Title: Bradley v. American Smelting and Refining Co.
Citation: 104 Wash. 2d 677, 709 P.2d 782
Docket Number: 51094-6
State: Washington
Issuer: Washington Supreme Court
Date: November 14, 1985

104 Wn.2d 677 (1985) 709 P.2d 782 CERTIFICATION FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON IN MICHAEL O. BRADLEY, ET AL, Plaintiffs, v. AMERICAN SMELTING AND REFINING COMPANY, Defendant. No. 51094-6. The Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc. November 14, 1985. Cooper &amp; Tobin, Bill Tobin, and David F. Cooper, for plaintiffs. Eisenhower, Carlson, Newlands, Reha, Henriot &amp; Quinn, by Ronald A. Roberts and Kathryn J. Nelson (Victor E. *679 Schwartz, Lorraine B. Halloway, and Liberty Mahshigian, of counsel), for defendant. CALLOW, J. This comes before us on a certification from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Plaintiffs, landowners on Vashon Island, had sued for damages in trespass and nuisance from the deposit on their property of microscopic, airborne particles of heavy metals which came from the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) copper smelter at Ruston, Washington. The issues certified for answer are as follows: 1. Did the defendant have the requisite intent to commit intentional trespass as a matter of law? 2. Does an intentional deposit of microscopic particulates, undetectable by the human senses, upon a person's property give rise to a cause of action for trespassory invasion of the person's right to exclusive possession of property as well as a claim of nuisance? 3. Does the cause of action for trespassory invasion require proof of actual damages? 4. If a cause of action for intentional trespass is recognized in Washington, what are the appropriate limitations? What is the effect of the theory of continuing trespass and the discovery rule in this context? Are the affirmative defenses of prescription and preemption by other state laws recognized? The parties have stipulated to the facts as follows: Plaintiffs Michael O. Bradley and Marie A. Bradley, husband and wife, are owners and occupiers of real property on the southern end of Vashon Island in King County, Washington. The Bradleys purchased their property in 1978. Defendant ASARCO, a New Jersey corporation doing business in Washington, operates a primary copper smelter on real property it owns in Ruston, which is an incorporated municipality surrounded by the city of Tacoma, Washington. On October 3, 1983, plaintiffs brought this action against *680 defendant alleging a cause of action for intentional trespass and for nuisance. Plaintiffs' property is located some 4 miles north of defendant's smelter. Defendant's primary copper smelter (also referred to as the Tacoma smelter) has operated in its present location since 1890. It has operated as a copper smelter since 1902, and in 1905 it was purchased and operated by a corporate entity which is now ASARCO. As a part of the industrial process of smelting copper at the Tacoma smelter, various gases such as sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, including arsenic, cadmium and other metals, are emitted. Particulate matter is composed of distinct particles of matter other than water, which cannot be detected by the human senses. The emissions from the Tacoma smelter are subject to regulation under the Federal Clean Air Act, the Washington Clean Air Act (RCW 70.94) and the Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency (PSAPCA). Currently, the Tacoma smelter meets the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, both primary and secondary, for both sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. As a result of the variance granted by PSAPCA, the Tacoma smelter is also in compliance with PSAPCA Regulation I concerning particulate emissions. As a part of defendant's smelting process, the Tacoma smelter emits into the atmosphere gases and particulate matter. For the purposes of resolving the certified questions, the parties stipulate that some particulate emissions of both cadmium and arsenic from the Tacoma smelter have been and are continuing to be deposited on plaintiffs' land. Defendant ASARCO has been aware since it took over operation of the Tacoma smelter in 1905 that the wind does, on occasion, cause smelter particulate emissions to blow over Vashon Island where plaintiffs' land is located. The parties are squabbling to some extent about other "factual" assertions which are immaterial to the resolution of the issues posed by the certification. It was apparently stipulated that the record contains no proof of actual damages. *681 Other matters have been brought to our attention in the briefs of the parties which may be pertinent to the disposition of the case by the Federal District Court, but which are not relevant to our inquiry. This case was initiated in King County Superior Court and later removed to the United States District Court. Upon the plaintiffs moving for summary judgment on the issue of liability for the claimed trespass, the stated issues were certified to this court. The issues present the conflict in an industrial society between the need of all for the production of goods and the desire of the landowner near the manufacturing plant producing those goods that his use and enjoyment of his land not be diminished by the unpleasant side effects of the manufacturing process. A reconciliation must be found between the interest of the many who are unaffected by the possible poisoning and the few who may be affected. The parties stipulated that as a part of the smelting process, particulate matter including arsenic and cadmium was emitted, that some of the emissions had been deposited on the plaintiffs' land and that the defendant has been aware since 1905 that the wind, on occasion, caused these emissions to be blown over the plaintiffs' land. The defendant cannot and does not deny that whenever the smelter was in operation the whim of the winds could bring these deleterious substances to the plaintiffs' premises. We are asked if the defendant, knowing what it had to know from the facts it admits, had the legal intent to commit trespass. [1] The Restatement (Second) of Torts § 158 (1965) states: In the comment on clause (a) of § 158, at 278 it is stated in part: Addressing the definition, scope and meaning of "intent", section 8A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts says: and we find in comment b, at 15: The defendant has known for decades that sulfur dioxide and particulates of arsenic, cadmium and other metals were being emitted from the tall smokestack. It had to know that the solids propelled into the air by the warm gases would settle back to earth somewhere. It had to know that a purpose of the tall stack was to disperse the gas, smoke and minute solids over as large an area as possible and as far away as possible, but that while any resulting contamination would be diminished as to any one area or landowner, that nonetheless contamination, though slight, would follow. In W. Prosser, Torts § 8, at 31-32 (4th ed. *683 1971) intent is defined as follows: (Footnotes omitted.) This has been the reasoning of the decisions of this State. Garratt v. Dailey, 46 Wn.2d 197, 279 P.2d 1091 (1955) involved a 5-year-old boy who pulled a chair from under an arthritic woman as she was about to sit in it. The court held that to find liability for an intentional tort it had to be found that there was a volitional act undertaken with the knowledge and substantial certainty that reasonably to be expected consequences would follow. It is patent that the defendant acted on its own volition and had to appreciate with substantial certainty that the law of gravity would visit the effluence upon someone, somewhere. The defendant cites Washington Natural Gas Co. v. Tyee Constr. Co., 26 Wn. App. 235, 611 P.2d 1378, review denied, 94 Wn.2d 1011 (1980) as standing for the proposition that the intent necessary to find a trespass is an intent to cause damage. We find nothing in that statement inconsistent *684 with our holding that intent to trespass may also include an act that the actor undertakes realizing that there is a high probability of injury to others and yet the actor behaves with disregard of those likely consequences. We find that the defendant had the requisite intent to commit intentional trespass as a matter of law. The courts have been groping for a reconciliation of the doctrines of trespass and nuisance over a long period of time and, to a great extent, have concluded that little of substance remains to any distinction between the two when air pollution is involved. Weller v. Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co., 155 Wash. 526, 285 P. 446 (1930) held that the discharge of smoke, ashes and cinders from a sawmill upon a neighboring farm was "in the nature of a continuing nuisance" and that the 2-year statute of limitations applied. The opinion also stated that an action for damages could be maintained if the injury to the premises was substantial rather than slight. See also Sterrett v. Northport Mining &amp; Smelting Co., 30 Wash. 164, 70 P. 266 (1902). We agree with the observations on the inconsequential nature of the efforts to reconcile the trappings of the concepts of trespass and nuisance in the face of industrial airborne pollution when Professor Rodgers states: (Footnotes omitted.) W. Rodgers, Environmental Law § 2.13, at 154-57 (1977). Martin v. Reynolds Metals Co., 221 Or. 86, 90-91, 101, 342 P.2d 790 (1959) was an action in trespass brought against the defendant corporation for causing gases and fluoride particulates to settle on the plaintiffs' land making it unfit for livestock. The quote set forth from Rodgers' Environmental Law included a portion of the decision from that case. In addition, the court stated: *689 (Citations omitted.) We hold that theories of trespass and nuisance are not inconsistent, that the theories may apply concurrently, and that the injured party may proceed under both theories when the elements of both actions are present. The Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821D, comment d, at 102 (1979) states: Comment e, at 102 states: We also should recognize the fallacy of clinging to outmoded doctrines. The distinction between direct and indirect invasions to land was abandoned in Zimmer v. Stephenson, 66 Wn.2d 477, 403 P.2d 343 (1965). There the defendant had been plowing a fireguard in his field when a spark escaped from the exhaust stack of his tractor and set on fire the plaintiff's adjoining wheat field. An action was *690 commenced more than 2 years but less than 3 years from the date of the fire. The trial court held that an action would not lie in trespass due to the indirect nature of the invasion, and dismissed the case. The opinion states in part at pages 482-83: See also 35 Wash. L. Rev. 474 (1960); 46 Wash. L. Rev. 47, 114-16 (1970). [2] Having held that there was an intentional trespass, we adopt, in part, the rationale of Borland v. Sanders Lead Co., 369 So. 2d 523, 529 (Ala. 1979), which stated in part: (Footnote omitted.) We accept and approve the elements of trespass by airborne pollutants as set forth by the Borland case. See also Roberts v. Permanente Corp., 188 Cal. App. 2d 526, 10 Cal. Rptr. 519 (1961); Sheppard Envelope Co. v. Arcade Malleable Iron Co., 335 Mass. 180, 138 N.E.2d 777 (1956). We note, but decline to follow Arvidson v. Reynolds Metals Co., 125 F. Supp. 481 (W.D. Wash. 1954); and Ryan v. Emmetsburg, 232 Iowa 600, 4 N.W.2d 435 (1942). When airborne particles are transitory or quickly dissipate, they do not interfere with a property owner's possessory rights and, therefore, are properly denominated as nuisances. Born v. Exxon Corp., 388 So. 2d 933 (Ala. 1980); Ryan v. Emmetsburg, supra; Amphitheaters, Inc. v. Portland Meadows, 184 Or. 336, 198 P.2d 847, 5 A.L.R.2d 690 (1948). When, however, the particles or substance accumulates on the land and does not pass away, then a trespass has occurred. Borland v. Sanders Lead Co., supra; Martin v. Reynolds Metals Co., supra. While at common law any trespass entitled a landowner to recover nominal or punitive damages for the invasion of his property, such a rule is *692 not appropriate under the circumstances before us. No useful purpose would be served by sanctioning actions in trespass by every landowner within a hundred miles of a manufacturing plant. Manufacturers would be harassed and the litigious few would cause the escalation of costs to the detriment of the many. The elements that we have adopted for an action in trespass from Borland require that a plaintiff has suffered actual and substantial damages. Since this is an element of the action, the plaintiff who cannot show that actual and substantial damages have been suffered should be subject to dismissal of his cause upon a motion for summary judgment. [3] We have recognized that the intrusion to land from this kind of an invasion, once thought to be a trifling interference with the actual use of the land, may be very devastating indeed. The former approach, whether arising from the infrequency with which interference occurred, the unsophisticated nature of earlier air pollutants or because of our lack of awareness of their potential for harm, we now abandon. It is appropriate, therefore, that having recognized this intrusion upon land as a trespass, the 3-year statute of limitations should apply. RCW 4.16.080(1). An action for trespass to land must be brought within 3 years of the invasion to the premises. Vern J. Oja &amp; Assocs. v. Washington Park Towers, Inc., 89 Wn.2d 72, 75, 569 P.2d 1141 (1977); Suter v. Wenatchee Water Power Co., 35 Wash. 1, 76 P. 298 (1904). We now hold that when the actions of a defendant have (1) invaded the plaintiff's interest in the exclusive possession of his property, (2) been committed intentionally, (3) been done with the knowledge and reasonable foreseeability that the act would disturb the *693 plaintiff's possession, and (4) caused actual and substantial damages, the 3-year statute of limitations applies. To the extent that they are inconsistent with this holding, Riblet v. Spokane-Portland Cement Co., 41 Wn.2d 249, 248 P.2d 380 (1952); Weller v. Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co., 155 Wash. 526, 285 P. 446 (1930); and Sterrett v. Northport Mining &amp; Smelting Co., 30 Wash. 164, 70 P. 266 (1902) are overruled. Songstad v. Municipality of Metro Seattle, 2 Wn. App. 680, 472 P.2d 574 (1970), commenting upon Zimmer v. Stephenson, 66 Wn.2d 477, 403 P.2d 343 (1965) (which we have previously quoted), observed that intentional intrusions fall within the ambit of RCW 4.16.080(1). The action of the defendant amounts to a continuing trespass which is defined by the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 158, comment m as "[a]n unprivileged remaining on land in another's possession". Assuming that a defendant has caused actual and substantial damage to a plaintiff's property, the trespass continues until the intruding substance is removed. If such is the case, and damages can be proved, as required, actions may be brought for uncompensated injury. In view of our holding that the tort falls within the theory of continuing trespass, we further find that the 3-year period of limitations must run from the date that the cause of action accrues. We reject the discovery rule as being inappropriate for a continuing trespass claim. The discovery rule begins the running of the statute of limitations when the plaintiff discovers or reasonably could have discovered, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, that he had a cause of action. U.S. Oil &amp; Ref. Co. v. Department of Ecology, 96 Wn.2d 85, 91, 633 P.2d 1329 (1981). With circumstances, such as confront us here, and in the interests of certainty, it would be improper to expose manufacturers to claims running back for untold years when the injury many years back may have been inconsequential and the very existence of a cause of action vague and speculative. Further, in ruling that actual and substantial damages are required, we find it proper to also require that damages claimed not extend past the 3-year *694 period of limitations. [4] Defendant argues that we should allow, as a defense, a claim of prescriptive easement and preemption by the Washington Clean Air Act. We note that RCW 4.16.020(1) creates a right of adverse possession 10 years after initial possession. In order to obtain a prescriptive easement the defendant would have to show (1) use adverse to the title owner, (2) open, notorious, continuous and uninterrupted use for 10 years, and (3) the owner's knowledge of the adverse use when he was able to enforce his rights. Dunbar v. Heinrich, 95 Wn.2d 20, 22, 622 P.2d 812 (1980). There is little likelihood that the doctrine of prescriptive easement will have application to the situation before us. To gain a prescriptive easement, the use must be open, notorious, continuous and uninterrupted for a period of 10 years. We have observed that invasion by particulate matter is not open and notorious and therefore it would indeed be difficult to establish on the part of a defendant that the prescriptive easement period had run. However that may be, there may be instances when a defendant can establish as a defense all of the elements of prescriptive easement, thereby precluding any recovery by a landowner. As a practical matter, this would indeed be a blatant and flagrant pollution of adjoining land to start the running of the prescriptive period and to forever bar the landowner from recovering for the continuing activity of the polluter. We recognize the possibility and recognize also that whether or not the invasion of the plaintiffs' land was open and notorious is a question of fact to be established in a forum other than this court. [5] Defendant also proposes that the Washington Clean Air Act permits only suits in nuisance. RCW 70.94.230 provides in part: RCW 70.94.901 provides in part: This is a civil action for damages, and the Washington Clean Air Act specifically does not preclude such suits. In conclusion, we answer the certified questions as follows: 1. The defendant had the requisite intent to commit intentional trespass. 2. An intentional deposit of microscopic particulates, undetectable by the human senses, gives rise to a cause of action for trespass as well as a claim of nuisance. 3. A cause of action under such circumstances requires proof of actual and substantial damages. 4. The appropriate limitations period for such a trespass is 3 years, but if the trespass continues, suit for damages may be brought for any damages not recovered previously and occurring within the 3-year period preceding suit. The period of limitations runs from the date the cause of action accrues. The defense of easement by prescription is available if the defendant can prove each of the elements of the defense. The cause of action for trespass is not preempted by the Washington Clean Air Act. The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington shall be notified for such further action as it deems appropriate. DOLLIVER, C.J., and UTTER, BRACHTENBACH, DORE, PEARSON, ANDERSEN, GOODLOE, and DURHAM, JJ., concur.