Corr v. Metro. Washington Airports Auth.

• Decision Date: 07 July 2011
• Docket Number: No. 1:11–cv–389 (AJT/TRJ).,1:11–cv–389 (AJT/TRJ).
• Citation: 800 F.Supp.2d 743
• Parties: John B. CORR, et al., Plaintiffs, v. METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON AIRPORTS AUTHORITY, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

800 F.Supp.2d 743

John B. CORR, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON AIRPORTS AUTHORITY, Defendant.

No. 1:11–cv–389 (AJT/TRJ).

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia,Alexandria Division.

July 7, 2011.

Christopher I. Kachouroff, Lake Ridge, VA, Patrick Michael McSweeney, McSweeney Crump Childress & Temple PC, Richmond, VA, Robert J. Cynkar, Cuneo Gilbert & Laduca LLP, Alexandria, VA, for Plaintiffs.

Stuart Alan Raphael, Hunton & Williams LLP, McLean, VA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ANTHONY J. TRENGA, District Judge.

As alleged in the Complaint, Plaintiffs John B. Corr and John W. Grisby (collectively “Plaintiffs”) are residents of Virginia who, for the past 15 years or more, have used and continue to use the Omer L. Hirst–Adelard L. Brault Expressway, also known as the Dulles Toll Road (the “Toll Road”). Concerned by the continuing increase in tolls assessed for the use of the Toll Road, the cost of the Metrorail extension to Dulles Airport financed through the increase in tolls, and what the Plaintiffs perceive as a lack of authority and accountability on the part of an unelected entity that establishes those tolls, the Plaintiffs filed this class action against the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (“MWAA”) on behalf of themselves and all drivers who have used the Toll Road in Virginia since 2005. At the heart of Plaintiffs' claim is the contention that they have been, and are continuing to be, subjected to tolls for their use of the Toll Road they consider excessive. In that regard, and as discussed in more detail below, Plaintiffs claim that because the amount of these tolls were set, not to cover costs associated with maintaining and operating the Toll Road itself, but in order to generate funds necessary to cover the costs associated with the construction of a Metrorail line extending to Dulles International Airport (“Dulles Airport”), such tolls constitute a “tax,” and because this “tax” has been assessed by MWAA, an unelected body, it constitutes an “illegal exaction” in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and the guarantee of a “Republican Form of Government” under Article IV, § 4 of the United States Constitution, as well as a violation of the Virginia Constitution's prohibition on the establishment of a government “separate from, or independent of, the government of Virginia,” set forth in Article I, § 14. Based on these claims, the Plaintiffs seek “to halt MWAA's continuing illegal exaction of money from the users of the Dulles Toll Road and to secure for them the return of all money illegally exacted through the tolls for the Dulles Toll Road—that is, the amount of money that exceeds the amount that would have been collected from 2005 through the final judgment for this action had the toll structure before the 2005 toll increase remained in force—plus interest.” Compl. at 8.

On May 5, 2011, MWAA filed a Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim, Doc. No. 6, on the grounds that Plaintiffs do not have standing to bring this suit and that Plaintiffs' Complaint fails to state a claim.¹ On May 26, 2011, the Court held a hearing on the motion after which the Court took the motion under advisement. For the reasons stated below, the Court will grant MWAA's motion and dismiss the Complaint with prejudice.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On September 7, 1950, Congress enacted legislation authorizing construction of a major public airport, in addition to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (“Reagan Airport”), in the vicinity of the District of Columbia. ² 81 Cong. Ch. 905, Sept. 7,1950,64 Stat. 770. To facilitate access to what would become Washington Dulles International Airport (“Dulles Airport”), the federal government acquired a broad corridor of land in Virginia, known as the Dulles Airport Access Highway and Right-of-way (“Right-of-way”), between the Interstate 495 Beltway at Falls Church, Virginia and Dulles Airport. The Dulles Airport Access Highway (the “Access Road”) which connects Dulles Airport to Interstate 495 (the “Beltway”) and Interstate 66 was built on a portion of the federally purchased Right-of-way as part of the overall project. In 1962, Dulles Airport and the Access Road opened under the direct control of the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”), an agency that is a part of the Department of Transportation. Compl. ¶ 48. The Access Road is a 13.65–mile highway whose exclusive purpose is to provide rapid access to and from the Dulles Airport. Because of that purpose, there are no general-access exists from the west-bound lanes or the east-bound lanes. No toll or other user fee is imposed on motorists using the Access Road; but any use of the Access Road by motorists other than for purpose of going to or from Dulles Airport for airport business is punishable by civil penalties. Compl. ¶¶ 49–50.

As development increased in the surrounding Virginia counties, the Access Road came under increased pressure to become an avenue for commuters and other motorists. Compl. ¶ 51. In 1980, in order to address the problem without interfering with the Access Road's purpose of serving as an exclusive artery to Dulles Airport, the Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation (“VDOT”) requested the FAA allow Virginia to construct a new toll road within the Right-of-way for the use of non-airport traffic to and from Washington, D.C. and within Fairfax County. Compl. ¶ 52. In 1983, the federal government granted Virginia a 99–year easement within the Right-of-way to construct, operate and maintain a limited access highway to be called the Dulles Toll Road and which is officially known today as the Omer L. Hirst–Adelard L. Brault Expressway (the “Toll Road”). See Doc. No. 9–1 (Deed of Easement).

On October 1, 1984, the Toll Road opened over a distance of 16.15 miles between the Beltway and Route 28. Compl. ¶ 54. The Toll Road became a “project” within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Transportation Board (“CTB”), which is empowered under Virginia legislation to “[f]ix and collect tolls and other charges for the use of such projects or to refinance the cost of such projects.” Va.Code. §§ 33.1–268(2)(n) and 269(5); Compl. ¶ 55. Pursuant to its legislative authority, the CTB set the tolls for the Toll Road at 50 cents at the main toll plaza, 25 cents at the exit ramps, and 35 cents at the ramps to Sully Road and the Greenway, which, as discussed below, remained at that level until 2005. Compl. ¶ 78.

In 1984, the United States Secretary of Transportation appointed an advisory commission to develop a plan for the creation of a regional authority to manage both Dulles Airport and Reagan Airport. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority v. Citizens of Abatement of Aircraft Noise, Inc., 501 U.S. 252, 257, 111 S.Ct. 2298, 115 L.Ed.2d 236 (1991). The Commission recommended that the proposed authority be created by a congressionally approved interstate compact between Virginia and the District. Id. In 1985, Virginia and the District passed compact-legislation authorizing the establishment of the recommended regional authority, MWAA. Id.; see also 1985 Va. Acts ch. 598; 1985 D.C. Law 6–67.³

A year later, in 1986, Congress passed the Metropolitan Washington Airports Act of 1986, 49 U.S.C. § 49101 et seq. (“Airports Act”), which approved the compact-legislation passed by Virginia and the District. As approved under the Airports Act, MWAA “shall be a public corporate and politic with the powers and jurisdiction conferred upon it jointly by the legislative authority of Virginia and the District of Columbia or by either of them and concurred in by the legislative authority of the other jurisdiction.” Id. § 49106(a). MWAA is to be governed by a 13–member Board of Directors, each appointed for a six-year term; five members appointed by the Governor of Virginia, three members appointed by the Mayor of the District, two members appointed by the Governor of Maryland, and three members appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate. 49 U.S.C. § 49106(c).

The Airports Act authorized MWAA to “operate, maintain, protect, promote, and develop the Metropolitan Washington Airports as a unit and as primary airports serving the Metropolitan Washington area,” id. § 49104(a)(1), and is independent of Virginia and its local governments, the District of Columbia, and the United States Government. 49 U.S.C. § 49106(a)(2); Va.Code. § 5.1–156(B); D.C.Code § 9–905(b). Congress also directed that MWAA “shall assume all rights, liabilities, and obligations of the Metropolitan Washington Airports on June 7, 1987, including leases, permits, licenses, contracts, agreements, claims ...” 49 U.S.C. § 49104(a)(6)(A). Congress also directed that MWAA's authority over Dulles Airport “includes the Dulles Airport Access Highway and Right-of-way, including the extension between Interstate Routes I–495 and I–66.” 49 U.S.C. § 49103(4). Additionally, MWAA was also to assume responsibility of the FAA's Master Plans for the Metropolitan Washington Airports. Id. Those Master Plans reserved the median strip in the Access Road for a future mass transit line. Id.; Doc. No. 9–16, Ex. 11 at 4.

The Airports Act also authorized MWAA “to acquire, maintain, improve, protect, and promote the Metropolitan Washington Airports for public purposes,” “to levy fees or other charges,” “to acquire real and personal property by purchase, lease, transfer, or exchange.” 49 U.S.C. § 49106(b). MWAA also has the authority “to issue bonds from time to time in its discretion for public purposes, including paying any part of the cost of airport improvements, construction, and rehabilitation and the acquisition of real and personal property, including operating equipment for the airports,” and that such bonds “are not a debt of Virginia, the District of Columbia, or a political subdivision of Virginia or the District of Columbia; and may be...