Hale v. State

314 P.3d 345, 259 Or. App. 379, 2013 WL 6028753, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 1367
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 14, 2013
Docket161112609; A150572
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 314 P.3d 345 (Hale v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hale v. State, 314 P.3d 345, 259 Or. App. 379, 2013 WL 6028753, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 1367 (Or. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

SCHUMAN, P. J.

Plaintiffs are property owners who use only organic and sustainable farming and forestry practices. Some of their neighbors use pesticides and other chemicals that, plaintiffs allege, migrate onto their property and into their persons. In an earlier case, plaintiffs Hale and Wroncy filed an action against a neighbor alleging that the chemical intrusion was a trespass. See Hale v. Klemp, 220 Or App 27, 184 P3d 1185 (2008). The neighbor raised an affirmative defense based on ORS 30.930 to 30.947, commonly known as the “Right to Farm and Right to Forest Act” (the Act), which provides immunity to property owners who are sued for trespass or nuisance resulting from agricultural and forestry practices unless the practice is alleged to have caused death or serious injury.1 Hale and Wroncy then voluntarily dismissed their action against the neighbor, pursuant to ORCP 54 A, but — based on the fact that their complaint had alleged trespass — they had to pay defendants’ attorney fees. See Hale, 220 Or App at 34 (construing ORS 30.9382).

In this case, plaintiffs name the state as defendant and seek a declaratory judgment that the Act deprives them of a remedy in violation of the Remedy Clause in Article I, section 10, of the Oregon Constitution, which provides that, “every man shall have remedy by due course of law for injury done him in his person, property, or reputation.” On the state’s motion under ORCP 21 A, the trial court dismissed the case with prejudice, determining that plaintiffs had not stated a justiciable controversy. Plaintiffs appeal. We affirm.

[382]*382On an appeal from a grant of a motion to dismiss, we assume the truth of all well-pleaded facts alleged in the complaint. Doe v. Lake Oswego School District, 353 Or 321, 297 P3d 1287 (2013). We review legal conclusions for errors of law. Becker v. Pieper, 176 Or App 635, 641, 32 P3d 912 (2001).

Plaintiffs allege that their property, crops, animals, and persons have suffered or will suffer injury caused by the drift of chemicals onto their properties from the surrounding properties. Further, plaintiffs believe that they are unable to pursue common-law remedies for their neighbors’ alleged nuisance and trespass because, under the Act, generally accepted, reasonable, and prudent farm and forest practices are in most instances immune from liability for nuisance and trespass, and the availability of attorney fees acts as a deterrent. ORS 30.930(2), (4); ORS 30.936(1); ORS 30.938. They therefore brought this action against the state, seeking a declaration that the Act, by depriving them of a remedy, violates Article I, section 10. Without reaching the merits of plaintiffs’ constitutional argument, the trial court concluded that plaintiffs had not alleged a justiciable controversy and granted the state’s motion to dismiss on that basis. The court did not explain its reasoning orally or in writing.

On appeal, the state argues that the trial court’s disposition was correct because a declaration that the Act is unconstitutional “could not affect the ability of plaintiffs’ neighbors, who are not parties, to nonetheless invoke the Act’s immunity provision in a future lawsuit.” Plaintiffs, for their part, contend that their complaint alleges present facts — the existence of the Act and Article I, section 10 — and that a judgment in their favor would have the effect of clarifying their “rights” under the “constitution [and] statute.” ORS 28.020.3 In particular, they assert that a declaration [383]*383that the Act violates Article I, section 10, will clarify their right to seek relief from their neighbors.

The declaratory judgment statutes, ORS 28.010 to 28.160, have an uneasy relationship with the constitutional concept of justiciability. The statutes announce that their purpose “is to settle and to afford relief from uncertainty and insecurity with respect to rights, status and other legal relations, and [they are] to be liberally construed and administered.” ORS 28.120. “Declaratory judgment is preventive justice, designed to relieve parties of uncertainty by adjudicating their rights and duties before wrongs have actually been committed” Beason v. Harcleroad, 105 Or App 376, 380, 805 P2d 700 (1991) (emphasis added); see also Recall Bennett Committee v. Bennett, 196 Or 299, 322, 249 P2d 479 (1952) (“[T]he action for declaratory judgment ‘is an instrumentality to be wielded in the interest of preventative justice [.]’” (Quoting Cobb v. Harrington, 144 Tex 360, 190 SW 2d 709 (1945) (quoting Anderson, Declaratory Judgments § 3 at 12).)). The statutory authority to issue declaratory judgments, however, is constrained by constitutional justicia-bility requirements.4 The Supreme Court has held that the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act does not give courts authority to issue declaratory rulings “in a vacuum; they must resolve an actual or justiciable controversy.” TVKO v. Howland, 335 Or 527, 534, 73 P3d 905 (2003); Brown v. Oregon State Bar, 293 Or 446, 449, 648 P2d 1289 (1982). Courts cannot exercise jurisdiction over nonjusticiable controversies because a court cannot render advisory opinions. Pendleton School Dist. v. State of Oregon, 345 Or 596, 604, 200 P3d 133 (2009). Thus, if a claim for a declaratory judgment does not involve a justiciable controversy, a court does not have jurisdiction to consider it. Hudson v. Feder, 115 Or App 1, 5, 836 P2d 779, rev den, 314 Or 727 (1992). The tension is apparent between declaratory judgments, which are invoked “to settle and to afford relief from uncertainty and insecurity with respect to rights, status and other legal [384]*384relations,” ORS 28.020, and justiciability requirements, which prohibit advisory opinions.

To accommodate the declaratory judgment statutes with the constitutional justiciability requirement, the Supreme Court and this court invoke the following language from Brown, 293 Or at 449:

“In order for a court to entertain an action for declaratory relief, the complaint must present a justiciable controversy. Justiciability is a vague standard but entails several definite considerations. A controversy is justiciable, as opposed to abstract, where there is an actual and substantial controversy between parties having adverse legal interests. Cummings Constr. v. School Dist. No. 9, 242 Or 106, 408 P2d 80 (1965). The controversy must involve present facts as opposed to a dispute which is based on future events of a hypothetical issue. Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
314 P.3d 345, 259 Or. App. 379, 2013 WL 6028753, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 1367, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hale-v-state-orctapp-2013.