Opinion ID: 2571639
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether the Ongoing Presence and Continued Migration of Toxic Chemicals Each Constitutes a Continuing Trespass and Nuisance under Colorado Law

Text: Having reviewed our cases regarding continuing and permanent torts, we turn to the certified questions before us. Specifically, we must determine whether the continuing migration and ongoing presence of toxic pollution on a plaintiff's property constitutes a continuing trespass and/or nuisance, even though the condition causing that pollution has ceased. Hoery contends that he asserted continuing trespass and nuisance claims under Wright because the United States remains liable for any harmful conditions it causes as long as those conditions continue to exist and cause injury. Under his theory, the migration of toxic chemicals and their continued presence on his property are still wrongful acts by the United States, which should be responsible until it stops the migration and removes the toxic chemicals. In response, the United States argues that the claims alleged here cannot be continuing because any wrongful conduct that may have constituted a trespass or nuisance ceased in 1994, when the United States stopped operating Lowry as a military base. Because the tortious acts have stopped, the United States claims, the continued migration and ongoing presence of toxic chemicals on Hoery's property represent the damage caused by that tortious activity, but not the activity itself. In other words, the continued migration and ongoing presence of chemicals represent property damage caused by past acts. Therefore, the United States claims there is no continuing trespass and nuisance. In support of its argument, the United States claims that our irrigation ditch cases hold that upon cessation of the negligent or wrongful act that caused the seepage, the claim accrues upon the discovery of the alleged property damage. In essence, the United States argues that we should extend our permanent tort concept to the facts alleged here. Technically speaking, this is an issue of first impression in Colorado. Although we have recognized the concepts of continuing and permanent torts, we have not addressed an environmental contamination case where the contamination remains and continues to migrate daily onto a plaintiff's property, but where the cause of the contamination has ceased. [10] While we have not addressed this issue, other jurisdictions have. A number of jurisdictions have determined that the cessation of the condition causing the contamination is not material. These jurisdictions have held that even if the condition causing the contamination has ceased, provided the contamination remains on the plaintiff's land, or continues to migrate onto the plaintiff's land, the defendant remains liable for a continuing tort. See Nieman v. NLO Inc., 108 F.3d 1546, 1559 (6th Cir.1997)(nuclear processing facility stopped operating but uranium contamination remained on plaintiff's property); Arcade Water Dist. v. United States, 940 F.2d 1265, 1266 (9th Cir.1991)(laundry facility closed but contamination continued to leach into plaintiff's well); In re ASARCO/Vashon-Maury Island Litig., No. COO-695Z, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7154, at -13 (W.D.Wash. May 23, 2001)(smokestack no longer operational but contaminated soil remained on plaintiff's property); Taygeta Corp. v. Varian Assoc. Inc., 436 Mass. 217, 763 N.E.2d 1053, 1065 (Mass.2002)(although defendant stopped dumping hazardous material years earlier, the remaining presence of the hazardous material on plaintiff's property was an ongoing source of groundwater contamination that continued to flow unabated onto the site); Kulpa v. Stewart's Ice Cream, 144 A.D.2d 205, 534 N.Y.S.2d 518, 520 (N.Y.App.Div.1988)(contamination remained in plaintiff's well, even though underground gasoline storage tanks were drained and stopped leaking years earlier). Arcade is particularly instructive because the facts are analogous to this case. In Arcade, the United States operated an army laundry facility from 1941 until 1973. During that time period, the laundry discharged waste residues into the ground. A domestic-use water well, operated by the Arcade Water District, was located approximately 2,000 feet from the laundry facility. Arcade, 940 F.2d at 1266. Although the United States closed the laundry facility in 1973, subsequent testing of Arcade's well revealed that it was contaminated and that ground contamination from the laundry continued to leach into Arcade's well. In 1984, Arcade filed a FTCA suit against the United States, alleging that the release of laundry wastes constituted a continuing nuisance. The District Court dismissed the complaint as time-barred. On appeal the Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that it was not material that the laundry facility was no longer operational. In determining under California law whether the nuisance was continuing, the Ninth Circuit reasoned that the most salient allegation was that contamination continued to leach into Arcade's well. Id. at 1268. That court concluded that because Arcade presented an engineer's affidavit stating that he could not say the contamination was permanent, it could not hold as a matter of law that the nuisance was permanent. Thus, the court held that Arcade alleged a set of facts which constituted a continuing nuisance. We find the analysis in Arcade and other cases that have considered this issue persuasive and consistent with Wright and our continuing tort concept. Therefore, we agree with Hoery that the ongoing presence and continued migration of toxic chemicals originally emanating from Lowry constitute a continuing trespass and nuisance and decline to extend the permanent tort concept of the irrigation ditch cases to the facts alleged here. For purposes of answering the certified questions before us, no dispute exists about whether the United States released TCE into the ground and by doing so, invaded Hoery's property. The property invasion constituted a trespass because the toxic pollution released by the United States physically intruded upon Hoery's property without his permission. See Public Serv. Co. of Colorado, 27 P.3d at 389. It also constituted a nuisance because the toxic pollution released by the United States substantially invaded Hoery's interest in the use and enjoyment of his property. See id. at 391. We also hold that these property invasions by way of trespass and nuisance are continuing. The allegations in this case support such a finding on two grounds. First, TCE pollution remains on Hoery's property. The failure of the United States to remove the pollution from Hoery's property which it wrongfully placed there constitutes a continuing property invasion for the entire time the contamination remains. Wright, 40 Colo. at 440, 91 P. at 44; Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 161 cmt. b, 834 cmt. e; Nieman, 108 F.3d at 1559; ASARCO, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7154 at -13; Kulpa, 534 N.Y.S.2d at 520. Second, the toxic pollution continues to migrate onto his property on a daily basis. The failure of the United States to stop the toxic pollution plume that it created from entering Hoery's property also constitutes a continuing property invasion. Wright, 40 Colo. at 440, 91 P. at 44; Arcade, 940 F.2d at 1268; Taygeta, 763 N.E.2d at 1065. Pursuant to the fundamental principles of tort law, the United States's failure to act, or its omissions, can be the basis for tortious conduct. [11] As the Restatement explains, The word `actor' is used merely for convenience, and is used not only in its primary sense of denoting one who acts, but also as denoting one who deliberately or inadvertently fails to act. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 3 cmt. a; § 158 cmt. 1 (A trespass on land may be by a failure of the actor to leave the land of which the other is in possession.); Graham v. Beverage, 211 W.Va. 466, 566 S.E.2d 603, 614 (2002)([W]e hereby hold that where a tort involves a continuing or repeated injury, the cause of action accrues at and the statute of limitations begins to run from the date of the last injury or when the tortious overt acts or omissions cease. ) These continuing property invasions are not dependent upon whether the United States still releases TCE into the ground. We decline to hold, as urged by the United States, that its wrongful conduct has ceased and that the contamination of Hoery's property represents only the product of that prior conduct. Taygeta, 763 N.E.2d at 1058, 1065 (rejecting the trial court's finding that the ongoing contamination was only a product of the previously terminated tortious conduct of dumping hazardous wastes and thus not itself a continuing nuisance); ASARCO, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7154 at  (rejecting defendant's argument that although contamination remained in plaintiff's soil, its tortious conduct ceased years earlier when it stopped operating its smokestack). The daily migration and presence of those chemicals on Hoery's property constitute the continuing torts of trespass and nuisance in this case. While these continuing property invasions remain, it is immaterial whether the United States continues to release toxic pollutants from Lowry. The irrigation ditch cases do not change our conclusion. In those cases, we held that defendants lawfully constructed permanent improvements that would and should continue indefinitely. See Middelkamp, 46 Colo. at 107-09, 103 P. at 283. Indeed, such defendants represented an enterprise that was vital to the development of our state. Id. The record does not indicate that the continued migration or ongoing presence of toxic pollution plumes underneath Hoery's residential property will or should continue indefinitely. Rather, the record at this stage of the litigation indicates that the contamination is not permanent  that is, it is remediable or abatable. [12] Although the United States did not address the factual issue, Hoery's expert opined under oath that Hoery's property could be remediated. See supra n. 4. We also note that the continued contamination does not benefit the development of our state. In contrast to our policy supporting our holding that the seepage from irrigation ditches constituted a permanent property invasion, there exists no sound public policy supporting the classification of contamination from the release of toxic chemicals as a permanent property invasion. One basis for classifying a property invasion as permanent is whether public policy favors the continuation of the invasion. See Dan B. Dobbs, Law of Torts § 57 (2000). Irrigation ditches or railway lines are permanent improvements that help develop the state and should be encouraged. This rationale comports with the underlying principles of tort law. See Denver Publ'g Co. v. Bueno, 54 P.3d 893, 897-98 (Colo.2002) (Torts are designed to encourage socially beneficial conduct and deter wrongful conduct.); Restatement (Second) of Torts § 901(c). Although plaintiffs still suffered a property invasion in such cases, we limited their recovery to one action for all present and future damages. Here, we find that public policy favors the discontinuance of both the continuing migration and the ongoing presence of toxic chemicals into Hoery's property and irrigation well. Under Colorado law, a tortfeasor's liability for continuing trespass and nuisance creates a new cause of action each day the property invasion continues. Hence, the alleged tortfeasor has an incentive to stop the property invasion and remove the cause of damage.