## Facts

- David and Diana Springer owned riparian farmland on North Carolina’s Yadkin River and claimed interference with agricultural, recreational, and scenic uses of the river, including the opportunity to catch fish.
- Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. began operating a Winston-Salem brewery in late 1969 and discharged brewery waste into the city sewer system leading to the municipal treatment plant.
- After the brewery reached full production in 1970, the municipal plant was allegedly overloaded and discharged inadequately treated effluent into the Yadkin River.
- Evidence presented by the Springers, viewed favorably to them, indicated:
  - Schlitz knew or should have known the municipal plant lacked capacity to treat the brewery’s waste.
  - Schlitz understated the quantity and harmfulness of its discharges in dealings with city officials.
  - Schlitz violated the city sewage ordinance, including operating without a required permit and discharging effluent above a stated biochemical oxygen demand threshold for a period.
- During spring and summer 1970, the pollution allegedly caused six unprecedented fish kills and broader impairment of water quality downstream along the Springers’ property.
- The city permitted continued industrial discharges while collecting surcharges and receiving compliance plans, contributing to continued plant overload.

## Issues

1. Whether, under North Carolina law, an industrial user of a municipal sewer system can be liable to downstream riparian owners when its discharges overload municipal treatment facilities and cause river pollution.
2. Whether exceptions to North Carolina’s general sewer-user immunity apply when the industrial user violates a sewage ordinance or knows (or should know) the municipal plant cannot adequately treat its waste.
3. Whether the Springers’ evidence was sufficient to submit negligence and causation to a jury rather than permit a directed verdict for the industrial discharger.

## Decision

- The Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s directed verdict for Schlitz and remanded for a new trial.
- The court held the case was governed by exceptions to North Carolina’s general rule insulating municipal sewer users from liability for the city’s failure to treat sewage.
- The court concluded a jury could find Schlitz liable if it violated the sewage ordinance and/or if it knew or should have known its discharges would overwhelm inadequate municipal facilities and foreseeably pollute the river.
- The court did not determine Schlitz’s ultimate liability; it held only that the evidence permitted a jury finding on actionable interference with riparian rights and proximate causation.

## Legal Principles

- In North Carolina, riparian owners have rights to agricultural, recreational, and scenic use and enjoyment of adjacent waters, subject to reasonable upstream use that does not excessively diminish water quality.
- Interference with riparian rights by pollution is an actionable tort; multiple contributors to pollution may be joined as joint tortfeasors.
- A general rule insulating municipal sewer users from liability for a municipality’s inadequate sewage treatment is not absolute.
- Sewer-user immunity may not apply where the industrial user:
  - Violates a municipal sewage ordinance governing industrial discharges; or
  - Acts negligently by discharging waste while knowing, or having reason to know, the municipal treatment plant lacks capacity to treat the waste, making downstream pollution foreseeable.
- Municipal officials’ tolerance of interim noncompliance (e.g., accepting surcharges and compliance plans) does not necessarily eliminate an industrial user’s potential liability where its conduct proximately causes harm to downstream riparian owners.

## Conclusion

The Fourth Circuit held that downstream riparian owners were entitled to have a jury decide an industrial discharger’s liability when evidence supported ordinance violations and foreseeable overloading of inadequate municipal treatment facilities causing river pollution, notwithstanding a general rule insulating municipal sewer users from liability for municipal treatment failures.


Springer v. Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co., 510 F.2d 468 (4th Cir. 1975)