Jones v. Temmer
| Decision Date | 11 August 1993 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 93-B-235. |
| Citation | 829 F. Supp. 1226 |
| Parties | Leroy JONES; Ani Ebong; Rowland Nwankwo; Girma Molalegne; Quick Pick Cabs, Inc.; and Reverend Oscar S. Tillman, Plaintiffs, v. Robert TEMMER; Christine Alvarez; and Vincent Majowski, acting in their official capacities as members of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Colorado |
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Paula Connelly, Gorsuch, Kirgis, Campbell, Walker and Grover, Denver, CO, William H. Mellor III, Institute for Justice, Washington, DC, for plaintiffs.
Mana L. Jennings-Fader, Jeffrey A. Froeschle, Asst. Attys. Gen., Regulatory Law Section, Denver, CO, for defendants.
Plaintiffs Leroy Jones, Ani Ebong, Rowland Nwankwo, Girma Molalegne, and Quick Pick Cabs, Inc. (Quick Pick), have brought this action for injunctive and declaratory relief against Robert Temmer, Christine Alvarez, and Vincent Majowski (collectively, defendants or commissioners) claiming violation of rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Specifically, in Count I plaintiffs allege violations of the privileges and immunities clause and deprivation of substantive due process. In Count II plaintiffs allege violations of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Finally, in Count III plaintiff Tillman asserts a separate Fourteenth Amendment equal protection claim. Plaintiffs seek a judgment declaring that the system of Colorado state laws and regulations governing Denver taxicab business, as applied, effectively prohibits entry into the business, violates their substantive due process rights and is thus unconstitutional. In addition, plaintiffs seek to enjoin defendants from enforcing Colorado's state regulatory process and policies in a manner that unreasonably interferes with their right and opportunity to provide taxi service within the Denver metropolitan area.
Plaintiffs bring this action pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and 28 U.S.C. § 2201. Jurisdiction is claimed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343.
Defendants move to dismiss the amended complaint or, in the alternative, for summary judgment with respect to all counts of the amended complaint. They file this motion pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), 12(b)(6), 12(b)(7), and 56(b).
As the basis for this motion defendants state: 1) plaintiffs Quick Pick Cabs, Inc., Leroy Jones, Ani Ebong, and Rowland Nwankwo, and Girma Molalegne lack standing to bring a portion of the first claim for relief; 2) plaintiff Tillman lacks standing to bring the third claim for relief; 3) the applicable principles of abstention enunciated in Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. U.S., 424 U.S. 800, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976), and in Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U.S. 315, 63 S.Ct. 1098, 87 L.Ed. 1424 (1943), require abstention in this case; 4) plaintiffs have failed to join necessary parties under Fed.R.Civ.P. 19; 5) plaintiffs have failed to state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted under any count in the amended complaint; and 6) summary judgment is appropriate in this case as there are no genuine issues of material fact and defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
For the reasons set forth below I conclude that: 1) Quick Pick Cabs, Inc., and Ani Ebong lack standing to bring a claim under the privileges and immunities clause; 2) Tillman lacks standing to bring the third claim for relief; 3) I decline to abstain in this case; 4) taxicab companies operating in Denver are not necessary parties under Rule 19(a); 5) plaintiffs' first and second claims will be dismissed for failure to state a cause of action under the privileges and immunities clause, substantive due process and equal protection; and 6) plaintiff Tillman's third claim will be dismissed for lack of standing and alternatively, for failure to state a claim. Because Rule 12 applies to resolve defendants' motions, I need not address their Rule 56 arguments.
Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 40-10-102, taxicabs are deemed motor vehicle carriers, and as such are regulated as public utilities by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). § 40-10-102, 17 C.R.S. (1984). The PUC is a regulatory agency created pursuant to Article XXV of the Colorado Constitution. It regulates taxicabs pursuant to Articles 1 through 7, inclusive, Article 10 of Title 40 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, and pursuant to the rules and regulations found at 4 Code of Colorado Regulations 723, promulgated pursuant to statutory authority.
The regulatory scheme in Colorado for common carriers of passengers, including taxicabs, is regulated monopoly. This state policy is found in § 40-5-101, 17 C.R.S. (1984). The policy "was designed to prevent duplication of facilities and competition between utilities, and to authorize new utilities in a field only when existing ones are found to be inadequate." Public Serv. Co. v. Public Utilities Comm'n of State of Colo., 765 P.2d 1015, 1021 (Colo.1988).
Anyone seeking to operate a taxicab business in Colorado must obtain a "certificate of public convenience and necessity" (CPCN) from the PUC. Under the current regulatory scheme, an applicant for a CPCN has the burden of demonstrating (1) that existing service in an area is substantially inadequate, and (2) that existing companies cannot provide adequate service. Once a CPCN is obtained no other utility may provide service in that territory unless it is established that the certified utility is unable or unwilling to provide adequate service. This exclusive right to serve an area is a property right which cannot be affected except by due process of law. Public Serv. Co., 765 P.2d at 1021. Until changed by the state General Assembly, the doctrine of regulated monopoly governs and restricts the PUC in exercising its discretion in the area of granting CPCNs to taxicabs. See Rocky Mountain Airways, Inc. v. Public Utilities Comm'n, 181 Colo. 170, 509 P.2d 804, 807 (1973).
Plaintiffs Jones, Ebong, Nwankwo, and Molalegne formed Quick Pick, a Colorado corporation, and in July, 1992, Quick Pick filed an application with the PUC seeking a CPCN to operate a taxicab service in the Denver metro area. The existing Denver taxicab companies, along with 10 other companies operating elsewhere in Colorado, intervened to protest the application. At present, three companies, Yellow Cab, Zone Cab, and Metro Taxi, hold CPCNs and are authorized to provide taxicab service in the Denver metropolitan area. On November 23-24, 1992, the PUC conducted a hearing before an administrative law judge on Quick Pick Cabs' application. At the end of the hearing, the application was dismissed without prejudice.
As a preliminary matter, defendants move to dismiss the amended complaint based on the doctrine of abstention. The doctrine of abstention represents "an extraordinary and narrow exception to the duty of a district court to adjudicate a controversy properly before it." Smith v. Paulk, 705 F.2d 1279, 1282 (10th Cir.1983) (quoting Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. U.S., 424 U.S. 800, 813, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 1244, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976)). The decision to abstain is largely committed to the discretion of the district court. Ramos v. Lamm, 639 F.2d 559, 564 n. 4 (10th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1041, 101 S.Ct. 1759, 68 L.Ed.2d 239 (1981).
Defendants argue that abstention is appropriate here because this case falls squarely within the principles enunciated in Colorado River Conservation Dist. v. U.S., 424 U.S. 800, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976) and Burford v. Sun Oil Co, 319 U.S. 315, 63 S.Ct. 1098, 87 L.Ed. 1424 (1943). The principle distilled from these cases is that where timely and adequate state-court review is available, a federal court sitting in equity must decline to interfere with the proceedings or orders of state administrative agencies: (1) when there are "difficult questions of state law bearing on policy problems of substantial public import whose importance transcends the result in the case then at bar"; or (2) where the "exercise of federal review of the question in a case and in similar cases would be disruptive of state efforts to establish a coherent policy with respect to a matter of substantial public concern." Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. U.S., 424 U.S. 800, 814, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 1245, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976). Defendants argue that the applicable ground for abstention in this case is that the case presents difficult questions of state law bearing on policy problems of substantial public import with importance that transcends the result in this case. They assert that if this court were to modify either the basic nature of Colorado's regulatory policy or any part of the overall regulatory scheme, the modification would have ramifications and repercussions that would ripple throughout the remainder of the comprehensive and complex regulatory scheme established by the Colorado legislature and administered by the commission.
In Burford v. Sun Oil, a Federal District Court sitting in equity was confronted with a Fourteenth Amendment challenge to the reasonableness of the Texas Railroad Commission's grant of an oil drilling permit. The constitutional challenge was of minimal federal importance, involving solely the question whether the commission had properly applied Texas' complex oil and gas conservation regulations. 319 U.S. at 331 and n. 28, 63 S.Ct. at 1106 and n. 28. Abstention was appropriate in that case because the state courts had acquired a specialized knowledge of the regulations and industry. Id. at 327, 63 S.Ct. at 1104.
Here, plaintiffs seek relief for alleged violations of their constitutionally based civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The obligation to exercise jurisdiction is particularly weighty when relief is sought pursuant to ...
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