938); Jackson v. Shawinigan Electro Products Co., 132 Md. 128, 136, 103 A. 453, 455-56 (1918); Northern Cent. Ry. Co. v. Oldenburg & Kelley, Inc., 122 Md. 236, 244, 89 A. 601, 605 (1914); Gallagher v. Flury, 99 Md. 181, 187, 57 A. 672, 675 (1904); Euler v. Sullivan, 75 Md. 616, 618, 23 A. 845, 846 (1892); Susquehanna Fertilizer Co. v. Malone, 73 Md. 268, 276, 20 A. 900, 901 (1890); Woodyear v. Schaefer, 57 Md. 1, 11-12 (1881); Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Radecke, 49 Md. 217, 227 (1878); Adams v. Michael, 38 Md. 123, 126 (1873); Scott v. Bay, 3 Md. 431, 444 (1853). We have held that, "where a trade or business as carried on interferes with the reasonable and comfortable enjoyment by another of his property, a wrong is done to a neighboring owner for which an action lies...." Meadowbrook Swimming Club, 173 Md. at 645, 197 A. at 148. Moreover, "[I]t makes no difference that the business [is] lawful and one useful to the public and conducted in the most approved method." Bishop Processing Co., 213 Md. at 474, 132 A.2d at 449; Meadowbrook Swimming Club, 173 Md. at 645, 197 A. at 148. Virtually any...