Opinion ID: 1940064
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Cause of Action Provided Under Section 376.313(3)

Text: This case presents an issue of statutory interpretation. The construction of a statute is an issue of law subject to de novo review. See State v. Glatzmayer, 789 So.2d 297, 301-02 (Fla.2001). Several principles of statutory interpretation guide our analysis. Whether a violation of a statute can serve as the basis for a private cause of action is a question of legislative intent. See Baumstein v. Sunrise Cmty., Inc., 738 So.2d 420, 421 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999); see also Nettles v. State, 850 So.2d 487, 493 (Fla.2003) (noting that legislative intent is the polestar that guides the court's inquiry). Courts must determine legislative intent from the plain meaning of the statute. State v. Dugan, 685 So.2d 1210, 1212 (Fla.1996). As to this statute, the legislature's expressed intent is that [s]ections 376.30-376.319 ... shall be liberally construed to effect the purposes set forth under ss. 376.30-376.319 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended. § 376.315, Fla. Stat. (2002). We therefore interpret the statute with that directive in mind. A statute creates a new cause of action if it provides a remedy unavailable under the common law. See Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co. v. McRoberts, 111 Fla. 278, 149 So. 631, 632 (1933); see also Gunpowder Horse Stables, Inc. v. State Farm Auto. Ins. Co., 108 Md.App. 612, 673 A.2d 721, 728 (Spec.App.1996) (holding that the statute at issue created a new cause of action because the burden of proof needed under the statute was less rigorous than the common law burden). Under the common law, a landowner whose land is damaged by pollution from an adjoining landowner can assert various claims. See Davey Compressor Co. v. City of Delray Beach, 639 So.2d 595 (Fla.1994) (asserting trespass, negligence, and nuisance against adjoining landowner); Bunyak v. Clyde J. Yancey & Sons Dairy, Inc., 438 So.2d 891 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983) (asserting strict liability for hazardous or abnormally dangerous use of land, nuisance, and negligence against adjoining landowner). Each of these claims, however, requires proof that the defendant caused the pollution resulting in the damages. See, e.g., Durrance v. Sanders, 329 So.2d 26, 29 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976) (noting that a plaintiff in a nuisance action must demonstrate that the nuisance was the natural and proximate cause of the injury); Cunningham v. Gen. Motors Corp., 561 So.2d 656, 659 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990) (stating that strict liability in tort requires the product's user to establish the existence of proximate causal connection between the condition of the manufacturer's product and his injuries or damages). In contrast, section 376.313(3) provides, with exceptions not relevant here, that in any such suit, it is not necessary for such person to plead or prove negligence in any form or manner. Such person need only plead and prove the fact of the prohibited discharge or other pollutive condition and that it has occurred. On its face, therefore, section 376.313(3) departs from the common law by creating a damages remedy for the non-negligent discharge of pollution without proof that the defendant caused it. The only proof required is the fact of the prohibited discharge or other pollutive condition and that it has occurred. The absence of a causation requirement in the statute cannot be viewed as a legislative oversight. In other statutes within the same scheme (sections 376.30-376.319), where the Legislature wanted to hold a party responsible only if it actually caused the contamination, it so provided. See § 376.308(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2002) (allowing the DEP to sue [a]ny person who caused a discharge or other polluting condition) (emphasis added); see also State v. Bradford, 787 So.2d 811, 819 (Fla.2001) (noting that under well-settled principles of statutory construction, this Court has held that `[t]he legislative use of different terms in different portions of the same statute is strong evidence that different meanings were intended'). Therefore, we must assume that the omission of a causation requirement in section 376.313(3) was deliberate. We believe this sufficient evidence in itself that the statute creates a new cause of action. But there is more.