SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah is asking a judge to once again dismiss an environmental coalition's lawsuit accusing government agencies and political leaders of not doing enough to save the Great Salt Lake.
In a recent filing, lawyers for the state asked 3rd District Court Judge Laura Scott to reverse her own ruling to keep the lawsuit going. This time, they're citing a recent Utah Supreme Court ruling on homelessness to justify it.
In that litigation, a group of people sued Salt Lake City, arguing it had created a "public nuisance" by not more aggressively cracking down on issues surrounding homelessness. The Utah Supreme Court sided with Salt Lake City, citing what's known as the "public duty doctrine."
It's that ruling that the state now points to in a lawsuit accusing Utah of not doing enough to save the Great Salt Lake.
"Barrani—issued three months after this Court’s order denying Defendants’ motions to dismiss—applied the public duty doctrine to bar Salt Lake City residents’ nuisance claims against the City... The Barrani plaintiffs’ claims sought relief for 'the secondary effects' of homeless encampments throughout the City allegedly resulting from the City’s mismanagement of its public land. Because those plaintiffs alleged the City had 'breached' a duty 'through inaction,' and because 'the specific harms' they asserted could 'affect any member of the public just as they are affecting [plaintiffs],' the public duty doctrine required dismissing their claims. Barrani clarified the role of the public duty doctrine in Utah," Tyler Green, the attorney for the Utah Department of Natural Resources wrote.
"Plaintiffs’ claim here mirrors the Barrani plaintiffs’ claims in every material way. Their complaint’s first sentence alleges that '[t]his suit seeks to protect the Great Salt Lake, the bed, banks, and waters of which are held in trust for the public by the State of Utah.'"
Green essentially argued that the Utah Supreme Court's ruling gives the state cover as it “protect[s] government actors from liability for failure to perform a duty they owe to everyone."
The Utah Rivers Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Sierra Club and American Bird Conservancy sued the state, alleging it has failed to abide by the state's public trust doctrine under the Utah Constitution in its efforts to save the Great Salt Lake by not taking stringent enough measures to reverse its declines.
Judge Scott refused to dismiss the lawsuit after arguments last year. The environmental plaintiffs will reply to the filing before the judge schedules another hearing.
