Ario v. Metropolitan Airports Commission

367 N.W.2d 509, 49 A.L.R. 4th 603, 1985 Minn. LEXIS 1075
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMay 17, 1985
DocketC1-83-1320
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 367 N.W.2d 509 (Ario v. Metropolitan Airports Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ario v. Metropolitan Airports Commission, 367 N.W.2d 509, 49 A.L.R. 4th 603, 1985 Minn. LEXIS 1075 (Mich. 1985).

Opinions

SIMONETT, Justice.

Presented here is the propriety of an order of the Hennepin County District Court certifying approximately 2,000 residential property owners living near Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport as a class for the bringing of an inverse condemnation action to take “avigational easements” on their properties. We reverse the order for a class action.

In 1970, plaintiffs and others commenced a class action seeking a remedy for airport noise affecting their properties. The action reached us in Alevizos v. Metropolitan Airports Comm’n, 298 Minn. 471, 216 N.W.2d 651 (1974) (Alevizos I), where we held that a property owner had a remedy in inverse condemnation for the taking of an avigational easement. We held that for a taking the property owner must show: (1) that the airport noise is a direct and substantial invasion of property rights of such proportion that the owner is deprived of the practical enjoyment of the property, and (2) that the invasion results in a definite and measurable diminution in the market value of the property. We also held, however, that the trial court had properly denied class action status. We said a class action was unwarranted because of the [512]*512“multitude of individual issues and an absence of common issues.” Id. at 498, 216 N.W.2d at 668.

The case was remanded to district court, where a mandamus trial was held on the taking of an easement on the parcel owned by plaintiffs Frank and Georgette Ario. After an extensive trial, the district court found that airport noise did constitute a “substantial invasion” of the Ario property interests but dismissed the action for failure to establish a definite and measurable diminution in market value attributable to the airport noise. On appeal, this court affirmed the trial court’s findings; but, finding that the Arios had been deprived of a jury trial because they were misled by language in our earlier opinion, we reversed and remanded once again for a new trial. Alevizos v. Metropolitan Airports Comm’n, 317 N.W.2d 362 (Minn.1982) (Alevizos II).

On this second remand, instead of proceeding immediately with retrial of the Ario parcel, plaintiffs, in June 1983, renewed their request for class certification. This time, a class action was ordered by the trial court but, deeming the question important and doubtful, the trial court has certified the question to us.

I.

The first issue is whether this court’s denial of a class action in Alevizos I is “the law of the case” and precludes the trial court from now allowing a class action in this proceeding. The Airports Commission so argues, but we are not persuaded.

Ordinarily, issues considered and adjudicated on a first appeal become the law of the case and will not be reconsidered on a second appeal of the same case. Lange v. Nelson-Ryan Flight Service, Inc., 263 Minn. 152, 116 N.W.2d 266 (1962). See also Cayse v. Foley Brothers, Inc., 260 Minn. 248, 253, 110 N.W.2d 201, 205 (1961) (a decision on appeal will not generally be reexamined on subsequent appeal, but questions not decided may be considered on a second appeal). It seems to us, however, that we do not have the same issue of class certification now that we had in Alevizos I.

In Alevizos I, the proposed class consisted of “approximately 27,565 homes, apartments, churches, places of business, and other buildings,” located within the four corridors or sound cones emanating from the airport. Alevizos I, 298 Minn, at 473-74, 216 N.W.2d at 655. Because the proposed class was so diverse and lacked commonality of issues, this court ruled that a class action was inappropriate, although three members of the court disagreed. Id. at 497 n. 7, 216 N.W.2d at 667 n. 7.

Here, however, the trial court has allowed a class action limited to all persons with residential property located within the area defined as Zone 1 by the Metropolitan Noisemap Project. About 2,000 property owners are involved. The Metropolitan Noisemap Project was initiated in 1977, designed in part to identify the current and probable future aircraft noise environment around Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and to establish practical guidelines for land use compatibility planning. The Noisemap is a computer-generated series of contours surrounding the airport, and it identifies four zones of increasing intensity of noise exposure. Zone 1, the area closest to the airport and located at the ends of all three runways, was deemed to be subject to “severe and permanent” noise exposure. The noise impact in Zone 2 was considered “serious,” while the noise in Zones 3 and 4 was considered “significant” and “moderate,” respectively. ' The Noisemap was adopted by the Metropolitan Council in March 1983. See Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities Area, Guidelines for Land Use Compatability with Aircraft Noise 4-6 (March 1983).1

[513]*513Clearly, in this situation, the class currently proposed is markedly different from that proposed 15 years ago, both in numbers and types of properties involved and in the scientific and logical basis for defining the members of the class. We hold that the doctrine of “law of the case” is inapplicable and does not preclude consideration of the new proposed class on its own merits.

II.

We now reach the main issue, which is whether the proposed class meets the requirements of Minn.R.Civ.P. 23. This requires, first, a consideration of Rule 23.01, and if those prerequisites are met, then a consideration of the maintenance requirements of Rule 23.02.

1. We are satisfied that the proposed class meets the four prerequisites of Rule 23.01.2 A class of 2,000 residential homeowners is clearly so numerous as to make joinder impracticable, thus satisfying the first prerequisite. The second prerequisite is that there be questions of law or fact common to the class, i.e., that there be common legal grievances among the class members’ claims. See Compact Electra Corp. v. Paul, 93 Misc.2d 807, 403 N.Y.S.2d 611 (1977). Here all members of the class have properties which share in common “severe and permanent” aircraft noise as delineated on the Noisemap, and all seek the same inverse condemnation of aviga-tional easements. The third prerequisite is typicality, that is, that the representative parties have an interest compatible with that of the' class sought to be represented. See Brandt v. Owens-Illinois, Inc., 62 F.R.D. 160, 165 (S.D.N.Y.1973). This test, too, is met. The fact that some members of the class may prefer to cooperate with the government to minimize aircraft noise rather than to seek inverse condemnation damages, does not, as the Airport Commission argues, defeat typicality. Any class member who wishes to do so may opt out. Also, typicality refers to the potential for rivalry and conflict which may jeopardize the interests of the class, Marshall v. Electric Hose & Rubber Co., 68 F.R.D. 287, 291 (D.Del.1975), and that kind of tension is not involved here. Finally, the fourth prerequisite is that the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

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Ario v. Metropolitan Airports Commission
367 N.W.2d 509 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
367 N.W.2d 509, 49 A.L.R. 4th 603, 1985 Minn. LEXIS 1075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ario-v-metropolitan-airports-commission-minn-1985.