Opinion ID: 2054181
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: traditional equitable power

Text: ¶ 27. This case focuses on the scope of the circuit court's authority once the plaintiff has proven a prima facie case of zoning ordinance violation. None of the parties contend that the County has failed to prove a prima facie case here. The only issue in dispute is whether, by enacting Wis. Stat. § 59.69(11), the legislature intended to eliminate the circuit court's equitable power to deny an injunction if appropriate under the circumstances. Most of the cases cited by the parties, and discussed below, address what is necessary to make a prima facie case for statutory injunctive relief, rather than addressing whether the circuit court retains equitable power to deny the injunction. ¶ 28. Goode argues that the legislature did not intend to eliminate the traditional equitable power of the circuit court when it enacted Wis. Stat. § 59.69(11). Because the legislature is presumed to act with knowledge of existing law, Goode asks us to consider the case law in effect at the time § 59.69(11) was enacted. See Town of Madison v. City of Madison, 269 Wis. 609, 614, 70 N.W.2d 249 (1955) (declaring that statutes are to be construed in harmony with existing law, and as part of a general and uniform system of jurisprudence). ¶ 29. We begin our analysis of this issue by looking at an early case describing the traditional equitable power of the trial court relative to common law injunctions. See Gimbel Bros. v. Milwaukee Boston Store, 161 Wis. 489, 154 N.W. 998 (1915). While the power to issue mandatory [9] injunctions is vested in courts of equity, it is a power which is sparingly used. High, on Injunctions, § 2. The granting of an injunction rests in the sound discretion of the court. The power itself being great, a high degree of judgment is required in order to use it wisely and never to abuse it....Equity should not be successfully invoked merely to inflict injury or damage on the defendant without securing any substantial right or benefit to the plaintiff (citations omitted). Gimbel Bros., 161 Wis. at 496. [5, 6] ¶ 30. Typically, when a party seeks injunctive relief, the circuit court exercises its discretion in deciding whether to grant injunctive relief, and if so, in what form. See Webster v. Dane Corp., 9 Wis. 2d 437, 440, 101 N.W.2d 616 (1960). Injunctive relief is not ordered as a matter of course, but instead rests on the sound discretion of the court, to be used in accordance with well-settled equitable principles and in light of all the facts and circumstances of the case. See McKinnon v. Benedict, 38 Wis. 2d 607, 616, 157 N.W.2d 665 (1968); see also, Christie v. Lueth, 265 Wis. 326, 334, 61 N.W.2d 338 (1953); Maitland v. Twin City Aviation Corp., 254 Wis. 541, 549, 37 N.W.2d 74 (1949). ¶ 31. We now turn to more recent case law discussing statutory injunctions. All three parties here rely upon the County of Columbia v. Bylewski, 94 Wis. 2d 153, 288 N.W.2d 129 (1980), but for different assertions. The State and County assert Bylewski demonstrates that for purposes of zoning ordinance enforcement, the court must grant an injunction at the plaintiffs request. Goode asserts Bylewski reinforces the traditional view that injunctive relief is left to the equitable discretion of the court. ¶ 32. The suit in Bylewski arose when a property owner purchased land with a nonconforming structure, a mobile home, on it. When the property owner took down the nonconforming structure and replaced it with a newer version, the county sued in the county court under the small claims procedures statute. The county sought a forfeiture for violation of a zoning ordinance prohibiting structures like the mobile home from use in a recreation district. After the trial, the county court concluded that the landowner's mobile home violated the ordinance, and that the landowner had constructed his garage without a permit. The county court then ordered the landowner to remove his mobile home and garage from the property. See Bylewski, 96 Wis. 2d at 159-60. The landowner appealed. Only one issue addressed in Bylewski is significant to the case before us. ¶ 33. Bylewski asserted that the county court lacked authority under the small claims procedures to recover a forfeiture for a zoning ordinance violation and to issue an injunctive order to enforce compliance. This court held that the county court lacked authority to issue any injunctional relief under the small claims statute. See id. at 167. The Bylewski court recognized that Wis. Stat. § 59.97(11), the predecessor to Wis. Stat. § 59.69(11), allowed both the imposition of forfeitures as well as the enforcement of zoning ordinances by injunctive orders. See id. at 162. The Bylewski court distinguished between a suit for forfeitures and a suit for injunctive relief, because the latter  is an action in equity. Id. [10] (Emphasis added.) In the absence of a specific enabling statute, the county court was not authorized to grant injunctive relief. See id. at 163-166. ¶ 34. En route to reaching that conclusion, the Bylewski court emphatically distinguished between two forms of relief for noncompliance with a zoning ordinance. [A]n action to recover a forfeiture and a suit seeking injunctional relief are fundamentally different in nature. Id. at 167. First, the court observed that to recover forfeitures, the proponent need only introduce the ordinance and prove its violation by a preponderance of the evidence. In contrast, the court observed that: [A] suit for an injunctional order is addressed to the discretion of the court and requires that there be a balancing of the competing equities and interests involved. The true inquiry in determining [whether to grant injunctional relief prohibiting the continuation of an unlawful use or the issuance of an order for the removal of a nonconforming building or structure] is whether the building or structure is legally usable (or modifiable and legally usable) and is intended to be used for a main or accessory use which is permitted by the applicable ordinance or by-law. Town of Sterling v. Poulin, 2 Mass. App. 562, 316 N.E.2d 737, 739 (1974); See also: 82 Am. Jur. 2d, Zoning and Planning, sec. 252 at 787 (1976). However, where it has been clear that the offending building or structure could not be utilized for any purpose permitted in the pertinent zoning district, relief has been extended to include an order for the removal of the building or structure. Id. at 739. Id. ¶ 35. Goode argues that the first two sentences of this discussion in Bylewski support the circuit court's traditional power to balance the equities in reaching its decision on injunctive relief. The County and the State argue, and the court of appeals agreed, that the discussion in Bylewski most relevant to this case is its description of the true inquiry test of whether an injunction should be orderedan inquiry which merely involves a determination of whether the building is legally usable or modifiable and legally useable. ¶ 36. The court of appeals in this case concluded that because Goode's property can be modified to a legal use, an injunctive order was proper. See Forest County, 215 Wis. 2d at 226. Bylewski does not support that reasoning, however. First, whether the offending structure is legally useable, or modifiable and legally useable, is not an ultimate test. However, such an inquiry may well be a factor that a court, sitting in equity, may consider in its balancing of the equities. ¶ 37. Second, we do not read the statement in Bylewski that relief has been extended to include injunctive relief to denote a situation where the court is prohibited from exercising its discretion or has been legislatively required to order injunctive relief. That statement instead supports Goode's argument that Wis. Stat. § 59.69(11) does not eliminate the traditional equitable power of the circuit court. ¶ 38. We acknowledge that on occasion, the legislature has imposed upon the circuit court an affirmative duty to grant injunctive relief. The State points to another enforcement statute to support its argument that the legislature has enacted statutes that eliminate a circuit court's equitable power to deny an injunction. See Pure Milk Prod. Coop. v. National Farmers Organ., 90 Wis. 2d 781, 280 N.W.2d 691 (1979). ¶ 39. The language of the 1975 statute in Pure Milk, Wis. Stat. § 185.43(2), however, differs from the statutory language at issue here: [a]ny person, with actual or constructive notice that a contract [authorized by sec. 185.41, Stats.] exists, who induces or attempts to induce any member to breach or repudiate his contract with the association, or who in any manner aids a breach of such contract, is liable to the aggrieved party for damages caused by such interference. The association is also entitled to an injunction to prevent any interference or further interference with the contract. 90 Wis. 2d at 789 (emphasis added). The same distinction can be made for an earlier version of that statute: Where any contract exists between an association and a member, any person who, with knowledge or notice of the existence of the contract, induces or attempts to induce or aids in the breach thereof by any means, shall be liable to the aggrieved party for damages on account of such interference with said contract and shall also be subject to an injunction to prevent the interference or further interference therewith. Neillsville Shipping Ass'n. v. Lastofka, 225 Wis. 350, 353-54, 274 N.W.2d 280 (1937) (quoting Wis. Stat. § 185.08(6)(1937))(emphasis added). The Neillsville court read the statute as denying the circuit court's equitable power to refuse an injunction. See 225 Wis. at 354. Essentially, proof of the statutory violation mandated liability for damages and injunctive relief. The Neillsville court did not engage in any discussion of legislative intent to eliminate a court's traditional equitable powers, but apparently relied on a plain language analysis. ¶ 40. Similarly, the Pure Milk court did not discuss legislative intent. Instead that court relied on the plain language of the statute before it, is entitled, and on the conclusion of the Neillsville court that a trial court had no discretion under such a statute. See Pure Milk, 90 Wis. 2d at 789-90. [11] ¶ 41. The State points to two other decisions, where, it asserts, the circuit court's equitable powers have been limited by statute. According to the State's brief, this court concluded that [s]tatutory compliance is required, and discretion is available to the court not to permit continuing violations, but only to fashion relief to the parties injured as a result of the statutory violations. State's brief at 35, citing State v. Excel Management Services, 111 Wis. 2d 479, 490, 331 N.W.2d 312 (1983). We do not read our opinion in Excel Management to find a statutory erasure of the traditional equitable power of the court. ¶ 42. We recognized that the consumer protection statute at issue in Excel Management gave the circuit court broad authorization to grant relief, including injunctive relief. See 111 Wis. 2d at 498. We then endorsed the United State Supreme Court's description of equitable jurisdiction: the comprehensiveness of this equitable jurisdiction is not to be denied or limited in the absence of a clear and valid legislative command. Unless a statute in so many words, or by a necessary and inescapable inference, restricts the court's jurisdiction in equity, the full scope of that jurisdiction is to be recognized and applied. Excel Management, 111 Wis. 2d at 490 (citing Porter v. Warner Co., 328 U.S. 395, 398 (1946)). More to the point, we stated in Excel Management that [b]ecause the statutes here involved contain no limitation on the trial court's exercise of its equity jurisdiction, we conclude that the trial court has the full scope of equitable remedies available to it to fashion relief for the parties injured as the result of the acts and practices involved in this action. Id. at 490. We decline to read Excel Management as supporting a conclusion that the circuit court's equitable power has been eliminated. ¶ 43. The State also derives a rule from State v. Fonk's Mobile Home Park & Sales, Inc., 117 Wis. 2d 94, 343 N.W.2d 820 (Ct. App. 1983) that in certain instances, once a statutory violation has been proved, the circuit court must issue an injunction and common law equitable principles do not apply. Fonk is not that restrictive. The court of appeals held in that case that the statutory injunction could be granted if the plaintiff only proved a past violation of an unfair trade practices statute. Proving the elements of the statutory violation meant that one of the common law requirements for injunctive relief, the threat of future harm, need not be established. See id. at 101. The Fonk decision never discussed a restriction on the circuit court's equitable power to deny an injunction once the petitioner has met his or her burden of proof. [12]