{
  "id": 8519827,
  "name": "CHEM-SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC. v. DR. SARAH T. MORROW, Secretary of the Department of Human Resources; DR. RONALD H. LEVINE, Director of the Division of Health Services; MR. O. W. STRICKLAND, Head of the Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Branch; RUFUS L. EDMISTEN, Attorney General for the State of North Carolina; COUNTY OF ANSON",
  "name_abbreviation": "Chem-Security Systems, Inc. v. Morrow",
  "decision_date": "1983-03-01",
  "docket_number": "No. 8210SC228",
  "first_page": "147",
  "last_page": "151",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "61 N.C. App. 147"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "N.C. Ct. App.",
    "id": 14983,
    "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 5,
    "name_long": "North Carolina",
    "name": "N.C."
  },
  "cites_to": [
    {
      "cite": "119 S.E. 2d 158",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "year": 1961,
      "pin_cites": [
        {
          "parenthetical": "a local act regarding removal and disposal of cattle roaming on the Outer Banks of North Carolina held unconstitutional as relating to abatement of a public nuisance"
        }
      ],
      "opinion_index": 0
    },
    {
      "cite": "254 N.C. 389",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
      "case_ids": [
        8626444
      ],
      "year": 1961,
      "pin_cites": [
        {
          "parenthetical": "a local act regarding removal and disposal of cattle roaming on the Outer Banks of North Carolina held unconstitutional as relating to abatement of a public nuisance"
        }
      ],
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/nc/254/0389-01"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cite": "70 S.E. 2d 201",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "year": 1952,
      "opinion_index": 0
    },
    {
      "cite": "235 N.C. 377",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
      "case_ids": [
        8624661
      ],
      "year": 1952,
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/nc/235/0377-01"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cite": "155 S.E. 2d 148",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "year": 1967,
      "opinion_index": 0
    },
    {
      "cite": "270 N.C. 686",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
      "case_ids": [
        8570157
      ],
      "year": 1967,
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/nc/270/0686-01"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 384,
    "char_count": 7177,
    "ocr_confidence": 0.764,
    "pagerank": {
      "raw": 2.0446031217563963e-07,
      "percentile": 0.7517223977150791
    },
    "sha256": "55f65c1186bcdc6d427f3be01397769f9905a3c412541c52883d9f20fda86a0d",
    "simhash": "1:04298462ecc93ffb",
    "word_count": 1124
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T21:13:54.976609+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges Arnold and Whichard concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "CHEM-SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC. v. DR. SARAH T. MORROW, Secretary of the Department of Human Resources; DR. RONALD H. LEVINE, Director of the Division of Health Services; MR. O. W. STRICKLAND, Head of the Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Branch; RUFUS L. EDMISTEN, Attorney General for the State of North Carolina; COUNTY OF ANSON"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "HILL, Judge.\nArticle II, Section 24 of the North Carolina Constitution provides, in relevant part, as follows:\nSec. 24. Limitations on local, private, and special legislation.\n(1) Prohibited subjects. The General Assembly shall not enact any local, private, or special act or resolution:\n(a) Relating to health, sanitation, and the abatement of nuisances;\n* * *\n(3) Prohibited acts void. Any local, private, or special act or resolution enacted in violation of the provisions of this Section shall be void.\n(4) General laws. The General Assembly may enact general laws regulating the matters set out in this Section.\nAppellants concede that the Anson County Act is a local act. They contend, however, that it does not violate Article II, Section 24(l)(a) of the North Carolina Constitution because it does not directly relate to health, sanitation and the abatement of nuisances. We disagree.\nThe Anson County Act provides, in part, as follows:\nWhereas, hazardous wastes and radioactive material are inevitable by-products of industry in our technologically and scientifically advanced society; and\nWhereas, experience has shown that the improper disposal of hazardous wastes and radioactive material has devastating immediate and long-term effects on the environment including crop damage, soil contamination and loss of wildlife, including fish and game animals; and\nWhereas, agriculture and outdoor recreational activity, including hiking, hunting and fishing are essential to the economy of Anson County; and\nWhereas, a hazardous waste disposal site located in certain areas in Anson County could be a detriment to the wildlife habitat of the area . . .\n* * *\nThe General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:\nSection 1. No hazardous wastes, as defined in G.S. 130-166.14(4), or radioactive material, as defined in G.S. 104E-5G4), may be disposed of in Anson County unless the water table at the disposal site is at least 75 feet below the surface.\nAppellants argue that the Anson County Act is addressed to the protection of Anson County\u2019s natural resources, not to a particular health or sanitation need, and therefore does not violate Section 24(l)(a) of the Constitution. We cannot accept this rationale, in spite of the preamble to the Act, because we cannot imagine a more pressing health or sanitation need than the proper disposal of hazardous wastes and radioactive material. The very definition of \u201chazardous wastes\u201d incorporated into the An-son County Act discloses the direct relationship between the disposal of such wastes and human health. \u201c \u2018Hazardous waste,\u2019 means a solid waste, or combination of solid wastes which . . . may . . . [p]ose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly . . . disposed of . . . G.S. 130-166.16(4).\nIt is equally apparent that the Anson County Act relates directly to \u201csanitation.\u201d The sole purpose of the Act is to regulate the disposal of waste in Anson County. Local acts dealing with sewer systems and sewer service for the disposal of waste have been declared unconstitutional as relating to sanitation. Gaskill v. Costlow, 270 N.C. 686, 155 S.E. 2d 148 (1967); Lamb v. Board of Education, 235 N.C. 377, 70 S.E. 2d 201 (1952). A local act purporting to regulate the disposal of hazardous wastes in landfills clearly relates to sanitation in the same manner.\nWe also affirm Judge Farmer\u2019s conclusion that the Anson County Act unconstitutionally relates to the abatement of nuisances. Improper disposal of hazardous wastes and radioactive material would surely be a public nuisance since it would result, according to the preamble to the Act, in \u201cdevastating and immediate and long-term effects on the environment, including crop damage, soil contamination and loss of wildlife . . . .\u201d Cf. Chadwick v. Salter, 254 N.C. 389, 119 S.E. 2d 158 (1961) (a local act regarding removal and disposal of cattle roaming on the Outer Banks of North Carolina held unconstitutional as relating to abatement of a public nuisance).\nJudge Farmer also concluded correctly that the Anson County Act violates Article XIV, Section 3 of the North Carolina Constitution. That Section prohibits the enactment of any local act concerning a subject matter directed or authorized to be accomplished by general laws. Section 24(4) of Article II authorizes the enactment of general laws relating to health, sanitation and the abatement of nuisances. As we have previously held, the An-son County Act is a local act relating to health, sanitation and the abatement of nuisances. As such, it violates Article XIV, Section 3 of the North Carolina Constitution.\nIn view of our decision that the Anson County Act is unconstitutional, we need not determine whether it was repealed by the Waste Management Act of 1981.\nThe decision below is\nAffirmed.\nJudges Arnold and Whichard concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "HILL, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart, by W. Britton Smith, Jr., and Taylor and Bower, by H. P. Taylor, Jr., for plaintiff-appellee.",
      "Attorney General Rufus L. Edmisten, by Assistant Attorneys General Robert R. Reilly and Thomas G. Meacham, Jr., for defendants-appellants."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "CHEM-SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC. v. DR. SARAH T. MORROW, Secretary of the Department of Human Resources; DR. RONALD H. LEVINE, Director of the Division of Health Services; MR. O. W. STRICKLAND, Head of the Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Branch; RUFUS L. EDMISTEN, Attorney General for the State of North Carolina; COUNTY OF ANSON\nNo. 8210SC228\n(Filed 1 March 1983)\nConstitutional Law \u00a7 13\u2014 local legislation \u2014 hazardous waste \u2014 relating to \u201chealth, sanitation and the abatement of nuisances\u201d \u2014 unconstitutional\nA local act which was entitled \u201cAn Act to Regulate The Disposal of Hazardous Wastes And Radioactive Material In Anson County\u201d was unconstitutional in that it violated Article II, \u00a7 24(l)(a) of the North Carolina Constitution in that it directly related to health, sanitation and the abatement of nuisances, and since it violated Article XIV, \u00a7 3 of the North Carolina Constitution which prohibits the enactment of any local act concerning a subject matter directed or authorized to be accomplished by general laws.\nAPPEAL by defendants from Farmer, Judge. Judgment entered 29 January 1982 in Superior Court, Wake County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 13 January 1983.\nPlaintiff commenced this action under the Declaratory Judgment Act, G.S. 1-253 et seq., seeking a determination that Chapter 718, Session Laws of 1981, entitled \u201cAn Act to Regulate The Disposal of Hazardous Wastes And Radioactive Material In Anson County\u201d (the \u201cAnson County Act\u201d), is unconstitutional and invalid.\nPlaintiff moved for summary judgment. Following a hearing on the motion, Judge Farmer concluded that the Anson County Act is local legislation which relates to \u201chealth, sanitation and the abatement of nuisances\u201d and therefore violates Article II, Section 24 and Article XIV, Section 3 of the North Carolina Constitution. Judge Farmer further concluded that the Anson County Act is invalid because it was repealed by the Waste Management Act of 1981, Chapter 704, Sessions Laws of 1981. Defendants excepted and assigned error to each of these conclusions.\nOgletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart, by W. Britton Smith, Jr., and Taylor and Bower, by H. P. Taylor, Jr., for plaintiff-appellee.\nAttorney General Rufus L. Edmisten, by Assistant Attorneys General Robert R. Reilly and Thomas G. Meacham, Jr., for defendants-appellants."
  },
  "file_name": "0147-01",
  "first_page_order": 179,
  "last_page_order": 183
}