Opinion ID: 1664197
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Existence of a Duty as of the Commencement of the Action

Text: The landowners contend that the tort claims are not time-barred because, they argue, the statute of limitations begins to run anew each time methane gas migrates from the landfill onto their properties. See Reichert v. City of Mobile, 776 So.2d 761 (Ala.2000). Because there is well-settled law that negligent design or construction of a drainage ditch is considered to be a permanent condition that is not abatable, Byrd v. City of Citronelle, 937 So.2d 515, 519 (Ala.2006), the landowners emphasize that their tort claims arise from the negligent maintenance of the landfill, not the negligent construction or design of the landfill. When a claim is based on negligent maintenance, each occurrence or recurrence of the injury constitutes a new cause of action. City of Clanton v. Johnson, 245 Ala. 470, 473, 17 So.2d 669, 672 (1944). In order to establish the prima facie elements of a negligent-maintenance claim, the landowners must establish that the City had a legal duty to maintain the landfill after the landfill was closed. See Byrd, 937 So.2d at 521. The landowners assert that the City has ongoing statutory, regulatory, and common-law duties to maintain the landfill. The City contends that the landowners have not presented any evidence or legal authority indicating that the City has such a duty. The existence of a duty is a question of law for the court to resolve. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Owen, 729 So.2d 834, 839 (Ala.1999). The entry of a summary judgment indicates that the trial court concluded that the City does not have a duty to maintain the landfill after its closure. To establish a regulatory duty to maintain the landfill, the landowners rely on certain ADEM regulations in the Alabama Administrative Code. The landowners argue that a phrase from Ala. Admin. Code (Environmental Management), rule 335-13-4-.16 (2005), which states that [s]pecial attention shall be given to control and monitoring of explosive gases, including methane, establishes that the City has a duty to control and monitor the landfill. However, this rule, dealing with requirements for obtaining a permit to operate a landfill, refers to a landfill unit which accepts organic waste. These requirements thus deal with an ongoing operation. The City obtained a permit to operate the landfill from ADEM and then, as of December 1989, informed ADEM that it had closed the landfill. The landowners also argue that Ala. Admin. Code (Environmental Management), rule 335-13-4-.20 (2005) requires the City to control the methane gas migrating from the landfill, but the rule requires the City only to monitor methane levels postclosure, which the City has done. We conclude that the City has no regulatory duty to control the methane migrating from the landfill after the landfill closed. To obtain a permit to operate a landfill, a landfill permittee must prepare and file an explosive-gas monitoring plan, which includes a remedial plan for explosive-gas releases. Ala. Admin. Code (Environmental Management), rule 335-13-4-.16(2) (2005). The landowners assert that under ADEM's Minimum Requirements for an Explosive Gas Monitoring Plan at Solid Waste Disposal Sites in the State of Alabama, derived from §§ 22-27-3 and -7, Ala.Code 1975, the City has a duty to control the migration of methane, notwithstanding that the landfill has been closed. The explosive-landfill-gas monitoring plan the City drafted, in compliance with the ADEM regulation, in 1991, over one year after the date the City contends that the landfill closed in December 1989, provides that if a dangerous level of gas is measured the City will relocate citizens as is necessary to safe places (at City expense), make contact with ADEM, and perform remedial measures as are necessary to remove the threat. The monitoring plan further states that the City will monitor the site at least twice yearly and more often if necessary due to the proximity of the homes. We conclude that the City imposed a duty upon itself to monitor the amount of methane generated from the landfill and to perform remedial measures to remove the threat of a dangerous level of methane after the landfill closed. The landowners also assert that the City has an ongoing common-law duty to maintain the landfill. The landowners cite Harris v. Town of Tarrant City, 221 Ala. 558, 560, 130 So. 83, 84-85 (1930), in which this Court held that after an improvement to a drainage system is complete the city is responsible for the careless and negligent manner in which it is maintained by it. More recently, in Kennedy v. City of Montgomery, 423 So.2d 187, 188-89 (Ala.1982) (citations omitted), this Court held that [o]nce the authority to construct or maintain a drainage system is exercised, a duty of care exists, and a municipality may be liable for damages proximately caused by its negligence. This reflects the familiar tort principle that liability may arise from the negligent performance of a voluntary undertaking. This Court has not previously considered whether a municipality has a common-law duty to maintain a landfill after its closure. After considering all the evidence, we hold that, under the facts of this case, a municipality has a common-law duty to maintain a landfill it owns after the closure of the landfill. Maintaining a landfill includes (1) maintaining the waste deposited that is not in a totally dormant state and (2) controlling the methane gas generated by the waste. Although the landfill is closed, the City continues to own the property for a public purpose, a place to store previously deposited waste materials. It is undisputed that the City is aware of the fact that previously deposited waste materials at the site are not in a passive state but constantly continue to decompose, causing the emission of methane every day. We conclude that the landowners' tort claims do not arise from the installation of the landfill, but from the continuous migration of methane onto their properties as a result of the City's maintenance and ongoing operation of the landfill for a public purpose subsequent to its closure. The landowners' tort claims of nuisance, negligence, and trespass accrue each time the City's maintenance and ongoing operation of the landfill causes methane to migrate onto the landowners' property and, thus, those claims are not time-barred. That the City elected to deal with the problem caused by its ongoing operation by merely monitoring the release of gas, as opposed to more aggressive curative measures the landowners allege could have been undertaken, does not, as a matter of law, constitute a defense to the action under the circumstances here presented. However, any claims for damages that accrued before September 19, 2001, six months before the landowners informed the City of their intent to sue the City, are barred by the municipal nonclaim statute, § 11-47-190. We, therefore reverse the summary judgment as to the nuisance, negligence, and both trespass claims and remand the cause for further proceedings.