Lead Opinion
[¶ 1.] In 1988, South Dakota Disposal Systems (SDDS) began the process of founding the Lonetree municipal solid waste landfill in southwestern South Dakota. The plan met with many roadblocks, including citizen resistance, administrative and legislative activity, and court challenges. In 1992, a statewide referendum rejected prior legislative approval for the facility, and SDDS brought a takings action against the State for alleged losses resulting from the adverse vote. The circuit court granted summary judgment for the State, and SDDS appealed to this Court. While this appeal was pending, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction barring the State from relitigating key issues in the state court forum. Does this claim preclusion and liability determination mandate we reverse the summary judgment? As we are bound by its ruling, we answer yes, and remand the action to the circuit court consistent with the Eighth Circuit’s decision.
Facts
[¶2.] Nearly a decade ago, SDDS purchased 1200 acres of rangeland near Edge-mont in Fall River County. It was interested in locating and operating a balefill facility (Lonetree) that would receive initially 300,-000 and later over 7.75 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW). On November 17, 1988, SDDS filed an application with the Department of Water and Natural Resources (Department)
[¶3.] Following an evidentiary hearing, the BME issued SDDS a one-year permit (Original Permit) on September 7, 1989, under SDCL 34A-6-1.16.
[¶ 4.] While SDDS I was winding through the judicial system, a series of other events transpired. In March of 1990, SDDS petitioned the Department and Board for a five-year Renewal Permit to allow it to dispose of 7.75 million tons of MSW, 90% of which would be imported from other states. During this time, Action for the Environment (ACT),
[¶ 5.] At this point, the Department had yet to act on the Renewal Permit. On December 7, 1990, however, the Department granted the five-year Renewal Permit to SDDS, following another contested hearing. In January of 1991, SDDS filed suit in the Sixth Judicial Circuit, alleging $100 million in damages for inverse condemnation caused by the Initiative. SDDS voluntarily dismissed the action in the fall of 1991. Also in January 1991, a bill was introduced in the South Dakota Legislature to provide SDDS with the authorization needed to site and operate Lonetree. The bill, Senate Bill 169 (SB 169), passed both houses and was signed by Governor Mickelson in February, to take effect on July 1, 1991. In May, a Referendum petition was filed with the Secretary of State’s office, referring SB 169, seeking to overturn the legislative authorization for Lonetree, and to put the matter to a vote in November 1992. However, in June 1991, SDDS I was issued, reversing the right to develop and site the facility under the one year permit. SDDS I,
[¶ 6.] In September 1991, the BME held a rehearing on the Original Permit, pursuant to direction from SDDS I. It made additional findings of fact regarding the public interest and environmental safety issues, based on the 1989 record. It issued no orders and no new permit, nor did it reissue the Original Permit. Then, in February 1992, we decided SDDS, Inc. v. State of South Dakota,
[¶ 8.] Still in question at this point was the validity of the Original Permit and the later Renewal Permit. In July 1992, the Seventh Judicial Circuit held that the Original Permit had been revoked by our actions in SDDS I. This was appealed, and we upheld the decision in Matter of 1990 Renewal Application of SDDS,
[¶ 9.] While public and legal maneuvering continued in state venues, SDDS took another route, challenging the Initiative and Referendum in federal court. See SDDS, Inc. v. State of South Dakota,
[¶ 10.] Finally, the present action came to the fore. After SDDS III, this second takings case was transferred to Hughes County, Sixth Judicial Circuit. SDDS seeks damages for an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article VI, Section 13 of the South Dakota Constitution. The complaint now alleges that the damages occurred only from the Referendum, not the Initiative. The period affected by the taking spanned the time between July 1, 1991, the date legislative approval of Lonetree would have taken effect absent the Referendum, and February 6, 1995, the date the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Lonetree III that the Referendum was unconstitutional.
[¶ 11.] Both parties moved for summary judgment, and on January 18,1996, the Sixth Judicial Circuit granted the State’s motion. SDDS appeals, offering four issues for our consideration: (1) Did the trial court follow required summary judgment standards in granting the State’s motion? (2) Did SDDS have a constitutionally protected property interest or use interest to develop and operate Lonetree that was taken by the Referendum? (3) Did the Referendum effect a regulatory taking of property entitling SDDS to just compensation? (4) Was the Referendum the proximate cause of the taking damages alleged by SDDS?
Analysis and Decision
[¶ 12.] The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued In re SDDS, Inc.,
[¶ 13.] This holding pointedly curtails our examination of the subject. Federal court power to enjoin a party from relitigating an issue in state court previously decided in a federal forum is clear. It stems from the Anti-Injunction Act, 28 USC § 2283,
[¶ 14.] The Eighth Circuit decided in Lone-tree IV that its holding in Lonetree III, while specifically dispositive of the dormant commerce clause issue, also rejected the State’s arguments that SDDS held no property interest in the MSW facility and that the Referendum had no effect on its operation of it.
[¶ 15.] As such, we are bound by the dictates of Lonetree IV, both by reason of the exception to the Anti-Injunction Act, as well as by principles of comity, res judicata, and collateral estoppel.
*294 (1) The issue decided in the prior adjudication was identical with the one presented in the action in question;
(2) There was a final judgment on the merits;
(3) The party against whom the plea is asserted was a party or in privity with a party to the prior adjudication; and
(4)The party against whom the plea is asserted had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the prior adjudication.
Grand State Property, Inc. v. Woods, Fuller, et al.,
[¶ 16.] Closely tied to the rule of collateral estoppel, and also binding on this Court in this instance, is the principle of res judicata. “The doctrine of res judicata serves as claim preclusion to prevent relit-igation of an issue actually litigated or which could have been properly raised and determined in a prior action.” Hogg v. Siebrecht,
[¶ 17.] Finally, the doctrine of comity dictates that we accede to the decision of the Eighth Circuit in Lonetree IV. The following factors, needed for comity, are present here:
(1) The foreign court actually had jurisdiction over both the subject matter and the parties;
(2) The decree was not obtained fraudulently;
(3) The decree was rendered by a system of law reasonably assuring the requisites of an impartial administration of justice — due notice and a hearing; and
(4)The judgment did not contravene the public policy of the jurisdiction in which it is relied upon.
State v. Daly,
[¶ 18.] Therefore, we are bound by the recent judgment of the Eighth Circuit. To rule in any other fashion would uselessly encourage “future state defendants ... to effectively ignore judgments rendered in the federal courts, generating needless relit-igation in the state courts, and rendering our judgments largely nugatory and advisory.”
[¶ 19.] Reversed and remanded.
Notes
. The Department of Water and Natural Resources is now known as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
. Between the application and issuance of the permit, the Department failed to act on the application within the requisite 120-day period. SDDS sued, and the Sixth Judicial Circuit directed the Department to act.
.To permit a waste facility to be located, the BME must find that it is in the public interest. SDCL 34A-6-1.13. This requires revelation of the facts underlying such a decision by the BME. Lemke v. Rabenberg's, Inc.,
. ACT was formerly known as the Surface Mining Initiative Fund (SMIF).
. The tenets of the initiative were codified at SDCL 34A-6-53 et seq.:
SDCL 34A-6-53. Legislative approval required for large-scale solid waste facilities — Requirements. No large-scale solid waste facility may be sited, constructed or operated in this state unless the Legislature enacts a bill approving the siting, construction or operation of such facility pursuant to a solid waste permit or permit renewals, issued by the board of minerals and environment. The Legislature must find that the facility is environmentally safe and in the public interest.
SDCL 34A-6-54. Definition of large-scale solid waste facility. A large-scale solid waste facility is any single facility, or two or more facilities operated as a single unit, in which over two hundred thousand tons of solid waste is disposed or incinerated per year.
SDCL 34A-6-55. Existing facilities to cease until legislative approval is obtained. The board of minerals and environment shall cause any existing large-scale solid waste facility to cease operation unless or until legislative approval as prescribed in § 34A-6-53 has been obtained.
SDCL 34A-6-56. Approval requirements are retroactive. The provisions of §§ 34A-6-53 to 34A-6-56, inclusive, are retroactive to July 1, 1989.
.There is some dispute over whether it was appropriate for the circuit court, in the case we now consider, to characterize SDDS’ claim for damages at $5.6 million or at $100 million.
. Circuit Judge Zinter found that the Initiative did not violate the equal protection clause or the dormant commerce clause. He also found that no due process rights were violated concerning the Renewal Permit, as SDDS had no property right in it. On the Original Permit, he found due process rights were violated insofar as the Initiative’s retroactive application affected SDDS.
. The relevant language of the Act is as follows:
A court of the United States may not grant an injunction to stay proceedings in a State Court except as expressly authorized by Act of Congress, or where necessary in aid of its jurisdiction, or to protect or effectuate its judgments.
The Act itself is a "necessary concomitant of the Framers' decision to authorize, and Congress' decision to implement, a dual system of federal and state courts.” Chick Kam Choo v. Exxon Corp.,
. Although we cannot reach the merits, our analysis of our own case law may have produced a different result. It is a clear principle of takings jurisprudence that, to be compensated, one must be deprived of a portion of the bundle of rights in the property that existed when one obtained title to the property. Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council,
Two bodies of state law exist in South Dakota to provide such an "independent source.” First, pervasive solid waste regulations precluded a vested property right in the bundle of rights. Cecos International, Inc. v. Jorling,
SDDS never finally and successfully completed the permitting process required by our comprehensive regulations. We held that the Original Permit was void, absent valid findings, by the BME. See SDDS II,
Along with the failure of the regulation process, SDDS was prevented from asserting that it had, as a portion of its "bundle of rights” existing at the time of purchase, a right to operate the MSW facility because of South Dakota’s unique voter involvement and the ever-present possibility of direct citizen intervention, through initiatives and referenda, in controversial topics affecting the welfare of the Slate. In addition to the various permitting hurdles and judicial review that needed to be undertaken, SDDS was very aware of the strong public opposition to the facility. While the existence of opposition to a matter need not necessarily trigger undue action, it is apparent that the campaign launched by ACT in the Legislature, over the airwaves, and in print media was not a case of simple opposition. In a state like South Dakota, an initiative or referendum on a hotly-contested issue is routine. In fact, it is notable that South Dakota was the first state to create direct, participatory power by its citizens. See Christensen v. Carson,
The relevant inquiry ... is whether, absent passage of the [new Congressional act], existing rules and regulations would favor approval of the hydroelectric project. The answer is that they would not.... [0]ne would have to conclude that, had plaintiff proceeded with its license application, it could not have expected clear sailing.
Broughton Lumber,
Simple government encouragement to private parties to put.capital into a risky business does not create a vested property right compensable under a takings scenario, especially in a state that has a vibrant history of direct citizen involvement and a formidable regulation scheme requiring strict compliance. Allied-General Nuclear Services v. United States,
. The Eighth Circuit aptly invoked our previous holdings on these issues. Lonetree IV,
Concurrence Opinion
(concurring in result).
[¶ 22.] I agree with the analysis in footnote 9 and therefore concur in result.