In 1991, drycleaning solvent contamination was found in private drinking water wells of residential areas near shopping centers in Suniland that had housed drycleaners. Contamination in these areas was not reasonably recoverable, and Miami-Dade County had to install drinking water mains at great expense, completed by 1993. On Dec. 4, 1994, the County sued shopping-center owners to recover its outlays. Owners contended they were retroactively immune from suit because they had joined a cleanup program under Florida's Drycleaning Contamination Cleanup Act, effective July 1, 1994. The trial court and Third District Court agreed but certified the case to the Supreme Court.