Opinion ID: 738219
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Continuing Trespass Under Ohio Law

Text: 33 Appellees argue that continued ownership or control of the plant is a prerequisite for a claim of continuing trespass because the cause of action requires continuing wrongful conduct, not just continuing damages caused by the original conduct. Therefore, appellees claim that since NLO ended its operation of the FMPC in 1985, Nieman cannot state a claim against them. 34 As a preliminary matter, we note that Nieman's complaint does not allege that NLO ended its operation of the FMPC in 1985. Rather, appellees argue this fact was established by the class action complaint and amended class action complaint. Appellees' brief at 14. This raises again the question whether the district court has impermissibly considered a matter outside the pleadings in deciding defendants' motion to dismiss. Appellees argue that the first paragraph of Nieman's complaint mentions the class action complaint and, therefore, the class action complaint is not a matter outside the pleadings. Nieman's complaint states that he was not a compensated class member in Case No. C-85-0149.... Compl. p 1. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 10(c) provides that [a] copy of any written instrument which is an exhibit to a pleading is a part thereof for all purposes. Moreover, [d]ocuments that a defendant attaches to a motion to dismiss are considered part of the pleadings if they are referred to in the plaintiff's complaint and are central to her claim. Venture Assocs. Corp. v. Zenith Data Sys. Corp., 987 F.2d 429, 431 (7th Cir.1993). 35 Nieman does not explicitly argue that we may not consider the fact that NLO ceased operations at the FMPC in 1985 as an alternative basis for the dismissal because doing so would require consideration of matters outside the pleadings. Rather, Nieman contends that the question of when NLO ceased to manage the FMPC is irrelevant as a matter of law. The district court apparently disagreed, but declined to decide the motion to dismiss on this basis. See Dist.Ct.Op. at 4 n. 3. Assuming we may consider the fact that NLO ended its operation of the FMPC in 1985 as a potential alternative ground for the district court's decision, the crucial question becomes whether continuing conduct is necessary to show a continuing trespass, as appellees contend, or whether it is sufficient to show continuing harm or damages caused by conduct that preceded the lawsuit by a period longer than the statute of limitations. As indicated above, based on Huffman, we look to Ohio law on this issue. 36 Boll v. Griffith, 41 Ohio App.3d 356, 535 N.E.2d 1375 (1987), supports Nieman's view that a showing of continuing damages will suffice. In Boll, defendant Robert Griffith hired a third party in 1978 to remove a structure on his property, which was connected by a common brick wall with the plaintiff's property. Id., 535 N.E.2d at 1376. In 1979, Griffith conveyed his property to defendant Edna Waldo. Id. The plaintiff alleged that when Griffith removed the structure from the other side of the party wall, remnants of the razed structures remained attached to the party wall, and their weight gradually damaged the wall. Id. The plaintiff filed suit more than four years after Griffith's conduct (and presumably more than four years after Griffith sold the property). 11 The trial court dismissed the plaintiff's complaint on the basis that the plaintiff's claims were time-barred under Ohio Rev.Code § 2305.09(D). Id. at 1375-76. On appeal, the plaintiff argued that the constant presence of materials affixed to the brick wall after the razing constituted a continuing trespass, and therefore his complaint should not have been dismissed. Defendant Griffith contended that a single mistake in demolition of a structure should not constitute a continuing trespass. The Ohio Court of Appeals rejected Griffith's argument and held that the plaintiff's complaint had stated a claim for continuing trespass. Id. at 1377. Thus, in Boll, the court found a continuing trespass even though Griffith's last act preceded the lawsuit by more than four years and Griffith no longer owned or controlled the property during the relevant time period. 12 37 The Boll court relied on Valley Ry. Co. v. Franz, 43 Ohio St. 623, 4 N.E. 88 (1885), in which the defendant had diverted a river by constructing a dam and an artificial channel on its own land in November 1874, which gradually caused damage by wearing away at the bank at the portion of river on the plaintiff's property. Id., 4 N.E. at 91-92. The plaintiff commenced the action in 1881. The defendant railway company argued that the plaintiff's claim should be barred by the four-year statute of limitations because the railway company acted only in November 1874 to cause the injury. Id. at 90. Rejecting this argument, the Ohio Supreme Court held that the complaint was not time barred. Id. at 92. Appellees attempt to distinguish this case by arguing that the court allowed the plaintiff's continuing trespass claim in Franz only because it found that the defendant continuously controlled and directed the stream that has caused the damage complained of. Id. But Franz did not squarely face the issue whether a claim for continuing trespass requires the plaintiff to show that the defendant owned or controlled the property within the four years preceding the filing of the complaint. 38 More important, the Ohio Supreme Court implicitly found that a claim for continuing damages is sufficient, because the defendant railway company built the dam seven years before the plaintiff filed his lawsuit. In Franz, the Ohio Supreme Court summarized the law in the area of continuing trespass and nuisance as follows: 39 And when the owner of land rightly and lawfully does an act entirely on his own land, and by means of such act puts in action or directs a force against or upon, or that affects, another's land, without such other's consent or permission, such owner and actor is liable to such other for the damages thereby so caused the latter, and at once a cause of action accrues for such damages; and such force, if so continued, is continued by the act of such owner and actor, and it may be regarded as a continuing trespass or nuisance; and each additional damage thereby caused is caused by him, and is an additional cause of action; and, until such continued trespass or nuisance by adverse use ripens into and becomes a presumptive right and estate in the former, the latter may bring his action. 40 Id. at 91 (emphasis added). Appellees cite a portion of this passage to support their position that under Ohio law, a trespass only continues if the conduct of the original actor also continues. Appellees' brief at 15. However, appellees misread the passage, which properly should be interpreted to read such force, if so continued, is deemed continued by the act of such owner and actor. 41 Other Ohio cases similarly support Nieman's position. In Wood v. American Aggregates Corp., 67 Ohio App.3d 41, 585 N.E.2d 970, 973 (1990), the focus is on continuing damages, not continuing conduct. The plaintiffs sued the defendant quarry owner alleging that its use of underground water caused the water from the plaintiffs' well to decline in quality and quantity. Id., 585 N.E.2d at 972. The relevant time line includes the following dates: the quarry began operating in 1973, the plaintiffs noticed problems with their water supply shortly thereafter, the plaintiffs stopped using their well altogether when they moved in 1980, the plaintiffs eventually were forced to have their home connected to Columbus city water when it became available in 1982, and the plaintiffs filed their complaint in 1988. Id. The trial court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment because it found that since the latest date that damages occurred was 1982, the plaintiffs' claims were barred by the four-year statute of limitations. Id. The Ohio Court of Appeals reversed. Id. at 973. The court reasoned that the plaintiffs' damages were arguably ongoing in nature because the defendant had not demonstrated that the plaintiffs ceased to incur damages once city water was connected to appellants' property. Id. This case did not indicate whether the defendant continued to own and/or operate the quarry, but the court's reasoning clearly focused on ongoing damages, not conduct. 42 The definition of continuing trespass in the RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS also supports Nieman's view: 43 A trespass may be committed by the continued presence on the land of a structure, chattel, or other thing which the actor has tortiously placed there, whether or not the actor has the ability to remove it. 44 RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 161(1) (1965). Likewise, the comments to this section focus on the actor's failure to remove from another's land the thing which the actor has tortiously placed there: 45 The actor's failure to remove from land in the possession of another a structure, chattel, or other thing which he has tortiously ... placed on the land constitutes a continuing trespass for the entire time during which the thing is wrongfully on the land and ... confers on the possessor of the land an option to maintain a succession of actions based on the theory of continuing trespass or to treat the continuance of the thing on the land as an aggravation of the original trespass.... 46 Id. cmt. b; see also id. cmt. c (Since the conduct of the actor in placing the thing on the land is tortious, his responsibility for its presence on the land continues ... although through subsequent conduct on his part it has now become impossible or impracticable for him to terminate the intrusion on the other's land.). 47 Similarly, § 899 of the RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS supports the view that proof of continuing harm suffices to establish a continuing trespass: 48 When there is a continuing trespass, such as that caused by the erection of a structure upon the land of another or when there is a series of harms caused by the existence of a structure or by the operation of a business outside the land, the time when the statute of limitations begins to run depends on the rules stated in § 161 (continuing trespass) and those stated in § 930. 49 RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 899 cmt. d (1979). Comment d also states that when there is a series of continuing harms the plaintiff, under the rules stated in § 161 and § 930, has an election to recover or is permitted to recover damages only for harm to the use of the land up to the time of trial. In cases of this type, the statute does not run from the time of the first harm except for the harm then caused. Id. Section 930, which addresses Damages for Future Invasions, also does not preclude the view that a plaintiff need not show continuing conduct to state a claim for continuing trespass: 50 If one causes continuing or recurrent tortious invasions on the land of another by the maintenance of a structure or acts or operations not on the land of the other and it appears that the invasions will continue indefinitely, the other may at his election recover damages for the future invasions in the same action as that for the past invasions. 51 RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 930(1) (1979). Moreover, the comments to section 930 provide that for continuing wrongs the injured person can ordinarily bring successive actions for the invasions or series of invasions as they occur. Id. cmt. a. Thus, under the Restatement, a claim for continuing trespass is not defeated where the defendant's last affirmative act of wrongdoing precedes the filing of the complaint by a period longer than the statute of limitations. 13 52 Appellees cite the unpublished decision, Reeser v. Weaver Bros., Inc., 1995 WL 386849 (Ohio Ct.App. May 1, 1995), appeal not allowed, 74 Ohio St.3d 1464, 656 N.E.2d 1299 (1995), in support of their argument that a claim for continuing trespass must include an allegation of actionable conduct by a defendant within the four years preceding the filing of the complaint. In Reeser, the defendant began an egg production operation in 1984 that was located directly upstream from the plaintiff's property. By 1985, the chicken operations produced over a million pounds of organic waste matter, and within one year, all the fish and other living organisms in the plaintiff's lake died. Appellees assert that the Reeser court held that the plaintiffs could not bring a complaint for a continuing tort in 1991 where there had been no additional acts causing pollution or damage since 1985, more than four years previous to the filing of the complaint. Appellees' brief at 16. But the appellees mischaracterize the court's holding. The Reeser court affirmed the grant of summary judgment against the plaintiff because the plaintiff did not bring evidence to show that the nuisance was continuing or that damages were recurring over the period alleged in the complaint. Id. at In fact, the plaintiff in Reeser failed to respond to the defendant's motion for summary judgment. Id. at  2. The trial court relied on the plaintiff's testimony from a prior trial in a related case that she was unaware of any additional pollution other than the fish kill in 1985. Id. at  3. Moreover, Reeser dealt with the requisite proof at the summary judgment stage. Accordingly, this unpublished case is inapposite as well as nonprecedential. 53 Appellees also cite Carter v. American Aggregates Corp., 82 Ohio App.3d 181, 611 N.E.2d 512 (1992), in support of their continuing conduct argument. In Carter, the defendant allegedly interfered with the underground water supply upon which plaintiffs relied for well water. The defendant began pumping the underground water in 1973 in order to mine sand, gravel, and limestone and had continuously pumped water since that time. Upon purchasing their property in 1979, the plaintiffs had an adequate water supply until August 1980 when their well became dry. Finally, plaintiffs drilled a new well in 1982. However, the plaintiffs did not file their complaint until 1988. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant based on the statute of limitations. Id., 611 N.E.2d at 516. But the appellees fail to mention one fact essential to the court's holding: the plaintiffs conceded that they had suffered no compensable injuries since 1982 when they drilled the second well. Id. at 514. In addition, the court states that with respect to a continuing tort, the cause of action accrues when injury is caused to the plaintiff. Id. at 516. Thus, Carter does not support appellees' position. 54 Finally, appellees rely on the unpublished decision of the Ohio Court of Appeals in Hamo v. Exxon Corp., 1982 WL 5760 (Ohio.Ct.App. May 28, 1982), a case which is factually analogous and appears to be wrong on the law. The district court also relied on this case. In Hamo, Exxon's gas tank broke in 1972, allowing gasoline to seep underground and into the next door property where Hamo was a tenant. The owner and Hamo presented at some unspecified point a claim to Exxon, but the claim was not paid. Id.at  1. Upon buying the property in 1976, Hamo discovered further seepage, but he did not bring suit until 1978. The court summarily affirmed the trial court's grant of judgment in favor of Exxon based on the expiration of the four-year statute of limitations. Id. The court did not discuss the cause of action for continuing trespass but merely stated [a]ssuming that the damage is continuing, this still would not extend the four year Statute of Limitations. Id. This opinion cannot be an accurate statement of Ohio law unless we find that there is no such action as continuing trespass. If the accrual of a cause of action for continuing trespass were the same as the accrual of a cause of action for permanent trespass, there would be no need for different causes of actions (except perhaps for the assessment of different types of damages). Hamo is unpublished and therefore under Ohio law entitled to no precedential weight. See Ohio Supreme Court Rules for the Reporting of Opinions 2(G)(1) (an unpublished opinion shall not be considered controlling authority in the judicial district in which it was decided except between the parties thereto). It is also contrary to the other Ohio precedents discussed supra and must be rejected as an aberrant lower court opinion until and unless the Ohio Supreme Court embraces it. 55 Thus, Ohio law does not support appellees' contention that because they have not managed the FMPC since 1985 they cannot be liable for a continuing trespass action filed in 1994. We hold only that, under Ohio law, a claim for continuing trespass may be supported by proof of continuing damages and need not be based on allegations of continuing conduct. Therefore, Nieman has stated a claim for continuing trespass sufficient to survive defendants' motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). We express no opinion at this stage of the litigation as to whether the injury alleged is abatable or whether the trespass is permanent. 14 56