Opinion ID: 2277337
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: other civil penalties claimed

Text: In addition to the fixed penalty of $1,000 for each month of violation of the agreement, respondent also sought in counts 1, 2, and 3, additional statutory penalties of $500 per day pursuant to § 2-1-24(a) for violation of an order of the director, and $1,000 for each violation of filling or altering a fresh-water wetland without a permit, in violation of § 2-1-21(a), pursuant to § 2-1-23. Moreover, in count 3 respondent seeks a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each day of violation of the Water Pollution Act § 46-12-5, pursuant to § 46-12-13. These penalties as sought bear a closer analogy to the situation in Tull (where $22,890,000 in civil penalties were sought) than the agreed upon monthly penalty for violating the consent order. Here we have an open-ended claim for a significant sum pursuant to penal statutes that are enforceable only in the Superior Court and are not susceptible of imposition by administrative proceedings. We are persuaded by the reasoning in Tull that these civil penalties would have been enforceable at common law by an action for debt and would thus have been triable to a jury. [1] See generally 1 Chitty on Pleading at 111-12. The mere fact that the legal claims are combined with claims for injunctive relief does not preclude determination by a jury of the legal issues set forth. Rowell v. Kaplan , Maryland Casualty Co. v. Sasso, both supra. This is consonant with the conclusions reached by the United States Supreme Court in Dairy Queen, Inc. v. Wood , cited with approval in Rowell v. Kaplan . We are inclined, however, to depart from the majority opinion in Tull, which held that although liability would be determined by a jury on the legal claim, it was not essential for the jury to determine the amount of the penalties to be imposed. We are persuaded by the dissenting opinion of Justice Scalia, with whom Justice Stevens joined, wherein it was vigorously suggested that historically a jury would have determined not only civil liability but the amount of that liability as well. We see no reason to depart from this common law practice in determining the right to jury trial in respect to the assessment of civil penalties under the statutes at issue.