PUERTO RICO INTERN. AIRLINES, INC. v. Colon
| Decision Date | 10 December 1975 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 75-1135. |
| Citation | 409 F. Supp. 960 |
| Parties | PUERTO RICO INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES, INC., Plaintiff, v. Guillermo COLON et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico |
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Donald M. Hall, McConnell, Valdés, Kelley, Sifre, Griggs & Ruiz-Suria, San Juan, P. R., for plaintiff.
Ginoris Vizcarra de López Lay, Santurce, P. R., for Guillermo Colon, and others.
Roberto Armstrong, Jr., Asst. Sol. Gen., Dept. of Justice, San Juan, P. R., for Rodriguez Rosa and Belén Bonit.
On October 3, 1975, plaintiff Puerto Rico International Airlines, Inc., hereinafter "Prinair", filed the instant complaint against Guillermo Colon, et als, ninety eight (98) pilots of Prinair who have sued plaintiff in the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Section, and against Pedro Rodriguez Rosa and Belen Bonit, Chief Marshal and Clerk, respectively, of said Superior Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Section. Invoking jurisdiction of the Court under Title 28, United States Code, Section 1343 and also under Title 28, United States Code, Section 1331, plaintiff brings the action pursuant to the provisions of Title 42, United States Code, Section 1983 and Title 28, United States Code, Section 2201, requesting declaratory and injunctive relief as well as the designation of a three judge court pursuant to the provisions of Title 28, United States Code, Sections 2281 and 2284.
In essence, plaintiff claims that defendants Colon, et als, hereinafter "the pilots", as plaintiffs in an action for wages brought in the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Section, Civil No. PE-70-1572, on or about September 22, 1975 filed a motion in said case requesting that, pursuant to the provisions of Title 32, Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated, Section 3133, the property of Prinair be attached in the amount of one million dollars ($1,000,000) to secure the judgment which may be obtained in the action. Plaintiff contends that the requested attachment will deprive Prinair of the full and unrestricted use of its property, especially of its aircraft, and thereby will cause Prinair to suffer immediate and irreparable harm. Plaintiff further contends that Title 32, Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated, Section 3133 is unconstitutional both on its face and as applied to plaintiff since it authorizes a preventive attachment of property in an action for wages without the posting of a bond to cover any damages or losses which the aggrieved party may suffer due to said attachment and without providing for a hearing to determine the probability that the complaining party will prevail on the merits in the pending action, thereby authorizing the taking of property without due process of law and the equal protection of the laws in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments of the Federal Constitution.
In its prayer for relief, plaintiff asks that a three judge court be convened pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Sections 2281 and 2284, that a preliminary and permanent injunction be issued enjoining the defendants in this action and their respective attorneys, agents, servants and employees from interfering in any way with plaintiff's full and unrestricted use of its property in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico by encumbering it with attachments made under color of Title 32, Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated, Section 3133 without the posting of bond by defendant pilots and without a hearing to determine their probability of success as plaintiffs in Colon, et als v. Prinair, supra, that the Court declare and adjudge that the provisions of Title 32, Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated, Section 3133 deprive plaintiff of its property without the due process and equal protection of the law required under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution and, finally, that plaintiff be awarded its costs and expenses, including attorney's fees, and such further relief as the Court may deem just and proper.
On the same date the complaint was filed the Court issued an order to the defendants to appear before the Court on October 24, 1975 to show cause why a three judge court should not be convened and why a preliminary injunction should not be issued against them pending a judgment in the complaint and request for permanent injunction filed by the plaintiff.
On the date of the hearing defendants Pedro Rodriguez Rosa and Belen Bonit filed a motion to dismiss, supported by the required brief, on the grounds that the complaint fails to show any case or controversy involving said defendants and plaintiff, that the complaint fails to state facts upon which any relief can be granted by this Court and, finally, the considerations of comity and federalism require, given the circumstances of this case, that this Court abstain from enjoining the proceedings before the Superior Court of Puerto Rico and that the complaint be dismissed without convening of a three judge court due to the absence of a substantial Federal question. On their part defendants Reginaldo Blanco and Donald V. Browne, the only two Prinair pilots served in the action, filed a motion with supporting brief requesting dismissal of the action without the convening of a three judge court on the grounds that since procedural irregularities preclude the proper adjudication of the case by this Court the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The motion further argues that the case should be dismissed because considerations of equity, comity and federalism require this Court to abstain from asserting Federal court jurisdiction in the case, that the doctrine of abstention requires this Court to stay its hand until the state law issues are resolved and, finally, that the circumstances of the case preclude the granting of injunctive relief.
On that same date, October 24, 1975, plaintiff filed its memorandum of law in support of its request for a temporary restraining order and for the convening of a three judge court and, pursuant to our Order to Show Cause of October 3, 1975, the parties presented oral argument on plaintiff's request for the convening of a three judge court and the granting of a preliminary injunction. Having heard the parties, the Court then granted plaintiff ten days to file its opposition to the motions to dismiss filed on that day by the defendants, as well as any memorandum of law in support thereto, whereupon the matter would stand submitted. Plaintiff having filed a memorandum in opposition to the motions to dismiss on November 3, 1975, to which defendants Reginaldo Blanco and Donald V. Browne filed a reply brief on November 5, 1975 without any subsequent response by plaintiff, and the Court having carefully considered the arguments advanced by the parties, the Court will now proceed to rule on all pending matters without further delay.
For the reasons we will briefly outline below, the request for convening of a three judge court must be denied and the complaint dismissed. Plaintiff has not shown entitlement to the relief sought. In fact, it would be an understatement to say that plaintiff has not made a strong case. Even though defendants have failed to focus adequately their contentions, nevertheless, it is hard to perceive how plaintiff could hope to prevail on a case that not only lacks any merit but is also procedurally defective.
To start with, defendants Reginaldo Blanco and Donald V. Browne, are not state officials and are thus outside of the reach of a civil rights action under Title 42, United States Code, Section 1983 unless they be charged with conspiring with state officers or otherwise acting under "color of law" to deprive plaintiff of federally protected rights.1 Such an allegation has not been made. Further, these two pilots are the only ones which have been served. Plaintiff not having requested certification of a defendant class to include all ninety eight pilots, even if defendant pilots were to be found amenable to an action under Title 42, United States Code, Section 1983, injunctive relief simply could not be provided in this action against the ninety six defendants named but not served. They would clearly be indispensable parties, notwithstanding plaintiff's tortured interpretation of Shields v. Barrow, 58 U.S. (17 How.) 130, 139, 15 L.Ed. 158, 160 (1855) and Stevens and Loomis, 334 F.2d 775, 777 (1 Cir. 1964).
On their part, defendants Pedro Rodriguez Rosa and Belen Bonit, although employees of the state, are not "state officers" for purposes of Title 28, United States Code, Section 2281. As Chief Marshal and Clerk, respectively, of the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Section, said defendants are not charged with the enforcement of Title 32, Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated, Section 3133. They perform strictly ministerial duties, pursuant to judicial orders, and have no involvement with the statute itself. They do not exercise any discretionary powers under the statute and in fact have no duties at all to perform until after a judge, acting under the provisions of the statute, has ordered that a writ of attachment be issued. For its constitutional attack, therefore, plaintiff has failed to bring as defendants any state officers who, being charged with the enforcement or execution of the statute, are proper parties defendant in a suit requesting an injunction against enforcement of a State statute pursuant to the provisions of Title 28, United States Code, Section 2281.2
We must also note that when plaintiff asks for an injunction to prevent the encumbering of Prinair's property with attachments made under color of Title 32, Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated, Section 3133 without the posting of a bond and without a hearing to determine the probability of success of the plaintiffs in Colon, et als v. Prinair, supra, the injunction is actually directed against the Judge who, under said statute, could order that such a writ of attachment be issued. Thus,...
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