Court Opinion

ID: 9806324
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 18:55:30.624659+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:03:00.080102
License: Public Domain

Morse, J. (Ret.),
¶ 32. Specially Assigned, concurring. I concur in the Court’s holding insofar as it goes, but write separately to acknowledge what the Court largely disregards — the overpow*527ering assault on the senses produced by the F-35A aircraft — and to observe that other remedies may be available to those most immediately affected.
¶ 33. The record evidence of the F-35A’s noise impact on the area surrounding the Burlington International Airport is an alarming wake-up call. It reveals that decibel levels of the F-35A on take-off, approach, and landing will be perceived as two to four times louder by the human ear than the current F-16 aircraft. The area experiencing decibel levels incompatible with residential use will increase by several hundred acres, and encompass nearly a thousand additional households. See In re Burlington Airport Permit, 2014 VT 72, ¶ 3, 197 Vt. 203, 103 A.3d 153 (discussing the airport’s program of acquiring residential structures within a minimum “noise contour” of the airport). Anyone who has experienced the noise generated by an F-16 can only imagine the exponential effect of the F-35A on the local populace.
¶ 34. The Court is correct, nevertheless, that federal law preempts direct state and local regulation of noise generated by aircraft in flight. See City of Burbank v. Lockheed Air Terminal, Inc., 411 U.S. 624, 635 (1973) (invalidating municipal ordinance prohibiting aircraft from taking off from Hollywood-Burbank Airport between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., on the ground that Congress had impliedly preempted “the field of noise regulation insofar as it involves controlling the flight of aircraft” (quotation omitted)).
¶ 35. A fair number of courts interpreting City of Burbank have also concluded, however, that federal law does not preempt common-law actions against municipally-owned airports based on excessive noise or emissions that result in a public nuisance. See, e.g., Bieneman v. City of Chi., 864 F.2d 463, 471 (7th Cir. 1988) (holding that FAA “does not expressly preempt state damage remedies,” and rejecting argument that permitting damages while prohibiting regulation was inconsistent); Greater Westchester Homeowners Ass’n v. City of L.A., 603 P.2d 1329, 1336-37 (Cal. 1979) (holding that federal aviation law did not preempt “noise disputes between airport owners . . . and property owners” or provide municipal airport operators “immunity from traditional nuisance liability,” and affirming award of damages to homeowners living adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport for personal injuries resulting from aircraft noise); Owen v. City of Atlanta, 277 S.E.2d 338, 340-41 (Ga. Ct. App. 1981) (rejecting notion that *528“preemption [was] a doctrine behind which an airport proprietor whose facility creates a ‘nuisance’ may hide,” and holding that City of Atlanta, which owns and operates Atlanta International Airport, could be held liable where its “airport invades the property rights of adjacent owners”); Krueger v. Mitchell, 332 N.W.2d 733, 739-41 (Wis. 1983) (holding that federal aviation law did not preempt nuisance actions based on “unreasonable noise levels,” that such actions would not interfere with “national aviation” policy, and that unreasonable noise may constitute nuisance even if in compliance “with federal and state law”); see generally K. Falzone, Comment, Airport Noise Pollution: Is There a Solution in Sight?, 26 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 769, 795 (1999) (observing that courts have reached the “conclusion that claims for personal injuries founded upon nuisance are not federally preempted”).
¶ 36. Thus, there is at least an argument to be made that the F-35A will create a “public nuisance” to the area surrounding the Burlington International Airport. Under the common law of this and most states, a “public nuisance” is an activity that represents “an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public.” State v. Howe Cleaners, Inc., 2010 VT 70, ¶49, 188 Vt. 303, 9 A.3d 276 (quotation omitted). Here, the right is to be free from the assault of ear-splitting noise generated by jet aircraft.
¶ 37. Of course, whether the facts and law will ultimately support a public-nuisance action by residents of the area near the Burlington International Airport if, and when, the F-35A aircraft is deployed remains to be determined. It is well to recall, however, that the right to a remedy “for all injuries or wrongs which one may receive in person, property or character” is one granted to all Vermonters under our Constitution. Vt. Const. ch. I, art. 4. While a public-nuisance suit may be less than what the affected residents had hoped for, it may at least provide some redress for an injury they are powerless to prevent.