Source: https://casetext.com/case/city-of-chicago-v-beretta-usa
Timestamp: 2020-04-05 10:19:31
Document Index: 387972690

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 86', '§ 1', '§ 86', '§ 86', '§ 86', '§ 821', '§ 31', '§ 88', '§ 821', '§ 39', '§ 821', '§ 821', '§ 821', '§ 834', '§ 834', '§ 927', '§ 927', '§ 790', '§ 821', '§ 821', '§ 826', '§ 827', '§ 828', '§ 829', '§ 821', '§ 921', '§ 927', '§ 821', '§ 821', '§ 41', '§ 824', '§ 824', '§ 824', '§ 42', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 821', '§ 821', '§ 821', '§ 821', '§ 8', '§ 6']

City of Chicago v. Beretta U.S.A, 213 Ill. 2d 351 | Casetext Search + Citator
(Internal quotation marks omitted.) City of Chicago v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 213 Ill.2d 351, 370, 290…
Breit Johnson argues, further, that even if such a public right were to be recognized, plaintiffs are not…
Full title:THE CITY OF CHICAGO et al., Appellees, v. BERETTA U.S.A. CORPORATION et…
213 Ill. 2d 351 (Ill. 2004)
821 N.E.2d 1099
holding that the doctrine applies, even absent a contractual relationship, where “the damages sought by the plaintiffs are ‘solely economic damages' in the sense that they represent costs incurred in the absence of harm to a plaintiff's person or property”
Nos. 95243, 95253, 95256, 95280 cons.
Opinion filed November 18, 2004. Rehearing denied January 24, 2005.
William N. Howard, Daniel J. Voelker and Fred Foreman, of Freeborn Peters, of Chicago, for appellants Shore Galleries, Inc., et al.
James P. Dorr, Sarah L. Olson and Lisa S. Simmons, of Wildman, Harrold, Allen Dixon, of Chicago, for appellant Sturm, Ruger Co.
Richard J. Leamy, Jr., of Wiedner McAuliffe, Ltd., of Chicago, for appellant Riley's, Inc.
Ana Marie Downs, of the Law Offices of Loretta M. Griffin, and M. Leslie Kite, all of Chicago, for appellant Faber Brothers, Inc.
Lora E. Minichillo and Kenneth H. Denberg, of Michael Best Friedrich, L.L.C., of Chicago, for appellants Donald Beltrame et al.
Thomas H. Fegan, of Johnson Bell, of Chicago, and Lawrence S. Greenwald and Catherine A. Bledsoe, of Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger Hollander, L.L.C., of Baltimore, Maryland, for appellants Beretta U.S.A. Corporation et al.
Melissa Anne Maye, of Yorkville, for appellants B.L. Jennings, Inc. and Bryco Arms, Inc.
Thomas M. Crisham, Daniel L. Stanner and Jean M. Prendergast, of Crisham Kubes, Ltd., of Chicago, and William M. Griffin III, of Friday, Eldredge Clark, of Little Rock, Arkansas, for appellant Browning Arms Co.
Samuel B. Isaacson, of Piper Rudnick, of Chicago, and Thomas E. Fennell and Michael L. Rice, of Jones, Day, Reaves Pogue, of Dallas, Texas, for appellant Colt's Manufacturing Co.
John F. Renzulli, of Renzulli, Pisciotti Renzulli, L.L.P., of New York, New York, for appellants Glock, Inc. et al.
Michael T. Trucco, of Stamos Trucco, of Chicago, for appellant International Armament Co.
Melissa Anne May, of Yorkville, and Robert C. Tarics, Michael I. Branisa and Michael J. Zomick, of Tarics Carrington, P.C., of Houston, Texas, for appellant Phoenix Arms.
Robert L. Michels, of Winston Strawn, of Chicago, and Jeffrey S. Nelson and Tina Schaefer, of Shook, Hardy Bacon, L.L.P., of Kansas City, Missouri, for appellant Smith Wesson Corporation.
Timothy A. Bumann, Jennifer C. Kane and Bridgette E. Eckerson, of Budd, Larner, Rosenbaum, Greenberg Sade, of Atlanta, Georgia, for appellant Taurus International Manufacturing Co.
James Valentino, Jr., of Algoma, Wisconsin, for appellant Universal Firearms, Ltd.
Mara S. Georges, Corporation Counsel, of Chicago (Lawrence Rosenthal, Benna Ruth Solomon and Suzanne M. Loose, of counsel), and Roger Pascal, Thomas B. Quinn and Ronald Safer, of Schiff, Harden Waite, of Chicago, for appellee City of Chicago.
Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney, of Chicago (Thomas Rieck, Mark Pera and Demetrios Kottaras, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), and Michael J. Hayes, Patrick McKey, John T. Roache, Lisa Martin and Joel Griswold, of Gardner, Carton Douglas, of Chicago (David Kairys, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of counsel), for appellee County of Cook.
Gino L. DiVito, Michael I. Rothstein and Marnie A. Jensen, of Tabet, DiVito Rothstein, L.L.C., of Chicago, for amicus curiae National Association of Manufacturers.
Hugh C. Griffin, of Lord, Bissell Brook, of Chicago, and James M. Beck, of Dechert, L.L.P., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Hugh F. Young, Jr., of Reston, Virginia, of counsel), for amicus curiae Product Liability Advisory Council.
Gary S. Feinerman, Solicitor General, and Brett E. Legner and Laura Wunder, Assistant Attorneys General, of Chicago, for amicus curiae Lisa Madigan, Attorney General of the State of Illinois.
Nathan P. Eimer, Scott C. Solberg, Adam B. Deutsch and Greg J. Weintraub, of Eimer, Stahl, Klevorn Solberg, of Chicago, for amici curiae National League of Cities et al.
The tragic personal consequences of gun violence are inestimable. The burdens imposed upon society as a whole in the costs of law enforcement and medical services are immense. In the present case, the City of Chicago and Cook County, in an effort to stem the rising tide of gun violence and to recoup some of the expenses that flow from gun crimes, have sued 18 manufacturers, 4 distributors, and 11 dealers of handguns that have been illegally possessed and used in the city. For various reasons, 13 manufacturers, 2 distributors, and 8 dealers remain as defendants in this case. The theory of liability is public nuisance. The relief sought by the City includes compensation for the costs of emergency medical services, law enforcement efforts, the prosecution of violations of gun control ordinances, and other related expenses. The County seeks compensation for the costs of treatment of victims of gun violence and the costs of prosecutions for criminal use of firearms, including the expenses associated with providing defense counsel to those accused of gun crimes. Both plaintiff's seek punitive damages and permanent injunctive relief to abate the alleged public nuisance.
In the circuit court of Cook County, defendants sought dismissal of the lawsuit under section 2-615 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code) ( 735 ILCS 5/2-615 (West 2000)), on the basis that plaintiff's failed to state a cause of action for public nuisance. The circuit court granted the motion to dismiss.
The appellate court, construing the facts in a light most favorable to the plaintiff's, found that based on the specific acts alleged in the complaint, plaintiffs had sufficiently stated a cause of action for public nuisance against all three classes of defendants, reversed the trial court, and remanded for further proceedings. 337 Ill. App. 3d 1, 18.
All of the defendants — manufacturers, distributors, and dealers — are federally licensed to engage in their respective businesses. None of the manufacturer defendants have their principal places of business in Illinois. Several are incorporated in other states for the purpose of importing firearms manufactured abroad. Only one of the distributor defendants is based in Illinois. The dealer defendants are located in Illinois, but outside the city of Chicago.
The second amended complaint further alleges that all three categories of defendants are put on notice of the "crime-facilitating consequences of their conduct," by virtue of the process used by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to trace firearms recovered by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. According to the complaint, defendants "know that only firearms that have been used in connection with crimes can be the subject of traces." On the basis of trace data from March 26, 1988, to December 31, 1998, involving 858,902 guns traced nationwide, 20 of the 22 manufacturer defendants "account for approximately 48.3% of those crime guns, even though they comprise only 2.8% of the 716 manufacturers listed in the national trace database." The data provided, however, do not reveal the market shares of these manufacturers.
With regard to gun dealers, plaintiffs offer more recent data from the ATF revealing that 1.2% of dealers nationwide account for 57% of traced firearms. Plaintiff's also rely on a congressional study of ATF data released in December 1999, which found that "an extraordinary proportion of crime guns bought from `high crime' gun dealers were probably straw purchased" and that "onethird of these crime guns were recovered in connection with a crime within just one year of its purchase, and half were traced to crimes within two years of their purchase."
Plaintiffs' specific allegation against the named dealer defendants is that they "sell firearms even when they know or should know that the firearms will be used or possessed illegally in Chicago." This allegation is supported by assertions that dealers know some of their customers are residents of Chicago and that it is illegal for those customers to use or possess these weapons in the city; that dealers make sales even when the words or behavior of the buyers indicate an intention to use the weapon illegally; that dealers sell handguns designed to be carried as concealed weapons, even though state law prohibits the carrying of concealed weapons; and that dealers make multiple sales to individuals whom they know or should know intend to resell the guns in the city. The second amended complaint identifies the dealer defendants as part of a "core group of irresponsible dealers" who attract the business of gunrunners and other criminals, as reflected by ATF trace data. The complaint also includes factual assertions regarding numerous undercover "sting" operations carried out by police officers at the various dealer defendants' stores. Plaintiff's further assert that the dealers' practices "have caused a large underground market for illegal firearms to flourish in the City of Chicago," and that they "know that many of the firearms they sell are used or possessed illegally, and put into the underground market." Finally, the complaint states that the dealers' "actions and omissions in selling firearms to Chicago residents that are illegal in the City of Chicago unreasonably facilitate violations of City ordinances, and contribute to physical harm, fear and inconvenience to Chicago residents, and are injurious to the public health and safety of Chicago residents."
In addition, the second amended complaint alleges that the defendant manufacturers and distributors knowingly over supply or "saturate the market" with their products in areas where gun-control laws are less restrictive, knowing that persons will illegally bring them into jurisdictions where they are illegal and then possess or illegally resell them. Further, the complaint alleges that these defendants do not discourage the dealer defendants from selling their firearms irresponsibly, even though they are on notice as a result of the ATF traces that certain dealers are "responsible for a vastly disproportionate number" of the traced weapons. The defendant manufacturers and distributors "know that there is an absence of meaningful regulations of dealers" and know that "almost anyone can become a federally licensed firearms dealer." Despite this knowledge, these defendants "fail to supervise, regulate or set standards for dealers' conduct, instead relying on the mere fact that the dealers are licensed by the federal government."
Based on these allegations, the second amended complaint states in "Count I: Public Nuisance" that the residents of Chicago "have a common right to be free from conduct that creates an unreasonable jeopardy to the public's health, welfare and safety, and to be free from conduct that creates a disturbance and unreasonable apprehension of danger to person and property." The defendants' conduct of "intentionally and recklessly" designing, marketing, distributing, and selling firearms that they "should know" will be taken to Chicago causes "thousands of firearms to be possessed and used in Chicago illegally" and causes "a significant and unreasonable interference" with the rights of the public. Further, the complaint alleges that the conduct is of a continuing nature and has created an ongoing nuisance.
A motion to dismiss under section 2-615 of the Code ( 735 ILCS 5/2-615 (West 2000)) challenges the legal sufficiency of the complaint by alleging defects on its face. We, therefore, review de novo an order granting or denying a section 2-615 motion. Wakulich v. Mraz, 203 Ill. 2d 223, 228 (2003). In reviewing the sufficiency of a complaint, we accept as true all well-pleaded facts and all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from those facts. Jarvis v. South Oak Dodge, Inc., 201 Ill. 2d 81, 86 (2002). In addition, we construe the allegations in the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Wakulich, 203 Ill. 2d at 228. When the plaintiff's theory of liability is public nuisance, the pleading requirements are not exacting because the "concept of common law public nuisance * * * elude[s] precise definition." City of Chicago v. Festival Theatre Corp., 91 Ill. 2d 295, 306 (1982). The existence of a nuisance "`depends on the peculiar facts presented by each case.'" Donaldson v. Central Illinois Public Service Co., 199 Ill. 2d 63, 101 (2002), quoting City of Chicago v. Commonwealth Edison Co., 24 Ill. App. 3d 624, 631-32 (1974).
Because the concept "elude[s] precise definition," public nuisance has been "`negatively defined'" by distinguishing it from other tort actions, such as trespass. Festival Theatre, 91 Ill. 2d at 306, quoting O. Reynolds, Public Nuisance: A Crime in Tort Law, 31 Okla. L. Rev. 318, 318 (1978). As one learned treatise notes:
"There is perhaps no more impenetrable jungle in the entire law than that which surrounds the word `nuisance.' It has meant all things to all people, and has been applied indiscriminately to everything from an alarming advertisement to a cockroach baked in a pie. There is general agreement that it is incapable of any exact or comprehensive definition." W. Keeton, Prosser Keeton on Torts § 86, at 616 (5th ed. 1984).
"that class of wrongs that arise from the unreasonable, unwarrantable or unlawful use by a person of his own property, real or personal, or from his own improper, indecent or unlawful personal conduct, working an obstruction of, or injury to, a right of another or of the public. * * * It is a part of the great social compact to which every person is a party, a fundamental and essential principle in every civilized community, that every person yields a portion of his right of absolute dominion * * *." H. Wood, A Practical Treatise on the Law of Nuisances § 1, at 1-3 (3d ed. 1893).
The promulgation of the Restatement of Torts in 1939 was the first "significant attempt to determine some limits to the types of tort liability" associated with nuisance. W. Keeton, Prosser Keeton on Torts § 86, at 617 (5th ed. 1984). Two lines of development in the case law were noted, one "narrowly restricted to the invasion of interests in the use or enjoyment of land," which has come to be known as private nuisance; the other "extending to virtually any form of annoyance or inconvenience interfering with common public rights," which is known as public nuisance. W. Keeton, Prosser Keeton on Torts § 86, at 618 (5th ed. 1984). While private nuisance is "a civil wrong, based on a disturbance of rights in land," public nuisance is "a species of catch-all criminal offense, consisting of an interference with the rights of the community at large." W. Keeton, Prosser Keeton on Torts § 86, at 618 (5th ed. 1984).
With regard to public nuisance, section 821B of the Restatement (Second) of Torts states: "(1) A public nuisance is an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B (1979). Thus, it is generally recognized that:
"A public nuisance, unlike a private nuisance, does not necessarily involve an interference with the use and enjoyment of land, or an invasion of another's interest in the private use and enjoyment of land, but encompasses any unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public. Thus, an action for public nuisance may lie even though neither the plaintiff nor the defendant acts in the exercise of private property rights." 58 Am. Jur. 2d Nuisances § 31, at 592 (2002).
Further, these defendants suggest that the appellate court improperly relied upon the decision of the Supreme Court of Ohio in City of Cincinnati v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 95 Ohio St. 3d 416, 768 N.E.2d 1136 (2002), when it found the Ohio court's decision to be "an analogous and instructive case that permits this type of lawsuit to go beyond the pleading stage." 337 Ill. App. 3d at 16. Ohio is a notice-pleading state and, under the notice-pleading standard, a plaintiff is not required to plead operative facts with particularity. City of Cincinnati, 95 Ohio St. 3d at 423-24, 768 N.E.2d at 1146. Rather, the complaint need only contain a short and plain statement of the claim which shows that the plaintiff is entitled to relief. If there is any set of facts consistent with the plaintiffs complaint that would allow recovery, the court in a notice-pleading jurisdiction may not grant a defendant's motion to dismiss on the pleadings. City of Cincinnati, 95 Ohio St. 3d at 424, 768 N.E.2d at 1146.
However, despite the requirement that the complaint must contain allegations of fact bringing the case within the cause of action, "the plaintiff is not required to set out evidence; only the ultimate facts to be proved should be alleged, not the evidentiary facts tending to prove such ultimate facts." Chandler v. Illinois Central R.R. Co., 207 Ill. 2d 331, 348 (2003). Plaintiff's contend that they have set out such ultimate facts and suggest that if they are permitted to conduct discovery, additional supporting facts will come to light. Plaintiff's rely heavily on the facts underlying the trace data and the "time to crime" statistics which, they claim, point to these defendants as contributing to the problem of illegal guns to a degree that is not merely a function of their sales volume.
A public nuisance has been defined as "`the doing of or the failure to do something that injuriously affects the safety, health or morals of the public, or works some substantial annoyance, inconvenience or injury to the public'" Village of Wilsonville v. SCA Services, Inc., 86 Ill. 2d 1, 21-22 (1981), quoting W. Prosser, Torts § 88, at 583 n. 29 (4th ed. 1971). Thus, the first element that must be alleged to state a claim for public nuisance is the existence of a right common to the general public. Such rights include the rights of public health, public safety, public peace, public comfort, and public convenience. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B(2)(a) (1979).
In the second amended complaint, plaintiffs allege that the residents of Chicago have "a common right to be free from conduct that creates an unreasonable jeopardy to the public's health, welfare and safety, and to be free from conduct that creates a disturbance and reasonable apprehension of danger to person and property." (Emphases added.) Because none of the defendants are alleged to have engaged in any conduct in the city of Chicago, we understand the asserted public right to be the right to be free from unreasonable jeopardy to health, welfare, and safety, and from unreasonable threats of danger to person and property, caused by the presence of illegal weapons in the city of Chicago, allegedly made possible by defendants' action or inaction elsewhere.
We note that although other courts have dismissed public nuisance suits against similar groups of defendants (see Spitzer v. Sturm, Ruger Co., 309 A.D.2d 91, 761 N.Y.S.2d 192 (2003); Camden County Board of Chosen Freeholders v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 273 F.3d 536 (3d Cir. 2001) (applying New Jersey law); City of Philadelphia v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 277 F.3d 415 (3d Cir. 2002) (applying Pennsylvania law)), no such case has been dismissed for failure to properly plead the existence of a public right affected by the alleged nuisance.
Nevertheless, we question whether there is a public right, as opposed to an individual right, to be free from the threat of illegal conduct by others. The case law is not helpful. Cases involving the right of public safety have involved nuisances created by vicious dogs, the storage of explosives, blasting, the storage or use of fireworks, or the presence of unsafe buildings. See, e.g., Turpen v. City of St. Francisville, 145 Ill. App. 3d 891 (1986) (dilapidated building); Village of Northbrook v. Cannon, 61 Ill. App. 3d 315 (1978) (allowing dogs to run free). The right of public peace has been disrupted by disorderly houses, unruly taverns, and dance halls. See, e.g., City of Chicago v. Cecola, 75 Ill. 2d 423 (1979) (house of prostitution); City of Chicago v. Clark, 359 Ill. 374 (1935) (disorderly house); People v. Sequoia Books, Inc., 149 Ill. App. 3d 383 (1986) (lewd behavior in adult bookstore); Toushin v. City of Chicago, 23 Ill. App. 3d 797 (1974) (massage parlor). Public comfort has been affected by odors, fumes, dust, and other sources of pollution. See, e.g., Gardner v. International Shoe Co., 319 Ill. App. 416 (1944) (odors, noises, smoke); City of Chicago v. Latronica Asphalt Grading, Inc., 346 Ill. App. 3d 264 (2004) (illegal dumping of waste); County of Cook v. Chicago Magnet Wire Corp., 152 Ill. App. 3d 726 (1987) (odor). Such nuisances have affected the public generally.
We have found no Illinois case recognizing a public right to be free from the threat that members of the public may commit crimes against individuals. Plaintiff's cite Cecola in support of their assertion that "a violation of laws that protect public health, welfare, or safety infringes a public right and hence may be remedied through a nuisance action." Cecola, however, involved an action to abate the nuisance created by the operation of a house of prostitution. The conduct itself was illegal; a statute specifically permitted houses of prostitution to be enjoined as public nuisances; and the operation of a house of prostitution was considered a nuisance at common law. Cecola, 75 Ill. 2d at 427. Cecola does not offer support for recognition of a public right characterized in plaintiffs' reply brief as "the public's right to enjoy the benefits of the laws governing the unlawful possession and use of firearms."
"The interference with a public right is the sine qua non of a cause of action for public nuisance. However, not all interferences with public rights are public nuisances. The nuisance must affect an interest common to the general public, must produce a common injury, or be dangerous or injurious to the general public, or it must be harmful to the public health, or prevent the public from a peaceful use of their land and the public streets, or there must be some direct encroachment on public property." 58 Am. Jur. 2d Nuisances § 39 (2002).
"A public right is one common to all members of the general public. It is collective in nature and not like the individual right that everyone has not to be assaulted or defamed or defrauded or negligently injured." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B, Comment g, at 92 (1979).
In Ganim v. Smith Wesson Corp., 258 Conn. 313, 780 A.2d 98 (2001), the Supreme Court of Connecticut resolved a case similar to the present case on the threshold question of whether the plaintiff mayor and city had standing to assert a claim of public nuisance. Ganim, 258 Conn. at 343-44, 780 A.2d at 117. The Connecticut court also commented that:
"`Nuisances are public where they violate public rights, and produce a common injury, and where they constitute an obstruction to public rights, that is, the rights enjoyed by citizens as part of the public. . . . [I]f the annoyance is one that is common to the public generally, then it is a public nuisance. . . . The test is not the number of persons annoyed, but the possibility of annoyance to the public by the invasion of its rights. A public nuisance is one that injures the citizens generally who may be so circumstanced as to come within its influence.'" Ganim, 258 Conn. at 369, 780 A.2d at 131-32, quoting Higgins v. Connecticut Light Power Co., 129 Conn. 606, 611, 30 A.2d 388, 391 (1943).
Leaving aside for a moment the costs incurred by plaintiffs, which we determine, below, are not recoverable as damages, we query whether the public right asserted by plaintiffs is merely an assertion, on behalf of the entire community, of the individual right not to be assaulted. See, e.g., Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B, Comment g, at 92 (1979) (a public right is "not like the individual right that everyone has not to be assaulted"). We are also reluctant to recognize a public right so broad and undefined that the presence of any potentially dangerous instrumentality in the community could be deemed to threaten it.
(c) whether the conduct is of a continuing nature or has produced a permanent or long-lasting effect, and, as the actor knows or has reason to know, has a significant effect upon the public right." (Emphases added.) Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B(2) (1979).
Although we have not attempted to verify defendants' claim that the body of law on this topic in state and federal courts applying Illinois law exceeds 2,500 cases, we have found no Illinois case in which a public nuisance was found in the absence of one of these two conditions. While no case law in this jurisdiction expressly limits application of the doctrine of public nuisance to these two circumstances, no case law expressly authorizes its application in the absence of either condition. To do so would be to expand the law of nuisance to encompass a third circumstance — the effect of lawful conduct that does not involve the use of land. We are reluctant to allow such an expansion.
Defendants argue that, as a matter of law, the lawful production and sale of a nondefective product is per se reasonable and, thus, cannot result in liability for creation of a public nuisance. The appellate court responded to this argument by citing section 834 of the Restatement: "`One is subject to liability for a nuisance caused by an activity, not only when he carries on the activity but also when he participates to a substantial extent to carrying it on.'" 337 Ill. App. 3d at 15, quoting City of Bloomington, Indiana v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 891 F.2d 611, 614 n. 5 (7th Cir. 1989), citing Restatement (Second) of Torts § 834 (1979). The appellate court also noted that a federal court deciding a case of first impression under Illinois law had previously declined to impose public nuisance liability against a gun manufacturer in the absence of state decisional law. 337 Ill. App. 3d at 14, citing Bubalo v. Navegar, Inc., No. 96-C-3664 (N.D. Ill. March 20, 1998). Then, relying on City of Cincinnati, the appellate court rejected defendants' argument. The Supreme Court of Ohio, in City of Cincinnati, allowed a public nuisance claim against a similar group of defendants to stand, holding that, "under the Restatement's broad definition, a public-nuisance action can be maintained for injuries caused by a product if the facts establish that the design, manufacturing, marketing, or sale of the product unreasonably interferes with a right common to the general public." City of Cincinnati, 95 Ohio St. 3d at 520, 768 N.E.2d at 1142.
Plaintiffs' novel application of the cause of action of public nuisance renders authorities such as the Restatement less than helpful in answering this question. Section 834, for example, focuses primarily on private nuisance and its common law basis tied to a defendant's use of land and the resulting invasion a plaintiffs property rights. The "Scope Note" preceding section 834 states that the defendant's activity "may be the direct cause of the invasion or it may create a physical condition that ultimately results in the invasion." (Emphasis added.) Restatement (Second) of Torts § 834 (1979). All of the illustrations that follow section 834 involve invasions of property rights caused by the defendant's use of land and are clearly predicated on a view of nuisance as a physical condition brought about by the wrongful use of real property.
Similarly, the assertion in manufacturer defendants' brief that a "`product which has caused injury cannot be classified as a nuisance to hold liable the manufacturer or seller for the product's injurious effects'" (quoting 63A Am.Jur. 2d Products Liability § 927, at 105 (1997)) is not entirely helpful when a public nuisance is alleged. The cited authority also states that:
"Because a seller in a commercial transaction relinquishes ownership and control of its products when they are sold, it lacks the legal right to abate whatever hazards its products may pose. Under these circumstances, the purchaser's proper remedies are products liability actions for negligence or breach of warranty rather than a nuisance action." 63A Am. Jur. 2d Products Liability § 927, at 106 (1997).
The Supreme Court of Indiana has agreed with this approach, holding in City of Gary v. Smith Wesson Corp., 801 N.E.2d 1222, 1234 (Ind. 2003), that "a nuisance claim may be predicated on a lawful activity conducted in such a manner that it imposes costs on others." We do not find City of Gary convincing, however, because the authority cited for this statement, Yeager Sullivan, Inc. v. O'Neill, 163 Ind. App. 466, 474-75, 324 N.E.2d 846, 852 (1975), involved a nuisance created by the keeping of hogs, a lawful enterprise, in a manner that invaded the rights of others. Again, it was the manner in which the defendant used his real property, and the effect of his conduct on plaintiffs use and enjoyment of his real property, that resulted in imposition of nuisance liability in Yeager Sullivan.
The other authorities offered by plaintiffs do not directly address defendants' contention that plaintiffs' claim is, in effect, a products liability claim repackaged as public nuisance. Because a products liability claim against one who lawfully manufactures and sells a non-defective product must fail (see Riordan v. International Armament Corp., 132 Ill. App. 3d 642 (1985); Linton v. Smith Wesson, 127 Ill. App. 3d 676 (1984)), defendants urge this court to conclude that plaintiffs have failed to state a cause of action in public nuisance and to leave to the legislature the question of whether to impose additional constraints on the marketing and sale of firearms.
Cases from other jurisdictions in which reviewing courts have rejected public nuisance claims against the gun industry offer more analysis of this question. In Spitzer v. Sturm, Ruger Co., a New York appellate court observed:
Citing an earlier case rejecting a theory of negligent marketing against a gun manufacturer, the Spitzer court observed that "`judicial resistance to the expansion of duty grows out of practical concerns both about potentially limitless liability and about the unfairness of imposing liability for the acts of another.'" Spitzer, 309 A.D.2d at 95-96, 761 N.Y.S.2d at 196, quoting Hamilton v. Beretta USA Corp., 96 N.Y.2d 222, 233, 750 N.E.2d 1055, 1061, 727 N.Y.S.2d 7, 13 (2001). This concern, the court, noted, "is common to both negligent marketing and public nuisance claims." Spitzer, 309 A.D.2d at 95-96, 761 N.Y.S.2d at 196.
"Whatever the precise scope of public nuisance law in New Jersey may be, no New Jersey court has ever allowed a public nuisance claim to proceed against manufacturers for lawful products that are lawfully placed in the stream of commerce. On the contrary, the courts have enforced the boundary between the well-developed body of product liability law and public nuisance law. Otherwise, if public nuisance law were permitted to encompass product liability, nuisance law `would become a monster that would devour in one gulp the entire law of tort,' [citation]. If defective products are not a public nuisance as a matter of law, then the non-defective, lawful products at issue in this case cannot be a nuisance without straining the law to absurdity." Camden County Board, 273 F.3d at 540.
"The County's request that the trial court use its injunctive powers to mandate the redesign of firearms and declare that the appellees' business methods create a public nuisance, is an attempt to regulate firearms and ammunition through the medium of the judiciary." Penelas v. Arms Technology, Inc., 778 So. 2d 1042, 1045 (Fla.App. 2001).
A Florida statute expressly reserves the field of regulation of firearms and ammunition to the state legislature (Fla. Stat. § 790.33 (1999)). In Illinois, cities and counties are free to impose gun regulations within certain limits (see 720 ILCS 5/47-5 (West 2002)). Nevertheless, we agree with defendants that the Florida court's observation is worthy of consideration.
Defendants' position is that the legislative and executive branches of state and federal government are better suited than this court to address the societal costs that flow from the illegal use of handguns, particularly given that the commercial activity at issue is already highly regulated. Further, defendants argue that plaintiffs' "frustration" at their inability to effectively regulate gun possession in the city cannot be "alleviated through litigation as the judiciary is not empowered to `enact' regulatory measures in the guise of injunctive relief. The power to legislate belongs not to the judicial branch of government, but to the legislative branch." Penelas, 778 So. 2d at 1045.
Our own research reveals that the Criminal Code contains a nuisance provision listing 17 categories of conduct or uses of land that are public nuisances. 720 ILCS 5/47-5 (West 2002). In addition, the General Assembly has enacted numerous other statutes defining certain conduct as constituting a public nuisance. See, e.g., 510 ILCS 5/15(c) (West 2002) (permitting a dangerous dog or other animal from leaving the premises of the owner without a leash or other method of control); 515 ILCS 5/1-215 (West 2002) (use of illegal fishing device); 605 ILCS 5/9-108 (West 2002) (planting of willow trees or hedges on the margin of a highway); 620 ILCS 25/11 (West 2002) (creation of a hazard that obstructs the airspace required for the takeoff or landing of aircraft); 625 ILCS 45/4-8 (West 2002) (use of watercraft equipped with siren or flashing lights); 720 ILCS 5/28-2 (West 2002) (keeping a gambling place); 720 ILCS 5/37-1 (West 2002) (knowingly maintaining a building used in the commission of certain enumerated criminal offenses).
"[E]quitable jurisdiction to abate public nuisances is said to be of `ancient origin,' and it exists even where not conferred by statute, where the offender is amenable to the criminal law, and where no property rights are involved. [Citations.] Too, in a common law action, the extent of the concept of public nuisance is not limited to those activities the legislature has declared public nuisances." Festival Theatre, 91 Ill. 2d at 303.
"If a defendant's conduct in interfering with a public right does not come within one of the traditional categories of the common law crime of public nuisance or is not prohibited by a legislative act, the court is acting without an established and recognized standard." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B, Comment e, at 90 (1979).
In such cases, the Restatement warns, the analysis set forth in sections 826 to 831 becomes more significant. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B, Comment e, at 90 (1979). These sections define factors that should be considered by a court when determining whether an intentional invasion of another's interest in the use and enjoyment of land is unreasonable. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 826 (unreasonableness of intentional invasion), § 827 (gravity of harm), § 828 (Utility of Conduct), §§ 829 through 831 (gravity versus utility) (1979).
Because these factors are intended to apply to intentional conduct affecting the use and enjoyment of land, they are not directly applicable to the novel claim made by plaintiffs. Thus, if we were to engage in the balancing of harm versus utility that the plaintiffs urge, we would be "acting without an established and recognized standard" (Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B, Comment e, at 90 (1979)). In addition, although courts frequently weigh such factors in other contexts, an analysis of the harm caused by firearms versus their utility is better suited to legislative fact-finding and policy-making than to judicial assessment.
As to the argument that compliance with applicable laws precludes a claim of common law public nuisance because it is, by definition, reasonable, the appellate court concluded that "compliance with the law is not dispositive of whether a public nuisance exists, but merely serves as a `guideline' in determining whether an unreasonable interference has occurred." 337 Ill. App. 3d at 13. The authority cited for this statement, however, was not persuasive. The appellate court cited its own recent decision in Young v. Bryco Arms, 327 Ill. App. 3d 948 (2001), a case virtually identical to the present case except that it was brought by private individuals, and a law review article by one of plaintiffs' own attorneys (D. Kairys, The Governmental Handgun Cases and the Elements and Underlying Policies of Public Nuisance Law, 32 Conn. L. Rev. 1175, 1182 (2000)). The only other authority cited by the appellate court for this proposition is Commonwealth Edison, 24 Ill. App. 3d at 632-33, in which the court concluded that although the defendant demonstrated that it was in compliance with applicable standards, the court was "not bound by federal air-pollution standards in deciding whether the facility's emissions constitute a common law nuisance." Rather, the court stated, "those standards offer us guidelines in the determination of the reasonableness of the operation and the extent of any harm to the public." In Commonwealth Edison, however, the appellate court affirmed the trial court's dismissal of the city's public nuisance claim against an alleged polluter on other grounds, specifically, lack of proof of both substantial injury and causation. Commonwealth Edison, 24 Ill. App. 3d at 633. Thus, the commentary in Commonwealth Edison on the relevance of defendant's compliance with federal regulations was dicta and of little persuasive value to this court.
As to the argument that comprehensive regulation of the firearms industry cautions against judicial involvement, the appellate court commented that defendant's alleged fostering of an underground handgun market is "not [a] lawful action." 337 Ill. App. 3d at 13. The appellate court acknowledged that "comprehensive legislation of a certain activity causes courts to exercise judicial restraint in declaring an activity to be a public nuisance if it complies with the regulations." 337 Ill. App. 3d at 13. However, the court found such restraint unjustified in the present case because "`"there is generally no regulation of the quantity, frequency, or purpose of firearm purchases or sales[,] nor is there any national registration of purchasers of firearms. Multiple sales and even straw purchases are generally not unlawful and are not significantly regulated."'" 337 Ill. App. 3d at 13, quoting Young, 327 Ill. App. 3d at 967, quoting D. Kairys, The Governmental Handgun Cases and the Elements and Underlying Policies of Public Nuisance Law, 32 Conn. L. Rev. at 1183. Again, this conclusion is taken from a law review article written by one of plaintiffs' attorneys and, as such, is entitled to little, if any, consideration by this court. In addition, we find the appellate court's conclusion regarding the regulation of firearms purchases to be inaccurate. State and federal regulation of handgun sales is extensive. See 18 U.S.C. § 921 et seq. (2000) (Gun Control Act); 430 ILCS 65/0.01 et seq. (West 2002) (Firearm Owners Identification Card Act). Indeed, the second amended complaint acknowledges that the "State of Illinois is a high regulation state."
Plaintiffs respond that the federal Gun Control Act expressly provides that it does not preempt state or local laws. 18 U.S.C. § 927 (2000). They also call our attention to Kalodimos v. Village of Morton Grove, 103 Ill. 2d 483 (1984), in which this court rejected the argument that state laws regulating firearms are so comprehensive that they evince a legislative intent to preclude municipalities from imposing other restrictions of firearms.
"[I]f there has been established a comprehensive set of legislative acts or administrative regulations governing the details of a particular kind of conduct, the courts are slow to declare an activity to be a public nuisance if it complies with the regulations. * * * The variety and complexity of a problem and of the interests involved and the feeling that the particular decision should be a part of an overall plan prepared with a knowledge of matters not presented to the court and of interests not represented before it, may also promote judicial restraint and a readiness to leave the question to an administrative agency if there is one capable of handling it appropriately." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B, Comment f, at 91-92 (1979).
Plaintiff's apparently would prefer other forms of regulation, as demonstrated by the nature of the injunctive relief they seek. Litigation should not be used to achieve legislative goals. Nonetheless, we turn to the merits of defendants' argument that public nuisance liability may not be imposed because their compliance with existing statutory schemes renders their conduct, by definition, reasonable.
In addition, defendants call our attention to a comment to section 821B of the Restatement: "Although it would be a nuisance at common law, conduct that is fully authorized by statute, ordinance or administrative regulation does not subject the actor to tort liability." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B, Comment f, at 91 (1979).
The second amended complaint contains no specific factual allegations of actual violations of applicable statutes and regulations by any of the named defendants. The complaint asserts that "[a]bsent effective enforcement and prosecution of gun control laws, firearms are readily available to anyone who wishes to use them." We do not question the accuracy of this statement, but it does not specifically implicate these defendants. Plaintiff's also plead that "data from recovered firearms and the undercover work of the Chicago Police Department reflect numerous systemic violations of the aforementioned statutes," but do not allege that these particular defendants committed the violations. Further, plaintiffs claim that "[d]espite strict gun control laws protecting the plaintiffs' citizens in Chicago, there are thousands of illegal firearms in existence in the City of Chicago." Again, the second amended complaint alleges lawbreaking, but not by any of these defendants. Finally, the allegations regarding specific sales transactions by the individual dealer defendants stop short of alleging violations of applicable statues and regulations. We conclude, therefore, that plaintiffs have not stated a claim for public nuisance predicated on violations of applicable law.
Plaintiffs' brief to this court does not return to this factor-based analysis of the existence of a duty, nor does it cite cases that have applied this analysis to find that public policy weighs in favor of judicial recognition of a heretofore unrecognized duty. See, e.g., Bajwa, 208 Ill. 2d at 427-28 (placing a duty of due care upon an insurance company to advise a proposed insured of a policy taken out by another on his life). Instead, plaintiffs distinguish Riordan and Linton on the basis that these are simply negligence cases, not public nuisance cases, and that their nuisance claim is made "under a very different duty than the duty at stake in these private negligence actions." The duty asserted in the second amended complaint, they argue, is a duty owed to the public at large, rather than to a specific member of the public, as was the case in Riordan and Linton.
Applying the four traditional factors ( Bajwa, 208 Ill. 2d at 427), in light of public policy, we find no duty owed to the public at large, at least with respect to the manufacturer and distributor defendants. It is reasonably foreseeable, in a nation that permits private ownership of firearms, that criminals will obtain guns and it is not only likely, but inevitable, that injuries and death will result. It is less foreseeable to these defendants that the criminal conduct of individuals who illegally take firearms into a particular community will result in the creation of a public nuisance there. Further, despite plaintiffs' suggestion that the only burden they would place on defendants is the loss of sales to criminals, the magnitude of the burden that plaintiffs seek to impose on the manufacturer and distributor defendants by altering their business practices is immense. Finally, plaintiffs predict only positive consequences if this duty is recognized — the city will be safer and lives will be saved. Such positive consequences are speculative at best, being based on the assumption that criminals will not be able to obtain guns manufactured by other companies and sold by other dealers. The negative consequence of judicially imposing a duty upon commercial enterprises to guard against the criminal misuse of their products by others will be an unprecedented expansion of the law of public nuisance. See Spitzer, 309 A.D.2d at 104-05, 761 N.Y.S.2d at 202-03 (expanding the reach of common law public nuisance in the manner urged by plaintiff would reach well beyond these defendants to "countless other types of commercial enterprises, in order to address a myriad of societal problems").
The second amended complaint does contain specific factual allegations regarding transactions engaged in by the dealer defendants that, although not illegal, are suggestive of a willingness to serve customers who may intend to circumvent the law. Thus, the first factor, reasonable foreseeability of injury ( Bajwa, 208 Ill. 2d at 427), is arguably stronger with respect to the dealer defendants than with respect to the other groups of defendants. In addition, the relief sought against the dealer defendants is somewhat less burdensome. Only the fourth factor, the consequences of placing that burden on the defendant ( Bajwa, 208 Ill. 2d at 427), weighs heavily against imposing a duty upon the dealer defendants. The decisions in Riordan and Linton are not relevant because neither case involved a defendant who was a retailer of firearms. Because the question of foreseeability plays a pivotal role not only in the question of the existence of a duty but also in the determination of legal cause, we leave this question unanswered for the moment and turn to the question of whether plaintiffs have sufficiently pleaded the element of proximate cause with respect to the dealer defendants.
The second requirement, legal cause, is established only if the defendant's conduct is "`so closely tied to the plaintiffs injury that he should be held legally responsible for it.'" Simmons v. Garces, 198 Ill. 2d 541, 558 (2002), quoting McCraw v. Cegielski, 287 Ill. App. 3d 871, 873 (1996). The question is one of policy — How far should a defendant's legal responsibility extend for conduct that did, in fact, cause the harm? Simmons, 198 Ill. 2d at 558. See W. Keeton, Prosser Keeton on Torts § 41, at 264 (5th ed. 1984) ("As a practical matter, legal responsibility must be limited to those causes which are so closely connected with the result and of such significance that the law is justified in imposing liability. Some boundary must be set to liability for the consequences of any act, upon the basis of some social idea of justice or policy"). The proper inquiry regarding legal cause involves an assessment of foreseeability, in which we ask whether the injury is of a type that a reasonable person would see as a likely result of his conduct. Lee, 152 Ill. 2d at 456.
Although proximate cause is generally a question of fact ( Lee, 152 Ill. 2d at 455), the lack of proximate cause may be determined by the court as a matter of law where the facts alleged do not sufficiently demonstrate both cause in fact and legal cause ( Harrison v. Hardin County Community Unit School District No. 1, 197 Ill. 2d 466, 476 (2001)).
"[I]t is not fatal to the public nuisance claim that defendants did not control the actual firearms at the moment that harm occurred. [Citation.] The Ohio Supreme Court stated: `[A]ppellant alleged that appellees control the creation and supply of this illegal secondary market for firearms, not the actual use of the firearms that cause injury. * * * Just as the individuals who fire the guns are held accountable for the injuries sustained, appellees can be held liable for creating the alleged nuisance.'" 337 Ill. App. 3d at 17, quoting City of Cincinnati, 95 Ohio St. 3d at 420, 768 N.E.2d at 1143.
This court has discussed the question of control in the context of a nuisance claim only once, in People v. Brockman, in which we acknowledged the "oft-stated rule" that nuisance liability "requires that the defendant be in control * * * either through ownership or control of the property." People v. Brockman, 143 Ill. 2d 351, 373 (1991) (citing cases from the appellate court and from other jurisdictions). The public nuisance at issue in Brockman was pollution caused by the illegal disposal of hazardous substances in a landfill. The defendant landfill operator filed a third-party complaint against certain of his customers who had been the source of the hazardous substances, seeking contribution towards the costs of removal. We concluded that although the customers' control argument was compelling, "the differing policy interests attendant to our contribution statute require that we not regard `control' as the dominant consideration in cases such as the one before us." Brockman, 143 Ill. 2d at 373. Thus, we concluded that:
Plaintiffs have not sought recovery from these defendants under a theory of contribution. They do not suggest that fault be apportioned between these defendants and the individuals in direct control of the instrumentality — the lawbreakers who possessed and used the firearms in the city. Defendants will not be unjustly enriched if the lawbreakers are made to pay for their crimes without defendants' contribution.
In Brunsfeld v. Mineola Hotel Restaurant, Inc., 119 Ill. App. 3d 337 (1983), the plaintiff failed to state a cause of action for public nuisance against owners of property adjacent to the frozen lake upon which he was injured while snowmobiling. Although the property owners cooperated with individuals who constructed a motorcycle racetrack on the lake, and even allowed them to use their equipment to create and maintain the track, plaintiff pointed "to no act, structure, or device within defendant's control which could constitute [a public] nuisance." Brunsfeld, 119 Ill. App. 3d at 345. The court explained:
We find City of Bloomington unpersuasive. Indeed, on similar facts, an Illinois court following the precedent established by this court in Brockman ( 143 Ill. 2d at 373-74) might have held that the city of Bloomington had stated a claim against Monsanto. See also City of Bloomington, 891 F.2d at 619 (Cudahy, J., dissenting) (suggesting that the majority had confused participation in the creation of the nuisance with control over the instrumentality).
In the present case, the dealer defendants had ownership and control of firearms at some point in the distribution chain. If a public nuisance later results from the illegal use of the firearms by third parties, liability in public nuisance is not necessarily precluded simply because defendants no longer control the objects. The types of injunctive relief sought ( i.e., requiring these defendants to obtain proof that a Chicago resident making a gun purchase has a place outside the city in which he can legally maintain the firearm; prohibiting repeat sales to the same customer within 30 days of a previous purchase) do not require them to be able to exert control over the firearms that have already left their possession.
In response to defendants' remoteness argument, the appellate court ruled that plaintiffs sufficiently pleaded "resulting injury" by alleging "facts that, notwithstanding actual knowledge that the guns would be brought into Chicago and used in crimes, the manufacturers, distributors, and dealers failed to alter their actions, thereby creating a public nuisance."
337 Ill. App. 3d at 17-18. In reaching this conclusion, the appellate court relied upon section 824 of the Restatement and comment b thereto.
Section 824, however, does not address the element of proximate cause. Instead, it deals with the type of conduct essential to liability for public or private nuisance. An actor will be held liable for a nuisance if his conduct consists of: "(a) an act; or (b) a failure to act under circumstances in which the actor is under a duty to take positive action to prevent or abate the interference" that constitutes the nuisance. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 824 (1979). In the "ordinary case," comment b instructs, liability for nuisance "arises because one person's acts set in motion a force or chain of events resulting in the invasion." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 824, Comment b (1979). Further, "[s]o far as the actor's liability is concerned, it is immaterial whether he does the acts solely in the pursuit of his own interests or whether he is acting for another, gratuitously, under contract or as the other's servant or agent. It is enough that his acts are a legal cause of the invasion." (Emphasis added.) Restatement (Second) of Torts § 824, Comment b (1979). Thus, section 824 and comment b do not provide the answer to the question of whether the alleged conduct of defendants constitutes a legal cause of the claimed nuisance. Rather, comment b merely poses the question — Is the conduct of these defendants a legal cause of the alleged interference with a public right? The answer to this question must be found elsewhere.
In cases involving claims of negligence or nuisance, Illinois courts draw a distinction between condition and cause. First Springfield Bank Trust v. Galman, 188 Ill. 2d 252, 257 (1999). If a defendant's breach of duty furnishes a condition by which injury is made possible and a third person, acting independently, subsequently causes the injury, the defendant's creation of the condition is not a proximate cause of the injury. Briske v. Village of Burnham, 379 Ill. 193, 199 (1942).
In Galman, this court was urged to abandon this approach and to apply the proximate cause standard of Lee to all cases involving a question of proximate cause, even those in which the immediate cause of the injury is the subsequent, independent act of a third person. See, e.g., W. Keeton, Prosser Keeton on Torts § 42, at 278 ("`Cause' and `condition' still find occasional mention in the decisions; but the distinction is now almost entirely discredited"). Rather than abandon our long-standing framework for the analysis of proximate cause, we instead harmonized our precedents with the proximate cause test articulated in Lee. See Galman, 188 Ill. 2d at 257-58. See also Abrams v. City of Chicago, 211 Ill. 2d 251, 259 (2004) (restating the applicability of cause versus condition analysis to a special subset of proximate cause cases involving injuries caused by the intervening acts of third parties).
Under the Lee standard, as noted above, cause in fact exists if the defendant's conduct is "a material element and a substantial factor in bringing about the injury." Lee, 152 Ill. 2d at 455. Legal cause, however, is "essentially a question of foreseeability." Lee, 152 Ill. 2d at 456. The relevant inquiry is whether the injury is of a type that a reasonable person would see as a likely result of his conduct. Lee, 152 Ill. 2d at 456. This court has rejected the implication that the Lee test is incompatible with earlier decisions involving a "particular subset of cases," in which subsequent acts of third parties constituted an intervening and efficient cause of the injury. See Galman, 188 Ill. 2d at 259, citing Briske, 379 Ill. 193 (village's placement of barricade across vacated street was condition, not legal cause, of automobile's collision with the barricade where intervening efficient cause was driver's negligence); Merlo v. Public Service Co. of Northern Illinois, 381 Ill. 300 (1942) (height and condition of wires was condition, not legal cause, of injury where efficient intervening cause was negligence of crane operator who caused crane to come into contact with wires); Thompson v. County of Cook, 154 Ill. 2d 374 (1993) (county's failure to post warning sign at dangerous curve was condition, not legal cause, of injury where efficient intervening cause of death of passenger was recklessness of drunken driver); see also Abrams, 211 Ill. 2d at 260. This court concluded in Galman that when, as in these cases, plaintiffs injury directly results from the subsequent, independent act of a third person, the "material and substantial element" test of Lee is applied by asking "whether the intervening efficient cause was of a type that a reasonable person would see as a likely result of his or her conduct." Galman, 188 Ill. 2d at 259. As the Merlo court noted over 60 years ago:
"If the act of a third party is the immediate cause of the injury and is such as in the exercise of reasonable diligence would not be anticipated and the third person is not under the control of the one guilty of the original wrong, the connection is broken and the first act or omission is not the proximate cause of the injury. There may be more than one proximate cause of an injury. But if two wholly independent acts, by independent parties, neither bearing to the other any relation or control, cause an injury by one creating the occasion or condition upon which the other operates, the act or omission which places the dangerous agency in operation is the efficient intervening cause that breaks the causal connection and makes the other act or omission the remote and not the proximate cause of the injury." Merlo, 381 Ill. at 317.
Having assumed, arguendo, that the presence and use of illegal firearms can constitute a public nuisance, we must determine whether defendants' conduct in selling firearms that eventually are taken into the city of Chicago is a legal cause of the nuisance. Legal cause will be found if reasonable persons in the retail business of selling firearms would have seen the creation of the nuisance in the city of Chicago as a likely result of their conduct. See Galman, 188 Ill. 2d at 259. However, legal cause will not be found where the criminal acts of third parties have broken the causal connection and the resulting nuisance "is such as in the exercise of reasonable diligence would not be anticipated and the third person is not under the control of the one guilty of the original wrong." Merlo, 381 Ill. at 317. Clearly, the individuals who illegally possess and use firearms in the city of Chicago are not under the control of the dealer defendants. The question then becomes entirely one of foreseeability — Is the creation of a public nuisance in the city of Chicago so clearly foreseeable that the sales practices of these dealers should be deemed a legal cause of the nuisance even though it results from the criminal acts of third parties?
A familiar treatise on torts warns that "[i]t must be remembered that the mere fact that misconduct on the part of another might be foreseen is not of itself sufficient to place the responsibility upon the defendant." W. Keeton, Prosser Keeton on Torts § 44, at 305 (5th ed. 1984). Further, "[e]ven though the intervening cause may be regarded as foreseeable, the defendant is not liable unless the defendant's conduct has created or increased an unreasonable risk of harm through its intervention." W. Keeton, Prosser Keeton on Torts § 44, at 305 (5th ed. 1984). These comments, contained in the section of the treatise discussing intervening causes, refer the reader to the earlier discussion of the standard of conduct: "Under all ordinary and normal circumstances, in the absence of any reason to expect the contrary, the actor may reasonably proceed upon the assumption that others will obey the criminal law. W. Keeton, Prosser Keeton on Torts § 33, at 201 (5th ed. 1984). In "other situations," however, the actor may have a duty of care for the protection of others. Such situations include situations in which the actor has a special responsibility for the protection of the plaintiff, perhaps arising by contract or founded upon a special relationship between the two, and where there is "an especial temptation and opportunity for criminal misconduct brought about by the defendant." W. Keeton, Prosser Keeton on Torts § 33, at 201-03 (5th ed. 1984).
This result is consistent with other Illinois cases in which a defendant's conduct was found to be so remote from the resulting injury that legal cause was not established. See, e.g., Thompson, 154 Ill. 2d at 383 (inadequate warning of curve in road was merely a condition; injury was caused by intoxicated speeding driver). Although we have found no reported cases in which a nuisance claim has been dismissed at this stage for lack of legal cause, the case of Watson v. Enterprise Leasing Co., 325 Ill. App. 3d 914 (2001), in which the theory of liability was negligent entrustment, offers some interesting parallels to the present case. The defendant was a merchant who furnished a condition by which the injury was made possible. Specifically, Enterprise leased a vehicle to one party with the knowledge that it was likely to be driven by one or more third parties. The lessee entrusted the vehicle to a friend, from whom it was taken by yet another person. Eventually, an intoxicated minor took the keys from that person and caused an accident resulting in the death of his passenger. Watson, 325 Ill. App. 3d at 917-20. Affirming the trial court's grant of summary judgment for the defendant, the appellate court noted that the element of cause in fact had been satisfied. Absent the leasing of a car to the first individual, the death would not have occurred — at least not in an accident involving this particular vehicle. Watson, 325 Ill. App. 3d at 924. The intoxicated driver would either not have driven at all and there would have been no accident, or he would have obtained the keys to another vehicle and the accident would have occurred, but would not have involved the defendant's vehicle. Thus, the appellate court concluded, the "crux of the issue" was "legal cause, which revolves around foreseeability." Watson, 325 Ill. App. 3d at 924. The driver who caused the fatal injury, the court noted, was at least two steps removed from the person to whom Enterprise directly entrusted the car. In addition, the accident was caused by the criminal act of a third party. These events were not reasonably foreseeable. Watson, 325 Ill. App. 3d at 925. Although the defendant furnished a condition that made the resulting injury possible, the creation of this condition was not the legal cause of the fatal accident because the defendant's conduct was too remote to constitute legal cause. Watson, 325 Ill. App. 3d at 925. As the appellate court observed, to "impose foresight on defendant under the particular circumstances present in this case would render it liable for anyone who drove the car, thus making it strictly liable." Watson, 325 Ill. App. 3d at 925.
Public policy also supports a conclusion that neither duty nor legal cause can be established with regard to these defendants. In Evans v. Shannon, 201 Ill. 2d 424 (2002), we invoked public policy when we declined to impose a duty on a car rental company to check the drivers' licenses of employees of the entities to whom it leased cars. We stated that a "duty so imposed would have farreaching consequences, logically extending to every person who takes his or her vehicle for repair or servicing, and requiring that commercial and private car owners alike police the hiring practices of businesses with whom they deal." Evans, 201 Ill. 2d at 438. In the present case, the consequences of imposing a duty upon the dealer defendants to prevent the creation of a public nuisance in the city of Chicago by those intent on illegally possessing and using guns in the city are equally far-reaching. The same concerns underlie our conclusion that it is inadvisable as a matter of public policy to deem the dealer defendants' actions a legal cause of the alleged nuisance.
Based on the pleadings before us, we conclude that the alleged public nuisance is not so foreseeable to the dealer defendants that their conduct can be deemed a legal cause of a nuisance that is the result of the aggregate of the criminal acts of many individuals over whom they have no control. This is one of those "`instances in which a party may have contributed in some remote way [to the harm] and yet it is inappropriate to subject that party to tort liability'" Spitzer, 309 A.D.2d at 104, 761 N.Y.S.2d at 202 (quoting the lower court in the same case). See also Abrams, 211 Ill. 2d at 262 (noting that while all traffic accidents are "to some extent remotely foreseeable," the city's failure to send an ambulance was not the legal cause of an accident that occurred while plaintiff was en route to the hospital in a private vehicle).
An award of damages in an action for nuisance is "retroactive, applying to past conduct," and is proper if "it is unreasonable to engage in the conduct without paying for the harm done." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B, Comment i (1979). Under section 821C of the Restatement, a plaintiff may recover damages in an individual action for public nuisance only if he "suffered harm of a kind different from that suffered by other members of the public exercising the right common to the general public that was the subject of interference." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821C(1) (1979). The ability of an individual plaintiff to recover damages in a public nuisance suit is the result of "a tort remedy [having] been engrafted onto a crime," the tort remedy being damages for trespass and the crime being the common law crime of public nuisance. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821C, Comment a (1979). No mention is made in section 821C or the comments that follow of the ability of a public official or entity to recover damages in an action for public nuisance brought on behalf of the general public.
Plaintiffs claim more than $433 million in operating expenses attributable to the alleged public nuisance during the years 1994-98. This amount includes the expenses of emergency communications and emergency response, health care provided to victims of gun violence, police investigations, and the prosecution and defense of those accused of crimes involving illegal possession and use of firearms. Plaintiffs also seek punitive damages against each defendant. Although acknowledging the difficulty of apportioning damages among the individual defendants, plaintiffs insist that damages are neither speculative nor particularly difficult to calculate. Plaintiff's also suggest that it is premature to consider issues related to damages at the pleading stage of this litigation. Plaintiffs assert that they may properly seek money damages because their public nuisance claim "is not based on economic losses flowing from damage to someone else's person or property, but instead properly asserts the collective rights of the public." "In short," plaintiffs state, "in a public nuisance action, the government is never a remote or derivative plaintiff." Plaintiffs' position is that because abatement of the alleged nuisance by collecting unlawful firearms is not feasible, they are entitled to recover damages "representing the cost of providing governmental services made necessary by the widespread unlawful possession and use of firearms."
Plaintiffs argue that their claim is not based on the type of commercial interests for which the Moorman doctrine bars recovery. The damages they seek are not the type of economic losses associated with "disappointed commercial expectations" ( In re Chicago Flood, 176 Ill. 2d at 200), such as "`damages for inadequate value, costs of repair and replacement of the defective product, or consequent loss of profits,'" and "`the diminution in the value of the product because it is inferior in quality and does not work for the general purposes for which it was manufactured and sold.' [Citation.]" Moorman, 91 Ill. 2d at 82.
This court revisited the economic loss doctrine in In re Chicago Flood, a case in which there was no privity of contract between the parties and no allegation that a product was defective. The plaintiffs included a class of individuals and businesses affected by the flooding of a tunnel beneath the Chicago River, allegedly caused by the negligence of the city of Chicago and one of its contractors. In addition, an insurance company, ITT Hartford, the subrogee of several other claimants, brought a separate action in nuisance. In re Chicago Flood, 176 Ill. 2d at 183. Applying the Moorman doctrine, the trial court dismissed the nuisance claim as to Hartford's subrogors who did not incur both an invasion of their property by the floodwaters and resulting property damage. In re Chicago Flood, 176 Ill. 2d at 187. On appeal, the appellate court held that the Moorman doctrine did not bar an otherwise proper nuisance claim. In re Chicago Flood, 176 Ill. 2d at 188-89.
This court held that a plaintiff in a private nuisance action may recover all consequential damages flowing from an injury to the plaintiffs person or property. In re Chicago Flood, 176 Ill. 2d at 207. However, because this court found no reason to treat nuisance differently than any other tort, recovery of damages for solely economic loss would not be permitted. In re Chicago Flood, 176 Ill. 2d at 207. We based this holding on the policy underlying the economic loss rule: that because "the economic consequences of any single accident are virtually endless," a defendant who could be held liable for every economic effect of its tortious conduct would face virtually uninsurable risks, far out of proportion to its culpability. The economic loss rule operates to prevent such open-ended tort liability. In re Chicago Flood, 176 Ill. 2d at 207 (referring to earlier discussion in the opinion). The present case, however, is distinguishable from Chicago Flood, in which the theory of liability was private nuisance and the harm was the result of a single accident, rather than a course of conduct.
Plaintiffs cite Board of Education of City of Shepard v. A, C S, Inc., 131 Ill. 2d 428 (1989), as an example of a case in which this court allowed a tort action to proceed, notwithstanding the fact that the plaintiff school boards were seeking damages from the defendant manufacturers and distributors of asbestos-containing materials. Recovery of the costs of asbestos abatement would not have been possible under a contract theory. After all, the defendants provided and satisfactorily installed a product that adequately performed its intended fireproofing and insulation functions. A, C S, 131 Ill. 2d at 451.
Moorman directed that a court consider the "nature of the defect and the manner in which the damage occurred" as a means of distinguishing between property damage, which would support a claim for economic damages, and purely economic loss, which would not. Moorman, 91 Ill. 2d at 82. Applying this two-part inquiry in A, C S, this court found that the nature of the defect was the presence of carcinogenic asbestos fibers on school premises. A, C S, 131 Ill. 2d at 445. The manner in which damage occurred was contamination, which was deemed a type of property damage on which a claim for economic damages could be based. A, C S, 131 Ill. 2d at 449. This court, therefore, declined to dismiss the school boards' negligence and strict liability claims as barred by the Moorman doctrine. A, C S, 131 Ill. 2d at 451.
"Perhaps it is difficult, and may appear somewhat artificial, to fit a claim for asbestos damage within the framework which has been established for more traditional tort or contract actions. Indeed, the nature of the `defect' and the `damage' caused by asbestos is unique * * *. Nonetheless, we do believe that this complaint has alleged sufficient facts to establish a tort action under the principles established in Moorman; however, the holding in this case should not be construed as an invitation to bring economic loss contract actions within the sphere of tort law through the use of some fictional property damage." A, C S, 131 Ill. 2d at 445.
Despite this warning, plaintiffs urge us to read A, C S as creating an exception to the Moorman doctrine whenever it is alleged that a defendant's conduct "creates an unreasonable threat to public health, safety, and welfare." A, C S, however, does not represent an exception to Moorman. Instead, A, C S merely stands for the proposition that because contamination is a form of property damage, the cost of asbestos removal from a plaintiffs property does not constitute a solely economic loss subject to the bar of Moorman. See also Tioga Public School District #15 of Williams County, State of North Dakota v. United States Gypsum Co., 984 F.2d 915 (8th Cir. 1993) (holding that the economic loss doctrine did not bar plaintiffs claim for damages for the costs of asbestos abatement). In addition, we note that A, C S predates this court's decision in In re Chicago Flood, in which the recognized exceptions to the Moorman doctrine were listed. The exception urged by plaintiffs was not noted. In re Chicago Flood, 176 Ill. 2d at 199.
Plaintiffs in the present case can neither avail themselves of the standing conferred upon individuals under section 821C(2) of the Restatement on the basis of having suffered a particular harm, nor escape the strictures of the Moorman doctrine, because they have pleaded no injury to person or property.
The limiting principle adopted by the New Jersey court was that of foreseeability. People Express, 100 N.J. at 256, 495 A.2d at 112. Under the new rule, "a defendant who has breached his duty of care to avoid the risk of economic injury to particularly foreseeable plaintiffs may be held liable for actual economic losses that are proximately caused by its breach of duty." People Express, 100 N.J. at 267, 495 A.2d at 118. With regard to the nuisance claim, the court stated, the ability of an individual to recover solely economic losses under the new rule would be dependent on his standing to bring an action for public nuisance. People Express, 100 N.J. at 259-60, 495 A.2d at 113-14.
"Although they are nominally under the same economic loss rule, there are really some different policy issues driving the doctrine in access cases. The usual concerns about interfering with contract law and the parties' freedom to allocate risks are not present because there is no contractual relationship. The parties are typically strangers and, with no foreknowledge of each other's activities, had no opportunity to assess and allocate risks ex ante. What these cases share in common with traditional economic loss doctrine jurisprudence is the lack of property damage. Moreover, because the only harms alleged were profits lost due to customer's inability to access the premises, these damages fit neatly within the rubric of `disappointed commercial expectations.' Courts also emphasize the speculativeness and potential magnitude of damages in access cases. * * * So, although the original policy bases for the economic loss doctrine are not present, because of the type of injury, these cases seem to fit, at least linguistically, within the economic loss doctrine." Starlink, 212 F. Supp. at 840.
The damages sought by the plaintiffs in the present case are not lost profits and, thus, do not "fit neatly" within the rubric of the economic loss doctrine as applied in the access cases. However, the concerns regarding speculativeness and potential magnitude of damages that are present in the access cases are present here. We conclude that the damages sought by the plaintiffs are "solely economic damages" in the sense that they represent costs incurred in the absence of harm to a plaintiffs person or property. See Starlink, 212 F. Supp. at 841 (plaintiff cannot rely on harm to property belonging to others to demonstrate economic injury).
In sum, this court has never before been asked to determine whether the Moorman doctrine bars a claim for solely economic damages incurred by a city when it brings a claim of public nuisance on behalf of the general public, in the absence of physical harm to city property or other direct injury. The Restatement appears to limit recovery of economic damages in public nuisance suits to individual plaintiffs so affected by the public nuisance that they have standing to bring the action. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821C(1) (1979). We need not decide in the present case whether we agree with this approach, which has been adopted in other jurisdictions ( One Meridian Plaza, 820 F. Supp. at 1481; Stop Shop Cos. v. Fisher, 387 Mass. 889, 897, 444 N.E.2d 368, 373 (1983) (individual plaintiff who suffered no damage to property may recover solely economic damages in public nuisance claim for obstruction of public way by demonstrating "special pecuniary harm," not common to the general public)), because the plaintiffs here are public entities. In Chicago Flood, this court concluded that there is no reason to treat claims of private nuisance differently from other torts. In re Chicago Flood, 176 Ill. 2d at 207. In the end, we see no reason to treat claims of public nuisance differently than claims of private nuisance. The Moorman doctrine does not permit an award of solely economic damages to the plaintiff public entities in this public nuisance action.
The seminal case on this doctrine is City of Flagstaff v. Atchison, Topeka Santa Fe Ry. Co., 719 F.2d 322, 324 (9th Cir. 1983), in which the city attempted to recover from the railway the costs associated with emergency response after the derailment of tank cars carrying explosive gas. The city's theories of liability were negligence and conduct of an ultrahazardous activity. City of Flagstaff, 719 F.3d at 323. Affirming the district court's dismissal of the complaint, the court of appeals held that "the cost of public services for protection from fire or safety hazards is to be borne by the public as a whole, not assessed against the tortfeasor whose negligence creates the need for the service." City of Flagstaff, 719 F.2d at 323 (applying Arizona law in a case of first impression). See also Koch v. Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Inc., 62 N.Y.2d 548, 468 N.E.2d 1, 479 N.Y.S.2d 163 (1984) (in absence of statutory authority, city cannot recover wages, salaries, and overtime paid to police, fire, and other municipal employees as a result of citywide blackout caused by defendant's negligence).
In addition to stating that such recovery would be permitted if it were authorized by statute or regulation, the court of appeals in City of Flagstaff noted that recovery has been allowed "where the acts of a private party create a public nuisance which the government seeks to abate * * * and where the government incurs expenses to protect its own property." City of Flagstaff, 719 F.2d at 324. "These cases fall into distinct, well-defined categories unrelated to the normal provision of police, fire, and emergency services, and none are applicable here." City of Flagstaff, 719 F.2d at 324.
A, C S, one of the cases cited by the plaintiffs, is such a case. Plaintiffs suggest that this court approved the school boards' recovery of costs as a consequence of a defendant's wrongdoing. However, the plaintiff school boards in A, C S were suing under ordinary tort principles as owners of damaged property, not as governmental entities seeking to recover the costs of the services they routinely provide to the public. A, C S, 131 Ill. 2d at 450-51. See also People ex rel. Department of Transportation v. City of Chicago, 36 Ill. App. 3d 712, 714 (1976) ("it is well established that when the State brings an action to recover for damages to property, it stands in the same position as to rights and remedies as any other litigant").
In City County of San Francisco v. Philip Morris, Inc., 957 F. Supp. 1130 (N.D. Cal. 1997), plaintiffs were permitted to maintain an action for fraud against tobacco defendants in an effort to recover costs of medical care provided to indigent residents for smoking-related illness. This result, however, was not reached as an exception to the municipal cost recovery rule. Rather, the court ruled that the California law, which bars recovery by one who pays medical expenses of another who has been negligently injured, does not apply to intentional torts such as fraud. City County of San Francisco, 957 F. Supp. at 1141.
Plaintiffs also rely on Ashcroft v. Kansas City Fire-fighters Local No. 42, 672 S.W.2d 99 (Mo.App. 1984), in which the State of Missouri was permitted to sue the firefighters' union in tort to recover the cost of deploying the state militia during an illegal strike. Authority for the award of damages was found in the state statute making such strikes illegal, which "implicitly consign[ed]" the recognition of a cause of action for violation of the statute and the creation of the proper remedy to the courts. Ashcroft, 672 S.W.2d at 109. The Missouri court, however, expressly disclaimed any liability for damages under the theory of public nuisance on these facts. Ashcroft, 672 S.W.2d at 114.
Plaintiffs also argue that the exception acknowledged in City of Flagstaff, applicable to matters "unrelated to the normal provision of police, fire, and emergency services" ( City of Flagstaff, 719 F.2d at 324), should apply when ongoing misconduct is so pervasive that it creates a public nuisance. They cite City of Cincinnati, in which the Supreme Court of Ohio permitted the city to maintain an action for damages in tort against a group of defendants similar to those in the present case:
"Although a municipality cannot reasonably expect to recover the costs of city services whenever a tortfeasor causes harm to the public, it should be allowed to argue that it may recover such damages in this type of case. Unlike the train derailment that occurred in the Flagstaff case, which was a single, discrete incident requiring a single emergency response, the misconduct alleged in this case is ongoing and persistent. The continuing nature of the misconduct may justify the recoupment of such governmental costs. * * * Moreover, even the Flagstaff court recognized that recovery by a governmental entity is allowed `where the acts of a private party create a public nuisance which the government seeks to abate.'" City of Cincinnati, 95 Ohio St. 3d at 428, 768 N.E.2d at 1149-50, quoting City of Flagstaff, 719 F.2d at 324.
See also City of Boston v. Smith Wesson Corp., No. 199902590 (Mass.Super. July 13, 2000) (distinguishing City of Flagstaff on basis that it involved a discrete emergency).
In James v. Arms Technology, Inc., 359 N.J. Super. 291, 820 A.2d 27 (2003), a New Jersey appellate court offered several reasons for declining to apply the municipal cost recovery rule to a public nuisance claim against gun manufacturers, distributors, and dealers. First, the case upon which the New Jersey rule was based had subsequently been abrogated, at least in part, by statute. Second, the ongoing course of conduct alleged against these defendants was distinguishable from the single incident at issue in City of Flagstaff. Third, the rule does not apply where a municipality seeks to recover the costs of abatement of a nuisance. And, finally, the rule has been "subject to recent criticism, given the economic realities faced by cities." James, 359 N.J. Super, at 327, 820 A.2d at 49-50.
We do not find these reasons persuasive. Unlike New Jersey, no Illinois statute authorizes the recovery sought by plaintiffs. Second, we reject the distinction between single, discrete disasters, such as fires and explosions, and the unfortunately frequent incidents of handgun violence as a meaningful basis for abrogating the rule. If anything, the need for emergency response to shootings is a day-to-day occurrence, well within the predictable need for law enforcement and other municipal resources, while the risk of an explosion or other disaster is unpredictable and may impose devastating costs on a local government. Such a "single incident" does not result in a merely "nominal expense" ( James, 359 N.J. Super. at 326, 820 A.2d at 48) that can be spread across the tax base without difficulty, as these cases would suggest. Nevertheless, as a matter of public policy, the cost of responding to such disasters is borne by the taxpayers, absent any legislative authorization otherwise. It defies common sense to suggest that the more predictable the expense, the greater the ability of the city to recover its costs in tort. The potential unintended consequences of such a rule are staggering. We agree with defendants that when the need for emergency services in response to an alleged nuisance is ongoing, the municipal cost recovery rule is stronger, not weaker, because the legislature is better able to consider need for cost-recovery legislation than in cases of sudden disaster. If the legislature concludes that the costs of a certain public service should be borne by the parties whose conduct necessitates that service, rather than by the taxpayers in general, it has the ability to enact a statute expressly authorizing recovery of such costs. Third, since plaintiffs admit that abatement is not feasible and that the damages they seek do not represent the cost of abatement, the exception in City of Flagstaff for such recovery does not apply. And, finally, we are not persuaded by scholarly and judicial criticism of the rule, as reflected in plaintiffs' argument that "[c]ompensatory damages may * * * constitute the most effective relief available for past misconduct, both to compensate the City and the County and to establish a rule providing the firearms industry with an economic incentive to utilize more responsible marketing practices." They may be correct, but this is a question for the legislature. We will not abandon the principles of Moorman and its progeny, and the sound logic underlying the municipal cost recovery rule, in order to create such an incentive.
Similarly, because this case has been resolved on other grounds, we have not considered defendants' arguments that dismissal of this action is warranted on the basis the injunctive relief sought by plaintiffs would violate the commerce and due process clauses of the United States Constitution (U.S. Const., art. I, § 8, cl. 3; amends. V, XIV) and the state constitutional provision addressing the powers of home rule units (Ill. Const. 1970, art. VII, § 6). Lyon v. Department of Children Family Services, 209 Ill. 2d 264, 271 (2004).
To do so, we would have had to decide each of the issues raised in this appeal in plaintiffs' favor. In effect, we would have had to resolve every "close call" in favor of creating an entirely new species of public nuisance liability. Instead, after careful consideration, we conclude that plaintiffs have not stated a claim for public nuisance. Even granting, arguendo, that a public right has been infringed, we conclude that their assertions of negligent conduct are not supported by any recognized duty on the part of the manufacturer and distributor defendants and that, under the Gilmore rule ( Gilmore, 261 Ill. App. 3d at 661), their allegations of intentional conduct are insufficient for public nuisance liability as a matter of law. In addition, we hold that proximate cause cannot be established as to the dealer defendants because the claimed harm is the aggregate result of numerous unforeseeable intervening criminal acts by third parties not under defendants' control. By implication, proximate cause is also lacking as to the manufacturer and distributor defendants, who are even further removed from the intervening criminal acts. Finally, we hold that plaintiffs' action for damages is barred by the Moorman doctrine and the municipal cost recovery rule.
For the reasons given in my special concurrence in Young v. Bryco Arms, 213 Ill. 2d 433, 456 (2004), I specially concur.
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