Court Opinion

ID: 9897882
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-14 19:26:39.374422+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:47.033670
License: Public Domain

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             FILE                                                THIS OPINION WAS FILED
                                                                                  FOR RECORD AT 8 A.M. ON
                                                                                      AUGUST 17, 2023
        IN CLERK’S OFFICE
 SUPREME COURT, STATE OF WASHINGTON
         AUGUST 17, 2023
                                                                                      ERIN L. LENNON
                                                                                   SUPREME COURT CLERK

            IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

         CERTIFICATION FROM THE UNITED                 )
         STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR                     )     No. 101264-1
         THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF                       )     (certified C18-6025RSL)
         WASHINGTON IN                                 )
                                                       )
         ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND,                    )     En Banc
                                                       )
                               Plaintiff,              )
                                                       )     Filed: August 17, 2023
                v.                                     )
                                                       )
         OLYMPIC GAME FARM, INC.,                      )
         ROBERT BEEBE, JAMES BEEBE, and                )
         KENNETH BEEBE,                                )
                                                       )
                               Defendants.             )
                                                       )

                JOHNSON, J.—This case involves a certified question from the United

         States District Court, asking whether a violation of Washington’s animal protection

         laws can establish a claim for a public nuisance, absent an indication that the

         legislature so intended and absent a showing that the violation interferes with the

         use and enjoyment of property or is injurious to public health and safety. The case

         was brought by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) against the Olympic
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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       Game Farm Inc. (OGF). ALDF argues that OGF has violated Washington’s

       wildlife laws, animal cruelty laws, and both the Washington and federal

       Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531-1544, thus creating a public

       nuisance. OGF argues that ALDF has no valid legal claim for public nuisance

       because ALDF has not demonstrated that any wildlife statutes have been violated.

       Even if ALDF could prove such a violation, the legislature has not named such

       violations a nuisance nor has ALDF demonstrated that a property interference or

       threat to public health and safety has occurred. Based on our case law and statutory

       definitions of public nuisance, and the lack of any indication in case law or statute

       that violation of animal protection laws has been declared a nuisance, we answer

       the certified question in the negative.

                           I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

             The parties in this case are ALDF, an animal advocacy organization based in

       California, and OGF, a private zoo in Sequim, Washington. In 2018, ALDF filed a

       complaint against OGF in the United States District Court. The original complaint

       by ALDF alleged violations of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), based

       on harm and harassment of gray wolves, lions, tigers, bears, and Canada lynx at the

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       facility, and a public nuisance based on confinement of federally protected species

       and violation of Washington State animal protection laws (RCW 16.52.205).

             ALDF conducted extensive discovery, and both parties collected testimony

       from a number of witnesses, including local Sequim residents, specialist wildlife

       veterinarians, veterinarians for OGF, United States Department of Agriculture

       inspectors, and former and current OGF employees. The submitted record is

       substantial.

             The case was initially assigned to Judge Ronald Leighton. OGF filed a

       motion to dismiss the public nuisance claim, contending that ALDF did not have

       standing to maintain a nuisance action because it did not allege facts that it

       suffered a special injury, as required by RCW 7.48.210. In his decision, Judge

       Leighton relied primarily on Chelan Basin Conservancy v. GBI Holding Co., 190

       Wn.2d 249, 272, 413 P.3d 549 (2018), in which we said that an individual must be

       specially injured in order to have standing for a public nuisance claim, but that

       requirement is not a particularly high bar. Judge Leighton determined that ALDF

       met the low bar of standing in the public nuisance context and denied the motion to

       dismiss. Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, Inc., 387 F. Supp. 3d

       1202 (W.D. Wash. 2019).

             In 2020, Judge Leighton retired, and the case was reassigned to Judge

       Robert Lasnik. Both parties then moved for summary judgment. Judge Lasnik

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       granted in part OGF’s motion for summary judgment, determining that ALDF had

       raised a triable issue of fact about whether certain specific actions of OGF violated

       the ESA, but he dismissed the public nuisance claim because nuisances must be

       either legislatively declared or concern interference in the use and enjoyment of

       property or in the health and safety of the public. Judge Lasnik denied ALDF’s

       motion for summary judgment.

              ALDF filed a motion for reconsideration of the summary judgment order.

       OGF also filed a motion for reconsideration. Judge Lasnik granted ALDF’s motion

       for reconsideration, in part, stating that the essential elements of a public nuisance

       claim should be determined by the state’s highest court, and thus the question on

       public nuisance was certified to this court. 1

                                     II. CERTIFIED QUESTION

              Does a violation of Washington’s wildlife laws, animal cruelty laws,
              and/or Endangered Species Act establish a claim for public nuisance
              in the absence of a showing that the conduct was legislatively
              declared a public nuisance, interferes with the use and enjoyment of
              property, or is injurious to public health or safety?

       Ord. Certifying Question, No. C18-6025RSL at 8 (W.D. Wash. Sept. 6,

       2022.)

              1
                Two amici briefs were submitted supporting ALDF, one from the Center for Biological
       Diversity and one from a group of self-described historians and legal scholars.

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

                                          III. ANALYSIS

             Judge Robert Lasnik of the United States District Court, Western District of

       Washington, certified the public nuisance question to this court under RAP 16.16.

       Pure questions of law, certified from a federal court, are reviewed de novo. In re

       F5 Networks, Inc., 166 Wn.2d 229, 236, 207 P.3d 433 (2009). The court does not

       consider the legal issue in the abstract but considers it in the context of the certified

       record provided by the federal district court. RCW 2.60.030(2); St. Paul Fire &

       Marine Ins. Co. v. Onvia, Inc., 165 Wn.2d 122, 126, 196 P.3d 664 (2008).

             Washington’s statutory definition of “nuisance” is in chapter 7.48 RCW.

       The general definition of “nuisance” is

             unlawfully doing an act, or omitting to perform a duty, which act or
             omission either annoys, injures or endangers the comfort, repose,
             health or safety of others, offends decency, or unlawfully interferes
             with, obstructs or tends to obstruct, or render dangerous for passage,
             any lake or navigable river, bay, stream, canal or basin, or any public
             park, square, street or highway; or in any way renders other persons
             insecure in life, or in the use of property.

       RCW 7.48.120. Public nuisance is a type of nuisance that “affects equally the

       rights of an entire community or neighborhood, although the extent of the damage

       may be unequal.” RCW 7.48.130. A private person may have a claim for public

       nuisance where they can demonstrate that the nuisance is specially injurious to

       themselves, but not otherwise. RCW 7.48.210. The legislature has also specifically

       enumerated certain public nuisances, such as leaving an animal carcass out on

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       property, dumping animal carcasses in a body of water or on a public road, and

       impeding the passage of a body of water. RCW 7.48.140.

             In this matter, we do not address when or whether a government entity may

       abate a public nuisance or bring a civil action against a person committing a public

       nuisance. This is beyond the scope of the certified question. Our analysis is limited

       to whether an action for public nuisance can be brought by a private party in the

       specified context.

             Our case law has recognized that the statutory definition of nuisance is

       expansive but generally requires that an actionable nuisance “must either injure the

       property or unreasonably interfere with enjoyment of the property.” Tiegs v. Watts,

       135 Wn.2d 1, 13, 954 P.2d 877 (1998) (plurality opinion) (held that company with

       proper pollution discharge permits is not absolved of liability for damages under a

       theory of nuisance per se if the discharge injures another’s property). We have also

       stated that actions can be a nuisance if they affect the peace of mind or health of

       residents and destroy property values of the neighborhood. Champa v. Wash.

       Compressed Gas Co., 146 Wash. 190, 198, 262 P. 228 (1927) (gas plant leak

       caused reasonable fear of injury to neighbors’ health and property, and depreciated

       property values, and was thus a private nuisance). In our cases covering nuisance,

       we have primarily looked at whether the action has interfered in the use and

       enjoyment of the private property of the plaintiff.

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

             In a few cases, we expanded our nuisance analysis to interference in public

       property, such as in Chelan Basin. Though that case primarily addressed standing,

       we also noted that the obstruction of navigable waters at issue was named a

       nuisance by statute and that private encroachment on public waterways has long

       been recognized as a nuisance by Washington courts. Chelan Basin, 190 Wn.2d at

       272. A number of cases address the obstruction of waterways that blocked access

       to fishing. See, e.g., Morris v. Graham, 16 Wash. 343, 47 P. 752 (1897) (a fish trap

       blocking a channel leading to the Puget Sound was a nuisance). In most of those

       cases, the legislature had clearly named such obstructions a public nuisance. See

       RCW 77.57.030 (obstructing a stream without including a fishway is a public

       nuisance); RCW 7.48.140(3) (obstructing, without legal authority, the passage of a

       waterway is a public nuisance). We relied specifically on legislative enumerations

       of nuisance, and long-standing nuisances recognized by this court, rather than the

       analysis of interference in private property.

             Our cases have also acknowledged the concept of a nuisance per se: “an act,

       thing, omission, or use of property which of itself is a nuisance, and hence is not

       permissible or excusable under any circumstance.” Tiegs, 135 Wn.2d at 13.

             “When the conditions giving rise to a nuisance are also a violation of
             statutory prohibition, those conditions constitute a nuisance per se,
             and the issue of the reasonableness of the defendant’s conduct and the
             weighing of the relative interests of the plaintiff and defendant is
             precluded because the Legislature has, in effect, already struck the
             balance in favor of the innocent party.”

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       Moore v. Steve’s Outboard Serv., 182 Wn.2d 151, 155, 339 P.3d 169 (2014)

       (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Tiegs v. Boise Cascade Corp., 83 Wn.

       App. 411, 418, 922 P.2d 115 (1996)). While violation of a statute may, under

       certain circumstances, constitute a public nuisance, simply establishing that a

       violation has occurred is insufficient. To have a legitimate nuisance per se claim,

       there must be a showing that a statutory violation has occurred and that the action

       is in fact a nuisance and remains a nuisance under all circumstances. Moore, 182

       Wn.2d at 156; Kitsap County v. Kev, Inc., 106 Wn.2d 135, 138, 720 P.2d 818

       (1986); Motor Car Dealers’ Ass’n of Seattle v. Fred S. Haines Co., 128 Wash. 267,

       274, 222 P. 611 (1924). We have also clarified that failure to follow a law does not

       transform conduct “into a nuisance per se unless the legislature has specifically so

       declared or the courts of this state have specifically so found.” Moore, 182 Wn.2d

       at 154.

             As Judge Lasnik has phrased the certified question, no evidence exists

       demonstrating a legislative intent to declare the alleged statutory violations a

       nuisance per se. Nearly all of the conduct the legislature has named a public

       nuisance relates to adverse impact on public land (through improper discharge of

       pollution or animal carcasses), interference in use and enjoyment of property, or

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       threats to public health and safety. 2 RCW 7.48.140. None of the nuisances

       enumerated by the legislature include any reference to the animal cruelty laws, nor

       is there any declaration in the animal protection statutes naming violations a

       nuisance.

              No suggestion exists in case law that violations of animal protection statutes

       have been found to be a nuisance either. Our case law has limited nuisances to

       actions that interfere in the use and enjoyment of property or threaten public health

       and safety. Again, the phrasing of Judge Lasnik’s question specifies that no

       property infringement has occurred and that there is no threat to public health or

       safety in this case. Without legislative intent to name an action a nuisance, and no

       indication that an action has met the definition of nuisance from case law, the

       answer to the certified question is no. Since Judge Lasnik has already reached this

       answer in his original ruling on OGF’s motion for summary judgment, the legal

       question before us is whether we will change the existing definition of nuisance

       and name violations of animal protection laws a nuisance per se.

              OGF asserts that we should answer the certified question in the negative. It

       states that ALDF has failed to show that these statutes have been violated at all and

       that whether facts support a violation is outside the legal question certified. Even if

              2
                RCW 7.48.140(6) and .140(8) appear to be the only possible outliers. One enumerated
       nuisance involves establishing powder magazines near cities, towns, or houses, and the other,
       production of alcohol for sale in contravention of law.

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       ALDF could show the laws were violated, it fails to show that a violation

       constitutes a public nuisance. The legislature has given no indication that it

       intended violation of these statutes to constitute a public nuisance, and ALDF

       cannot point to any cases in which this court has determined violations of animal

       cruelty or wildlife laws a public nuisance. OGF asks that we follow the logic in

       Moore, where we said that a violation of a statute for a permit is insufficient to

       establish nuisance, even if the legislature has declared such a violation a nuisance

       within the statute. 182 Wn.2d at 156.

             ALDF argues that we should answer the certified question in the affirmative.

       It claims that the evidence shows that OGF has violated Washington’s animal

       welfare law (RCW 16.52.205 and .207), the Washington Endangered Species Act

       (WAC 220-610-010), Washington’s rules on possession and display of Roosevelt

       elk (WAC 220-450-030), and Washington’s law on unlawful taking of endangered

       fish or wildlife (RCW 77.15.120). ALDF asserts that for over a century,

       Washington’s definition of public nuisance has extended broadly beyond

       legislatively declared nuisances, impediments to the use and enjoyment of

       property, or threats to public health and safety.

             ALDF essentially asks that we name a business operating in violation of

       wildlife protection and animal cruelty laws a public nuisance per se. It argues that

       Washington case law extends public nuisance to include offenses to public decency

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       and morals. ALDF adds that even if public nuisance claims are restricted to

       interferences in property rights, violations of wild animal protection statutes are

       still a public nuisance because wildlife is the property of the people of the state.

             ALDF reaches far back in Washington case law for evidence that we have

       allowed interferences unrelated to property rights or public health and safety to

       constitute public nuisances. It points out that the definition of nuisance is

       expansive and cites language from several cases to demonstrate this. In one case,

       we said that nuisance is so comprehensive that it has been applied to almost all

       wrongs, “‘anything that worketh hurt, inconvenience, or damage.’” Thornton v.

       Dow, 60 Wash. 622, 633, 111 P. 899 (1910) (quoting Veazie v. Dwinel, 50 Me.

       479, 481 (1862)), abrogated by Davis v. Baugh Indus. Contractors, Inc., 159

       Wn.2d 413, 150 P.3d 545 (2007). We have also said that operation of a

       bawdyhouse was a public nuisance, though there was no evidence of infringement

       on property rights. State ex rel. Dow v. Nichols, 83 Wash. 676, 145 P. 986 (1915).

       The comparison to these cases is not compelling and does little to support ALDF’s

       argument. In Thornton, the court concluded there was no liability for nuisance,

       even though the definition was broad. In Nichols, the court’s analysis was based on

       the action of the defendant being expressly named a public nuisance by an

       ordinance.

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

             ALDF also points us to Kitsap County v. Kev, Inc., 106 Wn.2d 135, for the

       premise that violation of a law is a nuisance when it interferes in the comfort,

       repose, health, or safety of those in the community through various statutory

       infractions, again demonstrating that the definition of public nuisance is intended

       to be broad. It draws comparisons with this case, pointing out that violation of

       animal protection laws also interferes in the comfort and repose of those in the

       Sequim community. The comparison fails for two reasons. First, the statutory

       violation in Kev was expressly named a public nuisance by the legislature, which is

       not the case here. Second, the club in that case committed daily violations of

       multiple criminal laws, which the court said were so pervasive they constituted a

       nuisance. Here, no criminal violations are alleged.

             Expanding on its original argument, ALDF adds that if we do conclude that

       nuisance issues must relate to the use and enjoyment of property, OGF is still a

       nuisance because the wildlife is the property of the people and OGF’s actions have

       interfered in the use and enjoyment of that public property. ALDF cites to cases

       and law outside of the nuisance context for this concept of wildlife as property.

       RCW 77.04.012 (“Wildlife, fish, and shellfish are the property of the state.”);

       Graves v. Dunlap, 87 Wash. 648, 152 P. 532 (1915) (wild animals belong to the

       state, but man can claim property rights in the animal if it is captured and

       controlled); Dep’t of Fisheries v. Gillette, 27 Wn. App. 815, 820, 621 P.2d 764

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       (1980) (fish are property of the people and the State may act for the people in

       seeking compensation for injury to that property).

              Assuming ALDF could show that OGF has endangered wildlife, though

       there is no evidence in the record that any of the animals at OGF came from the

       wild, ALDF presents no cases where we have found animals are property in this

       context. While ALDF cites to some cases that identify wildlife as a public

       resource, it cites no cases or statutes indicating that the public has a right to use

       that resource as it sees fit or has any individual, personal property rights in

       wildlife.

              In Chelan Basin, we said that in cases where the State has not approved a

       use or impairment of a state resource, private interference on the public use of that

       resource is a public nuisance. 190 Wn.2d at 272. The public nuisance occurs when

       the plaintiff is prevented from using the resource that they would otherwise be

       entitled, absent the interference. The public must impliedly have had use of the

       resource in order for that right to use to have been infringed. ALDF does not show,

       through case law or legislative intent, that Washington has established that the

       public has a right to use wildlife or that it has a right to access private property of a

       zoo.

              ALDF also provides case law from other jurisdictions where courts have

       allowed public nuisance claims against private zoos for violation of animal cruelty

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       laws, but none of those courts applied Washington law. In one case from

       Wisconsin, the court found that the zoo was a nuisance based on the defendant’s

       default after the zoo owner died, and it granted ALDF a default judgment. No

       finding of fact established that the zoo was actually a nuisance outside that context.

       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Special Memories Zoo, LLC, No. 20-C-216, 2021 WL

       101121 (E.D. Wis. Jan. 12, 2021).

             In a case from Maryland, the court applied that state’s definition of public

       nuisance, an adoption of Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821B, which allows a

       claim if the conduct is merely proscribed by statute, regulation, or ordinance.

       Maryland’s version seems to have no requirement that the conduct actually be a

       nuisance, as Washington case law requires. Collins v. Tri-State Zoological Park of

       W. Md., Inc., 514 F. Supp. 3d 773, 781 (D. Md. 2021). The same is true of the case

       from Iowa. Kuehl v. Sellner, 965 N.W.2d 926, at *3-4 (Iowa Ct. App. 2021).

             Our cases have established the rule applicable to nuisance claims, limiting

       claims to property infringement or threats to health and safety. The framing of the

       certified question recognizes that rule. ALDF essentially asks us to expand the

       scope of nuisance law. The cases, however, not only establish when and under

       what circumstances claims exist but are express in limiting claims to those

       circumstances. The cases are, in a way, self-limiting, as is the statutory framework.

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       Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, No. 101264-1

       Where the statutory framework and case law do not support a claim, none exists.

       We decline to expand the scope of nuisance any further.

                                        IV. CONCLUSION

             We answer the certified question in the negative.

       :(&21&85

                                                                   Okrent, J.P.T.

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       Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, Inc, No. 101264-1 (González,
       C.J., concurring)

                                              No. 101264-1

             GONZÁLEZ, C.J. (concurring) — I concur with the majority in result. Under

       long-settled precedent, a violation of wildlife laws; animal cruelty laws; or the

       Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531-1544, without more, is not

       currently an actionable nuisance in Washington courts. Thus, as the majority

       concludes, the answer to the certified question is no.

             I write separately, however, to stress that “[t]he common law is not static.”

       State v. Schenectady Chems., Inc., 117 Misc. 2d 960, 966, 459 N.Y.S.2d 971 (Sup.

       Ct. 1983). As our world faces new challenges, “[t]he courts have reacted by

       expanding the common law to meet the challenge.” Id. Nuisance law is a

       paradigmatic example. In its earliest days, nearly a millennium ago, “nuisance”

       was an injury to property, other than trespass or challenge to a legally recognized

       interest in the land, for which the law gave a remedy. 9 MICHAEL ALLAN WOLF,

       POWELL ON REAL PROPERTY § 64.01[1] (2020) (“[T]he defendant who interfered

       with plaintiff’s use and enjoyment of his property by acts done elsewhere than on

       plaintiff’s land became subject (as early as the Twelfth Century) to the assize of

       nuisance.”) This sense of nuisance persists in Washington’s law on private
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       Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, Inc, No. 101264-1 (González,
       C.J., concurring)

       nuisances but nuisance now encompasses so much more. See RCW 7.48.120,

       .130, .140, .150.

             While the word has taken on a much broader meaning both at law and in its

       everyday use, legally, a “nuisance” still retains at least one important feature it has

       had since the days of Plantagenet kings, the Cocom Dynasty, and Genghis Khan:

       nuisances are injuries for which the law gives a remedy. Not every violation of a

       law is such an injury. Some violations of the law can be remedied only in court by

       the state or its agents. See Moore v. Steve’s Outboard Serv., 182 Wn.2d 151, 157,

       339 P.3d 169 (2014) (holding that the failure to get needed permits would not

       transform a business into a nuisance). Unless a legal violation has been declared a

       nuisance by the legislature or the common law, a private party will only rarely be

       able to maintain a legal action based on it. Id. at 154; see also Tiegs v. Watts, 135

       Wn.2d 1, 13, 954 P.2d 877 (1998) (plurality opinion) (“An actionable nuisance

       must either injure the property or unreasonably interfere with enjoyment of the

       property.”). Even when something has been declared a public nuisance, a private

       party can bring an action only if they are specially injured. RCW 7.48.210.

             But the world has changed much since the days when King Henry II,

       Kukulkan, and the Great Khan were young. Now, the private use of land has

       profound potential to harm our ecosystem and the various species we share it with.

       See Ord. Den. Rev., Aji P. v. State, No. 99564-8, at 2-3 (Wash. Oct. 6, 2021)
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       Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Olympic Game Farm, Inc, No. 101264-1 (González,
       C.J., concurring)

       (González, C.J., dissenting) [https://perma.cc/AHB2-86DJ]. It may well be time to

       heed Justice Douglas’s call to consider whether those places and things threatened

       with environmental catastrophe should have standing in court to sue for their own

       injuries. See Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 741-42, 92 S. Ct. 1361, 31 L.

       Ed. 2d 636 (1972) (Douglas, J., dissenting) (citing Christopher D. Stone, Should

       Trees Have Standing?—Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects, 45 S. CAL. L.

       REV. 450 (1972)). Thus, I am wary of fully endorsing the majority’s sweeping

       conclusion that “[w]here the statutory framework and case law do not support a

       claim, none exists.” Majority at 14.

             The common law evolves. People who would not have had the ability to

       come to court in the 12th century through much of the 20th century are now

       recognized as entitled to petition for redress of grievances, to demand equal justice

       under law, and to be heard. As the law recognizes new injuries it may also be

       called on to recognize new remedies.

             With these observations, I respectfully concur.

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