R.L. Vallee, Inc. v. Vt. Agency of Transp., 20-2665-cv

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)
• Parties: R.L. VALLEE, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. VERMONT AGENCY OF TRANSPORTATION; STATE OF VERMONT; FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, AN AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; PETE BUTTIGIEG, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION; STEPHANIE POLLACK, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS ACTING ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION; MATTHEW HAKE, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS DIVISION ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE VERMONT DIVISION OF THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION; JOE FLYNN, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF THE VERMONT AGENCY OF TRANSPORTATION, Defendants-Appellees.[*] WESCO, INC., TIMBERLAKE ASSOCIATES, L.L.P. Plaintiffs,
• Docket Number: 20-2665-cv
• Decision Date: 17 September 2021

R.L. VALLEE, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant,

WESCO, INC., TIMBERLAKE ASSOCIATES, L.L.P. Plaintiffs,
v.
VERMONT AGENCY OF TRANSPORTATION; STATE OF VERMONT; FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, AN AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; PETE BUTTIGIEG, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION; STEPHANIE POLLACK, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS ACTING ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION; MATTHEW HAKE, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS DIVISION ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE VERMONT DIVISION OF THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION; JOE FLYNN, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF THE VERMONT AGENCY OF TRANSPORTATION, Defendants-Appellees.^[*]

No. 20-2665-cv

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

September 17, 2021

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

SUMMARY ORDER

RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT'S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION "SUMMARY ORDER"). A PARTY CITING TO A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.

At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the 17^th day of September, two thousand twenty-one.

Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont (Geoffrey W. Crawford, Chief Judge).

FOR PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT: DANIEL A. SEFF, MSK Attorneys, Burlington, VT

FOR FEDERAL DEFENDANTS- APPELLEES: MICHAEL T. GRAY (Joshua Wilson, on the brief), for Todd Kim, Assistant Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Jacksonville, FL; Sharon Vaughn-Fair, Lavinia Thomas, United States Department of Transportation, Washington, DC

FOR STATE DEFENDANTS- Jenny E. Ronis, Assistant Attorney General, Montpelier, VT

PRESENT: JOHN M. WALKER, JR., GUIDO CALABRESI, RAYMOND J. LOHIER, JR., Circuit Judges.

UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment of the District Court is AFFIRMED.

Plaintiff-Appellant R.L. Vallee, Inc. appeals from the July 8, 2020 judgment of the District Court for the District of Vermont (Crawford, C.J.) denying its motion for summary judgment and granting judgment in favor of the Defendants-Appellees, which include the State of Vermont, the Vermont Agency of Transportation ("VTrans"), the Federal Highway Administration ("FHWA"), and certain individual federal and state government officials. In the operative complaint, R.L. Vallee claims that in 2013 the FHWA arbitrarily and capriciously decided that a planned construction project centered on a highway...