Leib v. Hillsborough County Public Transp. Com'n

• Decision Date: 19 February 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08-14271. Non-Argument Calendar.,08-14271. Non-Argument Calendar.
• Citation: 558 F.3d 1301
• Parties: Moshe LEIB, doing business as TB Limo.Com, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

558 F.3d 1301

Moshe LEIB, doing business as TB Limo.Com, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 08-14271. Non-Argument Calendar.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

February 19, 2009.

Luke Charles Lirot, Luke Lirot, P.A., Clearwater, FL, for Lieb.

Jay Daigneault, James L. Yacavone, III, Frazer, Hubbard, Brandt, Trask & Yacavone, LLP, Dunedin, FL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Before MARCUS, WILSON and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.

MARCUS, Circuit Judge:

Moshe Leib ("Leib") appeals from the district court's dismissal of his suit, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission ("HCPTC," or "the Commission") for denying him permission to operate a Toyota Prius as one of the limousines offered by his transportation service. Leib argues that the HCPTC violated his due process and equal protection rights, and that the Commission's rules are unconstitutionally vague and impermissibly burden interstate commerce. The district court dismissed Leib's complaint under Rule 12(b)(6). After thorough review, we affirm.

I.

Leib owns and operates TB Limo.com, a limousine service in the Tampa Bay area. Seeking to offer customers an "environmentally-friendly" alternative to traditional limousines, Leib bought a Prius. In order to operate the Prius as a limousine within Hillsborough County, Leib had to obtain a permit from the HCPTC, the administrative agency charged by the Florida State Legislature with regulating the operation of public vehicles on Hillsborough County's public highways. Act of May 25, 2001, Ch.2001-299, § 2(1). The Commission denied Leib's request on the ground that the Prius did not qualify as a "luxury" vehicle, and thus did not meet the definition of "limousine" in HCPTC Taxi Rule 1.15, which states:

"Limousine" means any motor vehicle for hire not equipped with a taximeter, with the capacity for 15 passengers or less, including the driver. This definition consists of vehicles which are recognized by the industry as "luxury" vehicles, that are considered as high-end luxury vehicles by the manufacturer and vehicles that have been uniquely modified so as to provide "luxury" limousine service. The "luxury" quality of vehicles will be determined by assessing aesthetics of the interior and exterior of the vehicle, amenities provided to the passenger, spaciousness and comparison to current industry standards for vehicles performing limousine service in Hillsborough County.

Leib subsequently applied for a waiver of Rule 1.15's "luxury" requirement. At an August 2007 meeting, however, the HCPTC considered the request and denied it. The Commission based its decision on HCPTC Taxi Rule 15.5, which explains the circumstances under which waivers and variances are to be granted:

Variances and waivers shall be granted when the person subject to the rule demonstrates that the purpose of the underlying statute will be or has been achieved by other means by the person and when application of a rule would create a substantial hardship or would violate principles of fairness. For purposes of this section, "substantial hardship" means a demonstrated economic, technological, legal, or other type of hardship to the person requesting the variance or waiver. For purposes of this section, "principles of fairness" are violated when the literal application of a Rule affects a particular person in a manner significantly different from the way i[t] affects other similarly situated persons who are subject to the Rule.¹

After his waiver request was denied, Leib filed the instant suit seeking an injunction allowing him to use his Prius as a limousine. The complaint alleges that the Commission violated his right to earn a living under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments (Count I), and his right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment (Count II). In addition, the complaint alleges that the Commission violated Leib's right to due process by arbitrarily and capriciously denying his request to use the Prius as a limousine (Count III), by exercising its police power unlawfully (Count IV), and by granting "unbridled discretion" to administrative officials (Count VI). Finally, Leib's suit alleges that the Commission's rules are unconstitutionally vague (Count V), and that they place an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce (Count VII).² Each count asserts both a facial and an as-applied challenge to the Commission's rules.

II.

We review de novo the district court's grant of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, accepting the allegations in the complaint as true and construing them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Mills v. Foremost Ins. Co., 511 F.3d 1300, 1303 (11th Cir. 2008).

We first reject Leib's argument that the district court erred in dismissing his equal protection claim in Count II.³ The Equal Protection Clause requires the government to treat similarly situated persons in a similar manner. Gary v. City of Warner Robins, Ga., 311 F.3d 1334, 1337 (11th Cir.2002). "When legislation classifies persons in such a way that they receive different treatment under the law, the degree of scrutiny the court applies depends upon the basis for the classification." Id. If a law treats individuals differently on the basis of race or another suspect classification, or if the law impinges on a fundamental right, it is subject to strict scrutiny. Eide v. Sarasota County, 908 F.2d 716, 722 (11th Cir.1990). Otherwise, the law need only have a rational basis — i.e., it need only be rationally related to a legitimate government purpose. Id.

Because Leib makes no allegation that he belongs to a suspect class or that the HCPTC's rules violate a fundamental right,⁴ his equal protection claim is subject only to rational basis review. The rational basis test asks (1) whether the government has the power or authority to regulate the particular area in question, and (2) whether there is a rational relationship between the government's objective and the means it has chosen to achieve it. Cash Inn of Dade, Inc. v. Metro. Dade County, 938 F.2d 1239, 1241 (11th Cir. 1991). This standard is easily met. As the Supreme Court has held, under rational basis review, a state "has no obligation to produce evidence to sustain the rationality of a statutory classification." Heller v. Doe by Doe, 509 U.S. 312, 320, 113 S.Ct. 2637, 125 L.Ed.2d 257 (1993). Rather, a statute is presumed constitutional, and the burden is on the one attacking the law to negate every conceivable basis that might support it, even if that basis has no foundation in the record. Id. Under rational basis review, a court must accept a legislature's generalizations even when there is an imperfect fit between means and ends. Id.

Rule 1.15 easily survives rational basis review. Because Leib does not contest the government's power to regulate public transportation, we need consider only whether the Rule, and in particular its "luxury" requirement, has any rational basis. We agree with the district court that a multitude of rational bases might be adduced in support of the requirement. Thus, for example, without the requirement, any old jalopy might be passed off as a limousine. The luxury requirement is rationally related to preventing such misrepresentations and confusion. Leib contends that the district court erred by failing to accept the allegations in his complaint as true, but this is simply incorrect. Quite to the contrary, the court concluded that, even assuming that all of his allegations were true, Leib was unable to show that Rule 1.15 and its luxury requirement lacked a rational basis.

We also reject the "class of one" equal protection argument asserted in Count II alongside Leib's traditional equal protection claim. A "class of one" equal protection claim does not allege discrimination against a protected class, but rather asserts that the plaintiff "has been intentionally treated differently from others similarly situated and that there is no rational basis for the difference in treatment." Young Apartments, Inc. v. Town of Jupiter, Fla., 529 F.3d 1027, 1032 n. 1 (11th Cir.2008) (quoting Griffin Indus. v. Irvin, 496 F.3d 1189, 1202 (11th Cir.2007)). To prove a "class of one" claim, the plaintiff must show (1) that he was treated differently from other similarly situated individuals, and (2) that the defendant unequally applied a facially neutral ordinance for the purpose of discriminating against him. Id. at 1045. Leib's "class of one claim" fails to meet either requirement.

With respect to the first prong, we have frequently noted that the "similarly situated" requirement must be rigorously applied in the context of "class of one" claims. See, e.g., Douglas Asphalt Co. v. Qore, Inc., 541 F.3d 1269, 1275 (11th Cir. 2008); Griffin, 496 F.3d at 1207. Employing "[t]oo broad a definition of `similarly situated' could subject nearly all state regulatory decisions to constitutional review in federal court and deny state regulators the critical discretion they need to effectively perform their duties." Griffin, 496 F.3d at 1203. Indeed, even in run-of-the-mill discrimination cases, we have emphasized that plaintiffs are not permitted simply to "rely on broad generalities in identifying a comparator." Id. at 1204.

Furthermore, we have observed that where the challenged governmental decision is simple or one-dimensional — for example, where the decision involves the application of a single criterion to a single issue — making out a "class of one claim" is generally easier than in cases where governmental action is "multi-dimensional, involving varied decisionmaking criteria applied in a series of discretionary decisions made over an extended period of time." Id. at 1203; cf. Engquist v. Oregon Dep't of Agric., ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct....