Town of Springfield, Vt. v. McCarren

• Decision Date: 15 October 1982
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 82-157.
• Citation: 549 F. Supp. 1134
• Parties: TOWN OF SPRINGFIELD, VERMONT, and Vermont Public Power Supply Authority v. V. Louise McCARREN, Rosalyn L. Hunneman, and Samuel S. Bloomberg, in their official capacities as members of the State of Vermont Public Service Board, Town of Cavendish, Vermont, Defendant-Intervenor.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Vermont

549 F. Supp. 1134

TOWN OF SPRINGFIELD, VERMONT, and Vermont Public Power Supply Authority v. V. Louise McCARREN, Rosalyn L. Hunneman, and Samuel S. Bloomberg, in their official capacities as members of the State of Vermont Public Service Board, Town of Cavendish, Vermont, Defendant-Intervenor.

Civ. A. No. 82-157.

United States District Court, D. Vermont.

October 15, 1982.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

John Parker, Parker, Lamb & Ankuda, P.C., Springfield, Vt., Richmond F. Allan, Duncan, Weinberg & Miller, P.C., Washington, D.C., Stephen Walke, Paterson, Walke & Pratt, P.C., Montpelier, Vt., for plaintiffs.

Harriet A. King, King & King, Waitsfield, Vt., for defendants.

Sarah E. Vail, Chester, Vt. and Joseph E. Frank, Paul, Frank & Collins, Inc., Burlington, Vt., for defendant-intervenor.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

HOLDEN, Chief Judge.

Plaintiffs in this action seek a declaratory judgment that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over the licensing of the hydroelectric project they propose to build, and the Vermont Public Service Board's order finding that it had concurrent jurisdiction to issue a certificate of public good was beyond its jurisdiction, illegal, and void. The defendant Public Service Board members and the defendant-intervenor Town of Cavendish contend the Public Service Board does have jurisdiction over the licensing of the project, but they urge the court not to reach that question. They argue that absence of federal question jurisdiction, the Eleventh Amendment, the doctrine of res judicata, the Anti-Injunction Act, and principles of equity, comity, and federalism prevent the court from reaching the merits of the case. The defendants have moved for a preliminary determination of the jurisdictional issues, and the plaintiffs have moved for summary judgment. The court concludes that none of the jurisdictional barriers advanced by the Board members and Cavendish precludes declaratory relief on the merits, and the plaintiffs are entitled to summary judgment.

BACKGROUND

The Town of Springfield, Vermont, and the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority have applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a license to construct and operate a hydroelectric project near Springfield on the Black River, a navigable river. FERC has taken jurisdiction and is considering the application.

On January 25, 1980, the Town of Cavendish petitioned the Vermont Public Service Board for a declaratory ruling that the Black River project was subject to the Public Service Board's jurisdiction. The Town of Springfield appeared as respondent before the Board, and the Concerned Citizens of the Black River Valley were allowed to intervene. In an order dated April 7, 1982, and filed April 8, 1982, a majority of the Public Service Board ruled, 2-1, that it had jurisdiction over the project. Petition of the Town of Cavendish, P.S.B. Docket No. 4444 (April 8, 1982). The Board's order also forbade Springfield from commencing site preparation until the Board had issued a certificate of public good. Id., slip op. at 4. Defendant Samuel Bloomberg was the dissenting member of the Board.

Springfield did not appeal the Board's ruling to the Vermont Supreme Court. On May 4, 1982, the plaintiffs brought this action against the Public Service Board. The parties filed extensive briefs, and on July 30, 1982, the court heard oral argument on the defendant's application for a preliminary determination of jurisdiction and the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment. On August 3, 1982, the court granted the plaintiffs leave to amend their complaint to substitute the individual Board members as parties defendant.

DISCUSSION

I. JURISDICTION AND RELATED ISSUES

The court turns first to the jurisdictional challenges advanced by the Board members and the Town of Cavendish as intervenor.

A. Federal Question Jurisdiction

The Town of Cavendish and the Public Service Board defendants urge that this court is without subject matter jurisdiction. This argument must be rejected. As Judge Coffrin held in an earlier action for declaratory and injunctive relief brought by these same plaintiffs against another Vermont state agency that sought to exercise jurisdiction over the Black River project, "it cannot seriously be doubted that the federal preemption issue here `arises under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States' so as to establish federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331." Town of Springfield v. State of Vermont Environmental Board, 521 F.Supp. 243, 248 (D.Vt.1981).

That the federal question presented here could possibly arise as a defense to some state court action is not controlling. "If there is never federal jurisdiction when a state defendant has a dispositive defense grounded in federal law, the Anti-Injunction Act would be surplusage." United Air Lines, Inc. v. Division of Industrial Safety, 454 U.S. 944, 949, 102 S.Ct. 485, 488, 70 L.Ed.2d 255 (1981) (opinion of White, J., dissenting from the denial of certiorari). The plaintiffs' claim here is that a federal agency has exclusive jurisdiction. This is a proposition of federal law that the plaintiffs have a right to test in federal court. The Declaratory Judgment Act was intended to provide such plaintiffs as these a tool that they might use to test the validity of propositions of federal law— assuming, of course, that a ripe and justiciable controversy exists for the court to adjudicate. The Act "exists as an instrument to protect the citizen against the dangers and damages that may result from erroneous belief as to his rights under state or federal law." Public Service Commission v. Wycoff Co., 344 U.S. 237, 250-51, 73 S.Ct. 236, 243, 97 L.Ed. 291 (1952) (concurring opinion of Reed, J.).

The Wycoff case is one of the leading cases construing the Declaratory Judgment Act. In Wycoff, a carrier of motion picture films and newsreels sought a declaratory judgment that it was engaged in interstate commerce, and an injunction perpetually forbidding the Public Service Commission of Utah from "interfering" with its activities on routes authorized by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The plaintiff offered no evidence at trial of any past, threatened, or pending interference, and limited its proof to showing that it was engaged in interstate commerce. Id., 344 U.S. at 240, 73 S.Ct. at 238 (opinion of the Court). The trial court found that no interference had been made or threatened. Id. Consequently, the Supreme Court held that there was no showing of that danger of irreparable injury which is necessary to equitable relief by injunction. Id. at 240-41, 73 S.Ct. at 238. To the Court, it appeared that that plaintiff (the respondent on appeal) had "abandoned the suit as one for injunction but sought to support it as one for declaratory judgment." Id. at 241, 73 S.Ct. at 239. The Court accordingly directed its attention to the prerequisites for jurisdiction in a declaratory action.

The Court found the "disagreement" between the parties was too "nebulous," id. at 244, 73 S.Ct. at 240:

The complainant in this case does not request an adjudication that it has a right to do, or to have, anything in particular. It does not ask a judgment that the Commission is without power to enter any specific order or take any concrete regulatory step. It seeks simply to establish that, as presently conducted, respondent's carriage of goods between points within as well as without Utah is all interstate commerce. One naturally asks, "So what?" To that ultimate question no answer is sought.

Id. (emphasis added).

Because the question as to whether the Wycoff Company was engaged in interstate commerce was too abstract, unripe, and meaningless except as a defense to a possible state action, the Court ordered that the case should be dismissed. The opinion contains a widely-quoted but somewhat ambiguous dictum:

Respondent here has sought to ward off possible action of the petitioners by seeking a declaratory judgment to the effect that he will have a good defense when and if that cause of action is asserted. Where the complaint in an action for declaratory judgment seeks in essence to assert a defense to an impending or threatened state court action, it is the character of the threatened action, and not of the defense, which will determine whether there is federal-question jurisdiction in the District Court. If the cause of action, which the declaratory defendant threatens to assert, does not itself involve a claim under federal law, it is doubtful if a federal court may entertain an action for a declaratory judgment establishing a defense to that claim. This is dubious even though the declaratory complaint sets forth a claim of federal right, if that right is in reality in the nature of a defense to a threatened cause of action.

Id. at 248, 73 S.Ct. at 242.

While the Court did no more than express doubts about the existence of federal question jurisdiction in such cases, see United Air Lines, Inc. v. Division of Industrial Safety, supra, 454 U.S. at 949-50, 102 S.Ct. at 488 (opinion of White, J., dissenting from the denial of certiorari), lower courts have since adopted the dictum as a basis for holding that no federal question jurisdiction existed in particular settings. There is, however, a split of authority on the proper interpretation and application of the Wycoff dictum. Some courts have held that, while federal question jurisdiction is lacking where the declaratory plaintiff seeks a declaration of federal rights that has no meaning apart from a state court action, federal question jurisdiction does exist where the declaratory plaintiff has an actual and present controversy with the declaratory defendant and seeks a declaration of federal law that has meaning independent of any state case, even though the federal right might also be asserted as a defense in a state case. In cases where the declaratory plaintiffs challenge state...