Galaxy Outdoor Advertising, Inc. v. Idaho Transp. Dept.
| Decision Date | 05 December 1985 |
| Docket Number | 15423 and 15424,Nos. 15421,s. 15421 |
| Citation | 710 P.2d 602,109 Idaho 692 |
| Parties | GALAXY OUTDOOR ADVERTISING, INC., a Nevada corporation; Snarr Outdoor Advertising, Inc., an Idaho corporation; Signs, Inc., an Idaho corporation; Image National Corporation, an Idaho corporation; Grant Wilkins, Assignee of claims of Mountain States Advertising, Inc., a Colorado Corporation; Obie Communications Corporation, an Oregon corporation; Rocky Mountain Outdoor Advertising Company, a California corporation, Plaintiffs, and Charles P. Cosgriff, Plaintiff-appellant, v. The IDAHO TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT, a civil department of the State of Idaho; Carl C. Moore, Lloyd F. Barron, Roi Strochein, as the Members of the Idaho Transportation Board; Carl C. Moore, Lloyd F. Barron, Roi Strochein, Individually; E.D. Tisdale, as State Highway Administrator for the Idaho Transportation Department, Division of Highways; E.D. Tisdale, Individually, Defendants-respondents. GALAXY OUTDOOR ADVERTISING, INC., a Nevada corporation; Grant Wilkins, Assignee in claims of Mountain States Advertising, Inc., a Colorado corporation; and Rocky Mountain Outdoor Advertising Company, a California corporation, Plaintiff-appellants, and Snarr Outdoor Advertising, Inc., an Idaho corporation; Signs, Inc., an Idaho corporation; Image National Corporation, an Idaho corporation; Obie Communications Corporation, an Oregon corporation; and Charles P. Cosgriff, Plaintiffs, v. The IDAHO TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT, a civil department of the State of Idaho; Carl C. Moore, Lloyd F. Barron, Roi Strochein, as the Members of the Idaho Transportation Board; Carl C. Moore, Lloyd F. Barron, Roi Strochein, Individually; E.D. Tisdale, as State Highway Administrator for the Idaho Transportation Department, Division of Highways; E.D. Tisdale, Individually, Defendants-respondents. GALAXY OUTDOOR ADVERTISING, INC., a Nevada corporation; Signs, Inc., an Idaho corporation; Image National Corporation, an Idaho corporation; Grant Wilkins, Assignee of claims of Mountain States Advertising, Inc., a Colorado corporation; Ob |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Michael D. Crapo, of Holden, Kidwell, Hahn & Crapo, Idaho Falls, for plaintiffs Galaxy, Wilkins, Rocky Mountain and Snarr.
Terry C. Copple, of Davison, Copple, Copple & Copple, Boise, for plaintiff-appellant Cosgriff.
Patrick W. Fanning, of the Idaho Transp. Dept., Boise, for defendants-respondents.
Appellants appeal from a district court order granting summary judgment in favor of the Idaho Transportation Department. The district court, in granting summary judgment, ruled that contracts executed between the advertising companies and the Idaho Department of Transportation bound all parties and prevented the advertising companies from recovering for certain highway signs removed pursuant to federal and state highway beautification acts. We affirm.
This controversy arose following the enactment of the Federal Highway Beautification Act in 1965. The federal act required that states control outdoor advertising signs located along primary and interstate highways. This act directed the Secretary of Transportation to reduce by 10% the amount of federal highway funds available to any state which failed to control these outdoor advertising structures. The act provided that just compensation should be paid to the owners of certain of these advertising structures, with 75% of the compensation to be paid by the federal government. Idaho subsequently adopted its own Highway Beautification Act on April 12, 1967. See I.C. §§ 40-2811 through -2838 (repealed 1985).
In accordance with the terms of the federal and state highway beautification acts, the advertising companies entered into agreements with the Idaho Transportation Department, providing for the state's purchase of all non-conforming signs owned by the companies. These agreements conditioned payment for certain types of signs upon Federal Highway Administration participation in the purchase of the signs. 1 Specifically, the agreements provided that the Federal Highway Administration must approve each company's claim for compensation on or before October 31, 1978, 2 or the state would be released from its obligation to pay for these signs. Each of these agreements contained a merger clause stating that the entire agreement between the parties was embodied in the agreement.
On September 30, 1977, the advertising companies filed suit in federal district court seeking to force federal participation. The complaint, originally naming only the United States Department of Transportation was later amended to join the Idaho Transportation Department as a party defendant. The United States Department of Transportation and the Idaho Transportation Department moved for summary judgment, and the federal district court dismissed the case for failure to state a claim. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal on the grounds that the federal court did not have jurisdiction over the subject matter of the suit. Consequently, federal participation was not approved by the required date. In fact, the federal government continues to refuse to pay for these signs which the federal government claims were not lawfully erected.
The advertising companies subsequently filed suit in Idaho district court. On September 19, 1983, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Idaho Transportation Department, ruling that the contracts entered into by the parties were legally binding compromise agreements and should be enforced in all respects. The court concluded that the cut-off dates established in these agreements were binding on all parties, and that the state was not obligated to make any payments which were contingent on federal participation. On reconsideration, the court affirmed the earlier memorandum decision.
Summary judgment is appropriate only when there is no genuine issue of material fact after the pleadings, depositions, admissions and affidavits have been construed most favorably to the opposing party and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Moss v. Mid-America Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 103 Idaho 298, 302, 647 P.2d 754, 758 (1982); Anderson v. Ethington, 103 Idaho 658, 660, 651 P.2d 923, 925 (1982). Even construing the pleadings, depositions, admissions and affidavits most favorably to the advertising companies, we nevertheless conclude that the district court was correct in granting summary judgment in favor of the Idaho Transportation Department.
The district court held, as a matter of law, that the terms of the agreements executed between the advertising companies...
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