St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce v. Marzitelli, RIP-35E

• Decision Date: 09 September 1977
• Docket Number: No. 46998,RIP-35E,46998
• Citation: 258 N.W.2d 585
• Parties: ST. PAUL AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, et al., Appellants, v. Frank J. MARZITELLI, as Commissioner of Highways for the State of Minnesota, Respondent, andEnvironmental Defense Fund, defendant in intervention, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 585

258 N.W.2d 585

ST. PAUL AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, et al., Appellants, v. Frank J. MARZITELLI, as Commissioner of Highways for the State of Minnesota, Respondent and RIP-35E Environmental Defense Fund, defendant in intervention, Respondent.

No. 46998.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Sept. 9, 1977.

Syllabus by the Court

A declaratory judgment on the merits may not be rendered where a justiciable controversy does not exist. An action commenced to have a statute suspending a certain highway project declared unconstitutional on the basis of prior reliance thereon to the plaintiffs' financial detriment does not satisfy the minimal specificity needed to establish a justiciable controversy.

While a taxpayer may sue to enjoin waste or illegal use of public funds, this principle does not extend to the non-expenditure of public funds on such a project. To hold otherwise would allow a challenge to virtually every legislative enactment affecting business in general.

Ruttenberg, Orren, Griswold & Bernet, Kenneth P. Griswold and Royal C. Orren, St. Paul, for appellants.

Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Richard B. Allyn, Sol. Gen., Richard G. Mark, Asst. Atty. Gen., Christopher R. Kelley and Stephen F. Befort, Sp. Asst. Attys. Gen., St. Paul, for Marzitelli.

Dayton, Herman & Graham, Charles K. Dayton, and Philip W. Getts, Minneapolis, Minn., for RIP-35E.

Duane J. Crandell, Burnsville, for amicus curiae, The Minn. State Automobile Assn., seeking reversal.

Considered and decided by the court en banc.

SCOTT, Justice.

This is an appeal from a declaratory judgment. Plaintiffs commenced the action in Ramsey County District Court, seeking a declaration that L.1975, c. 203, is unconstitutional. The matter came before the district court on defendants' motions for a judgment on the pleadings or summary judgment. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of defendants, holding that the statute was constitutional and that the complaint failed to raise a justiciable controversy. Plaintiffs appeal to this court.

Plaintiff Drive 35E is a nonprofit corporation composed of representatives of business and labor, and established for the purpose of promoting and supporting the completion of a certain portion of the freeway grid in Minnesota. Plaintiff St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) is a nonprofit corporation existing for the purposes of enhancing and promoting the business climate in the city of St. Paul, and represents the downtown St. Paul business community. The individual plaintiffs are citizens, taxpayers, and residents in the area in question.

Defendant Marzitelli is the former commissioner of highways, who has been succeeded in interest by the present commissioner of transportation, James Harrington. Defendant RIP-35E Environmental Defense Fund is a nonprofit corporation interested in the preservation of certain residential areas near the "Pleasant Avenue Corridor" in St. Paul, and was permitted to intervene as a defendant.

At issue on the merits is the constitutionality of L.1975, c. 203, as amended by L.1976, c. 317. Plaintiffs claim that chapter 203 violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, art. VI, clause 2, and Minn.Const. art. 12, § 1. Defendants contend, and the district court found, that this action does not present a justiciable controversy under Minn.St. 555.01 to 555.16 (Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act).

The basic facts are not in dispute. The controversy centers around the construction of Interstate Highway 35E in St. Paul along the "Pleasant Avenue Corridor." This route for 35E was selected in 1957 by the commissioner of highways, and construction continued until 1972, when it was halted by stipulation to permit the preparation of an environmental impact statement. Chapter 203 prohibits any further construction of I-35E in the "Pleasant Avenue Corridor"; removes this route from its previous designation as part of Trunk Highway 390; establishes a new Trunk Highway 382 along the same route, and authorizes the construction of a parkway along this route. Plaintiffs allege that chapter 203 unconstitutionally collides with the Federal interstate highway program. Defendants deny such a collision, and contend that no justiciable controversy exists.

The rule in Minnesota is that a justiciable controversy must exist before the courts have jurisdiction to render a declaratory judgment regarding the constitutionality of a statute. Port Authority of City of St. Paul v. Fisher, 269 Minn. 276, 132 N.W.2d 183 (1964); Arens v. Village of Rogers, 240 Minn. 386, 61 N.W.2d 508 (1953), appeal dismissed, 347 U.S. 949, 74 S.Ct. 680, 98 L.Ed. 1096 (1954). The requirements for a justiciable controversy have been variously stated in prior cases of this court. In Seiz v. Citizens Pure Ice Co., 207 Minn. 277, 281, 290 N.W. 802, 804 (1940), we held:

"Proceedings for a declaratory judgment must be based on an actual controversy. The controversy must be justiciable in the sense that it involves definite and concrete assertions of right and the contest thereof touching the legal relations of parties having adverse interests in the matter with respect to which the declaration is sought, and must admit of specific relief by a decree or judgment of a specific character as distinguished from an opinion advising what the law would be upon a hypothetical state of facts. Mere differences of opinion with respect to the rights of parties do not constitute such a controversy."

In State ex rel. Smith v. Haveland, 223 Minn. 89, 92, 25 N.W.2d 474, 477, 174 A.L.R. 544, 547 (1946), we added the following to the Seiz formulation:

"Among the essentials necessary to the raising of a justiciable controversy is the existence of a genuine conflict in the tangible interests of the opposing litigants. Complainant must prove his possession of a legal interest or right which is capable of and in need of protection from the claims, demands, or objections emanating from a source competent legally to place such legal interest or right in jeopardy. Although complainant need not necessarily possess a cause of action (as that term is ordinarily used) as a basis for obtaining declaratory relief, nevertheless he must, as a minimum requirement, possess a bona fide legal interest which has been, or with respect to the ripening seeds of a controversy is about to be, affected in a prejudicial manner."

When the constitutionality of a statute is challenged, the litigant bringing the challenge must, in order to invoke the jurisdiction of the court, be able to show that the statute is, or is about to be, applied to his disadvantage. State ex rel. Smith v. Haveland, supra ; ¹ Lee v. Delmont, 228 Minn. 101, 36 N.W.2d 530 (1949).

The inquiry in the present case must focus upon whether plaintiffs have asserted legally cognizable interests which will, in some way distinguished from the general public, be interfered with or destroyed by chapter 203. The plaintiffs state their interests to be these:

(1) As users of the highways, they will be denied the benefit of using 35E in St. Paul;

(2) In reliance on 35E being completed, they have expended "millions of dollars" in the construction of buildings and businesses;

(3) As payers of license and gasoline taxes, their tax funds will be "wasted" due to an alleged compulsory refund of Federal assistance should construction be halted;

(4) As organizations, Drive 35E and the Chamber represent their members' interests in the completion of 35E.

Plaintiffs also argued a number of other issues before the district court, such as rights derived from 23 U.S.C.A., § 103(h), and 23 U.S.C.A., § 103(e) (4). While these statutory and constitutional issues may affect the merits of this case, they do not affect the determination of a justiciable controversy. The bases for plaintiffs' claim to standing are those stated above. In short, they desire 35E to be completed for personal and business reasons, and allege that they have relied upon its completion to their financial detriment.

There is no question that taxpayers may sue to enjoin waste or illegal use of public funds. Almquist v. City of Biwabik, 224 Minn. 503, 28 N.W.2d 744 (1947). This principle has been specifically held applicable in the road construction context. Regan v. Babcock, 188 Minn. 192, 247 N.W. 12 (1933). This case is different, however, in that it involves the nonexpenditure of public funds on a highway. The only claim of waste is (3) above, concerning Federal assistance monies, to be discussed below.

First, plaintiffs assert a justiciable controversy in that they will be denied the benefits of using 35E if chapter 203 is upheld. This alleged interest clearly falls within the language of Massachusetts v. Mellon, supra, footnote 1, in that the nonconstruction of 35E will deny its use to people generally. As to this interest, chapter 203 in no way affects the plaintiffs more severely than all other persons traveling in or through the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. While some of the individual plaintiffs herein might...