Interoceanica Corp. v. Sound Pilots, Inc.
| Decision Date | 21 February 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 960,D,960 |
| Citation | 107 F.3d 86 |
| Parties | INTEROCEANICA CORPORATION; and Turbana Corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. SOUND PILOTS, INC., Defendant-Appellee. ocket 96-7883. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Joel N. Kreizman, Evans, Osborne, Kreizman and Bonney, Little Silver, NJ, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Herbert B. Halberg, Beck & Halberg, New York City (Robin G. Weisberg, Beck & Halberg, New York City, of counsel), for Defendant-Appellee.
Before: McLAUGHLIN, CALABRESI, and LAY, * Circuit Judges.
Interoceanica Corporation and Turbana Corporation (together, "Interoceanica") appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Patterson, Judge ) dismissing their declaratory judgment action on the ground of res judicata.
This appeal concerns pilotage (the navigation of ships) in Long Island Sound. Two landmarks are important to the pilots: (1) the "Byram River Line," an imaginary line running from the mouth of the Byram River in Connecticut across Long Island Sound to Oak Neck Point on the southern shore of the Sound; and (2) "Execution Rocks," in Long Island Sound several miles west of the Byram River Line, just off Sands Point on the Sound's southern shore. See Ball v. Interoceanica Corp., 867 F.Supp. 226, 235 (S.D.N.Y.1994) (map), aff'd, 71 F.3d 73 (2d Cir.1995), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 169, 136 L.Ed.2d 111 (1996). The waters east of the Byram River Line are bordered on the north by Connecticut and on the south by New York (Long Island), and are therefore state "boundary waters" subject to the concurrent jurisdiction of the two states. See Ball v. Interoceanica Corp., 71 F.3d 73, 75 (2d Cir.1995), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 169, 136 L.Ed.2d 111 (1996). In contrast, the waters west of the Byram River Line are bordered by New York on both sides, and for that reason are "territorial waters" of New York state, subject to New York's exclusive jurisdiction. See id. Execution Rocks lie in New York's territorial waters.
Both New York and Connecticut license pilots to navigate ships in Long Island Sound. Until 1991, New York Navigation Law § 89-b(2) read:
It shall be unlawful for any person not licensed as a Long Island-Block Island Sound pilot under this article or of the laws of any other state having concurrent jurisdiction to pilot or to offer to pilot any foreign vessel or any American vessel sailing under register transiting the New York state waters of Long Island Sound or Block Island Sound east of Execution Rocks or Sands Point ... unless such vessel shall have on board a Long Island-Block Island Sound pilot licensed under this article or under the laws of any other state having concurrent jurisdiction.
Thus, § 89-b(2) expressly sanctioned licenses issued under the laws of a sister state; and New York-licensed and Connecticut-licensed "Long Island Sound pilots" customarily navigated ships between the Byram River Line and Execution Rocks off Sands Point, Long Island.
In 1991, however, New York amended § 89-b(2) to read:
It shall be unlawful for any person not licensed as a Long Island-Block Island Sound pilot under this article to pilot or to offer to pilot any foreign vessel or any American vessel sailing under register transiting the New York state waters of Long Island Sound or Block Island Sound east of Execution Rocks or Sands Point ... unless such vessel shall have on board a Long Island-Block Island Sound pilot licensed under this article. It shall be The effect of the 1991 amendment is to bar pilots from navigating ships between the Byram River Line and Execution Rocks unless they have a New York license. Whereas before 1991 a Connecticut-licensed pilot could navigate a ship into Long Island Sound all the way to Execution Rocks, where he would turn the vessel over to a New York-licensed "Sandy Hook pilot" for the trip into New York Harbor, now such a pilot may navigate a ship into Long Island Sound only up to the Byram River Line. At that point, he must turn the ship over to a New York-licensed Long Island Sound pilot for the trip further west to Execution Rocks and then, as has always been the practice, to a Sandy Hook pilot for the trip into New York Harbor. (This third and final leg of the trip is not in issue.)
unlawful for any person not licensed as a Long Island-Block Island Sound pilot under this article or under the laws of any other state having concurrent jurisdiction to pilot or to offer to pilot any foreign vessel or any American vessel sailing under register transiting the New York state waters of Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound east of a line running southeasterly from the mouth of the Byram River at the New York-Connecticut boundary to Oak Neck Point on Long Island.
Interoceanica has long sailed ships between ports in Connecticut and New York Harbor. After the amendment to § 89-b(2), a group of New York-licensed Long Island Sound pilots offered their services to navigate Interoceanica's ships between the Byram River Line and Execution Rocks. Interoceanica refused the pilots' services and insisted upon using its own Connecticut-licensed pilots for this leg of the journey.
The spurned New York pilots sued Interoceanica in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Pierre N. Leval, Judge ) pursuant to § 89-b(1), which provides that refusal of required pilotage services, when offered, subjects the vessels and their owners to payment of pilotage fees anyway. Interoceanica answered that: (1) the amended § 89-b still allowed Connecticut-licensed pilots to navigate between the Byram River Line and Execution Rocks; and (2) if it did not, then the statute violated the Federal Boundary Waters Act, 46 U.S.C. § 8501(b). The parties consented to a decision by the court on a written trial record. Rejecting both of Interoceanica's arguments, the court determined that the plain language of § 89-b restricted pilotage between the Byram River Line and Execution Rocks to New York-licensed pilots and that § 89-b did not violate the Federal Boundary Waters Act. See Ball, 867 F.Supp. at 228-33.
Sometime in the middle of the Ball proceedings, Interoceanica hatched a new argument: that the New York licensing regulations, as enforced by New York officials, had the practical effect of excluding Connecticut residents from getting New York licenses, and that this discrimination (in conjunction with the revised § 89-b(2)) violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. See U.S.Const. art. 1, § 8, cl. 3; see generally CTS Corp. v. Dynamics Corp. of America, 481 U.S. 69, 87, 107 S.Ct. 1637, 1648-49, 95 L.Ed.2d 67 (1987). The district court allowed that Interoceanica might be right, but found the evidence on that issue insufficient to render a decision on the merits. See Ball, 867 F.Supp. at 233 n. 10.
Interoceanica appealed Judge Leval's decision. In the meantime, it also sued Sound Pilots, Inc. ("Sound Pilots")--an association of New York-licensed Long Island Sound pilots, of which the plaintiffs in the Ball case are members--in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Robert P. Patterson Jr., Judge ), pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2201. Interoceanica sought a declaration that: (1) it has, at least temporarily, conformed with § 89-b's requirements by agreeing to use a New York-licensed pilot between the Byram River Line and Execution Rocks, but it is not required to provide transportation for a New York-licensed pilot to or from the endpoints of his service; and (2) the amended § 89-b violates the Commerce Clause.
Sound Pilots moved for summary judgment on the ground that Interoceanica's claims were barred by the doctrine of res judicata. Judge Patterson agreed that Interoceanica's After we affirmed the district court in Ball, see Ball v. Interoceanica Corp., 71 F.3d 73 (2d Cir.1995) (per curiam), Sound Pilots renewed their motion for summary judgment in the present case. Reversing itself, the district court now granted summary judgment to Sound Pilots on Interoceanica's Commerce Clause claim, stating:
first claim--the compliance and transit claim--was barred. The court found, however, that its Commerce Clause claim was not barred by res judicata. See Interoceanica Corp. v. Sound Pilots, Inc., No. 95 CIV 0950, 1995 WL 412432 at * 1 (S.D.N.Y. July 12, 1995) (unpublished order). The court also stayed any further action in the case until we decided the appeal from Judge Leval's decision in Ball, which was pending at that time.
[Interoceanica] contest[s] the motion on the ground that res judicata does not apply because Ball was a suit to recover pilotage fees for ten distinct voyages, whereas this suit seeks declaratory judgment and involves different voyages. Notwithstanding [Interoceanica's] contentions, Ball involved the same parties or their privies and the same claims as the litigation currently before this Court and thus bars this litigation. Despite the fact that the Ball court did not rule on the particular issues which form the basis for [Interoceanica's] current complaint, they could have been presented to that court, and at least in part were, although the court declined to rule on them. For this reason, the doctrine of res judicata bars [Interoceanica] from litigating those issues before this Court.
Interoceanica Corp. v. Sound Pilots, Inc., No. 95 CIV 0950, 1996 WL 337279 at * 3 (S.D.N.Y. June 19, 1996) (unpublished Opinion and Order) (citations omitted).
Interoceanica now appeals, arguing that the district court erred in its application of res judicata principles to Interoceanica's Commerce Clause claim.
Interoceanica contends that the district court should not have applied res judicata to bar its Commerce Clause argument. It maintains that its latest declaratory judgment action does not arise from the same "factual...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
American Auto. Mfrs. Ass'n v. Cahill
...that counts three, five, and six are also not foreclosed. "Res judicata operates as `claim preclusion.'" Interoceanica Corp. v. Sound Pilots, Inc., 107 F.3d 86, 90 (2d Cir.1997). "Generally, a judgment in an action `precludes the parties ... from relitigating issues that were or could have ......
-
Cayuga Nation v. Tanner
...two proceedings may "involve[ ] the same parties, similar or overlapping facts, and similar legal issues," Interoceanica Corp. v. Sound Pilots, Inc. , 107 F.3d 86, 91 (2d Cir. 1997) (citation omitted), we readily conclude that the two sets of threatened enforcement actions represent discret......
-
American Auto. Mfrs. Ass'n v. Cahill
...when a final judgment has been entered on the merits of the case, [i]t is a finality as to the claim...." Interoceanica Corp. v. Sound Pilots, Inc., 107 F.3d 86, 90 (2d Cir.1997) (internal quotations and citation omitted). In this case, this Court found that the Second Circuit had already d......
-
Tm Patents v. International Business Machines, 97 CIV. 1529(CM) (MDF).
...support both claims, and where the facts essential to the second [transaction] were present in the first." Interoceanica Corp. v. Sound Pilots, Inc., 107 F.3d 86, 91 (2d Cir.1997) (quoting SEC v. First Jersey Sec., 101 F.3d 1450, 1463-64 (2d Cir.1996)); see also Computer Assocs. Int'l, Inc.......