Pinelawn Cemetery v. Coastal Distribution, LLC

• Decision Date: 08 June 2010
• Parties: PINELAWN CEMETERY, appellant, v. COASTAL DISTRIBUTION, LLC, et al., respondents.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

906 N.Y.S.2d 565
74 A.D.3d 938

PINELAWN CEMETERY, appellant,
v.
COASTAL DISTRIBUTION, LLC, et al., respondents.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

June 8, 2010.

906 N.Y.S.2d 565

Mark A. Cuthbertson, Huntington, N.Y. (Jessica P. Driscoll of counsel), for appellant.

John F. McHugh, New York, N.Y., for respondent Coastal Distribution, LLC.

Jay Safar, Central Islip, N.Y., for respondents Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Long Island Rail Road Company.

MARK C. DILLON, J.P., RUTH C. BALKIN, L. PRISCILLA HALL, and PLUMMER E. LOTT, JJ.

74 A.D.3d 938

In an action, inter alia, for a judgment declaring that a certain lease dated August 30, 1904, was terminated, the plaintiff appeals, as limited by its brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Costello, J.), dated February 19, 2009, as, upon renewal, adhered to the original determination in an order dated January 8, 2008, granting the separate motions of the defendants Coastal Distribution, LLC, and New York & Atlantic Railway for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against each of them and, in effect, directing the dismissal of the complaint against all of the defendants on the ground that its claims were preempted by that provision of the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act which grants exclusive jurisdiction to the United States Surface Transportation Board to regulate the abandonment of railroads.

ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with one bill of costs payable by the respondents appearing separately and filing separate briefs, upon renewal, the order dated

906 N.Y.S.2d 566

January 8, 2008, is vacated, the motions of the defendants Coastal Distribution, LLC, and New York & Atlantic Railway for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them are denied, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, for the imposition of a stay of any further proceedings in this action pending resolution by the United States Surface Transportation Board of the issue of whether the subject railroad has been abandoned.

74 A.D.3d 939

In 1904 and 1905, the plaintiff, Pinelawn Cemetery (hereinafter Pinelawn), leased two parcels of real property to the defendant Long Island Rail Road (hereinafter the LIRR) for a term of 99 years, with an option to renew each lease for a second term of 99 years, provided that the LIRR exercised that option in writing at least three months prior to the termination of each lease. The LIRR constructed two railroad tracks on the two parcels, which are collectively referred to as the Farmingdale Yard. Although it is undisputed that the LIRR properly renewed the 1905 lease, the primary issue in this case is whether the LIRR properly renewed the 1904 lease.

In 1996 the LIRR transferred its freight operations, including the facilities at the Farmingdale Yard, to the Southern Empire State Railroad Company, which subsequently changed its name to the defendant New York & Atlantic Railway (hereinafter NYAR). In 2002 NYAR, a licensed rail carrier, subleased the Farmingdale Yard to the defendant Coastal Distribution, LLC (hereinafter Coastal), which uses the site as a transloading facility to weigh, sort, and load construction and demolition debris onto railroad cars that are bound for Ohio.

In March 2004 the Town of...