Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Rodriguez
| Citation | 236 F.Supp.2d 200 |
| Decision Date | 16 December 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV.02-2778 PG.,CIV.02-2778 PG. |
| Parties | WAL-MART STORES, INC., Wal-Mart Puerto Rico, Inc., Supermercados Amigo, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. Anabelle RODRIGUEZ, in her Personal and Official capacity as Secretary of Justice of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico |
Ruben T. Nigaglioni, Raul M. Arias-Marxuach, Veronica Ferraiuoli-Hornedo, McConnell Valdes, San Juan, PR, for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, Wal-Mart Puerto Rico, Inc., Supermercados Amigo, Inc., plaintiffs.
Carlos Del-Valle-Cruz, Department of Justice, Federal Litigation Division, San Juan, PR, for Anabelle Rodriguez, Anabelle Rodriguez, in her Personal and Official Capacity as Secretary of Justice of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, defendant.
Following oral arguments on Thursday, December 12, 2002, this Court now issues this Opinion and Order wherein it sets forth the facts and conclusions of law upon which we rely for our denial of Defendant's Motion to Dismiss.1 There was before this Court a "Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction" (Docket No. 15) filed by Defendant, Anabelle Rodríguez, Secretary of Justice of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Defendant"), in the early evening of Wednesday, December 11, 2002. On that same day, Defendant also filed an "Opposition to Preliminary Injunction for Failure to State a Legitimate Claim" (Docket No. 18) and a "Motion in Opposition to Request for Issuance of Order to Show Cause why Defendant and Her Attorney Should Not Be Found in Contempt and Further Relief" (Docket No. 17). While the contempt matter has been held in abeyance until the conclusion of the evidentiary hearing, the motion opposing the preliminary injunction also requests the dismissal of Plaintiffs' claims pursuant to FED.R.CIV.P. 12(b)(6). After hearing brief arguments on the request for dismissal, the Court denied it finding that Plaintiffs had stated a claim in their verified complaint for which relief could be granted. The arguments made in the motion in opposition to issuance of preliminary injunctive relief (Docket No. 18) are nevertheless taken under advisement while the hearing takes place and will be revisited by this Court in deciding whether to grant a preliminary injunction.
For the purposes of this Opinion and Order, in which we address precursory issues that were argued to this Court before the evidentiary hearing on the request for a preliminary injunction began, we essentially limit our findings of fact to the procedural developments of this case.
On the morning hours of Thursday, December 5, 2002, the merger between Plaintiffs Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Wal-Mart Puerto Rico, Inc. ("Wal-Mart") and Supermercados Amigo, Inc. ("Amigo") was consummated. That afternoon, on or around 3:00 p.m., Defendant issued a press release and held a press conference in which she publicly announced that she would be filing a lawsuit against the parties to the merger. The press release states that a lawsuit will be filed "within the next hours." (See Ex. A., Docket No. 1 at 1). Yet it was not filed until 2:46 p.m. the next day. No doubt is left in her press release to the effect that Defendant would be filing the state lawsuit and moreover, taking all actions within her ministerial duty, as a result of Plaintiffs' failure to submit to the guaranties she required them to consent to when she participated in the merger negotiations. (See Ex. A, Docket No. 1 at 2).
At 8:43 a.m. on Friday, December 6, 2002, Plaintiffs filed in this Court a Verified Complaint (Docket No. 1) and an "Urgent Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction and Memorandum in Support Thereof" (Docket No. 2). The complaint in this case is premised on Section 1983 violations of Plaintiffs' civil rights to equal protection of the laws and due process as protected by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, and also rights deriving from the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983; U.S. CONST. art. 1, § 8. Defendant's retaliatory imposition of certain controversial conditions on Plaintiffs, and her allusions to violations of local antitrust laws as a result of this particular transaction suggest equal protection and due process violations, as well as an abuse of the powers granted to her under the Puerto Rico Anti-Monopoly Act, Law 77 of June 25, 1964, codified at 10 P.R. LAWS ANN. § 257 et seq.
Soon after the Court was in receipt of the Verified Complaint, the parties were convened for a hearing on the request for a TRO to be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, December 6, 2002. Attorney for Plaintiffs, Ruben T. Nigaglioni, notified Defendant of the hearing at approximately 12:40 p.m. (See Docket No. 7, Verification in Support of Request of Order to Show Cause Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, at ¶ 1.c.) The meeting began between 2:00 p.m. and 2:10 p.m. and lasted less than half an hour. After the parties presented their arguments to the Court, the undersigned verbally told the parties that the requested TRO was granted and in their presence, at 2:30 p.m., the undersigned signed a TRO (Docket No. 5). Subsequently, at 3:00 p.m., this Court issued another Order setting out in more detail the specifics of the restraining order (Docket No. 4). A preliminary injunction hearing was set for December 16, 2002 at 9:30 a.m.
Shortly before the meeting came to an end, counsel for Defendant, Carlos A. Del Valle Cruz, asked the Court what would happen if Defendant was simultaneously filing her lawsuit in state court. The Court responded that in accordance with the TRO issued she would have to discontinue her pursuit of that action and could not serve the Plaintiffs in this lawsuit, who of course would be Defendants in the state action. Both written orders issued were Received and Filed by the Clerk of the Court at 3:15 p.m. on Friday, December 6, 2002. Defendant alleges she received the two orders by facsimile at 3:46 p.m. (Docket No. 6 at ¶ 2). At 5:58 p.m. that same day, Defendant filed an "Informative Motion" (Docket No. 6), wherein she notified this Court that she had in fact filed her action in state court at 2:36 p.m. and that it was her understanding that at that time, the TRO had not been issued nor notified to her by this Court. At 3:45 p.m. that same Friday afternoon, Judge Milagros Rivera Guardarrama of the Court of First Instance, San Juan Part, of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, had issued a preliminary injunction ex parte forbidding Plaintiffs in this case from putting into effect or consummating any transaction or contract that would operate to implement the merger. Wal-Mart, Amigo, and third party Supermercados Máximo, Inc., were ordered to proceed operations of their businesses independent from each other as if the merger deal had not closed on December 5, 2002. Defendant filed a copy of this Court's TRO with the state court at 4:34 p.m.
On Monday, December 9, 2002 the hearing scheduled for December 16 was reset to an earlier date, December 12, 2002, since this Court disposed of the criminal cases that were on its calendar for the week. (Docket No. 8). The hearing on the motion to dismiss pursuant to the Younger abstention doctrine began on or about 9:25 a.m. on Thursday, December 12, 2002 and lasted for approximately and hour and half. After hearing arguments from both sides, this Court rejected Defendant's request for abstention in this case.
Defendant submits to this Court a request for dismissal pursuant to FED. R.CIV.P. 12(b)(1) for lack of jurisdiction. Her main argument in support of such request is the Younger abstention doctrine which, as it was originally set out by the United States Supreme Court in 1971, precludes federal courts from exercising jurisdiction over suits aimed at restraining pending state criminal actions. Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). The nature of the doctrine itself reveals that the form of Defendant's request was mistakenly articulated and argued. The abstention doctrines do not arise from a lack of jurisdiction in the federal courts, but are rather premised on notions of comity and federalism. Ohio Civil Rights Comm'n v. Dayton Christian Schs., Inc., 477 U.S. 619, 626, 106 S.Ct. 2718, 91 L.Ed.2d 512 (1986); see also Columbia Basin Apartment Ass'n v. City of Pasco, 268 F.3d 791, 799-800 (9th Cir.2001); Weekly v. Morrow, 204 F.3d 613, 614-15 (5th Cir.2000). The Younger abstention doctrine cannot form the basis for the proposition that a court lacks jurisdiction. It can only be used to request that a court abstains from exercising such jurisdiction.
Therefore, we first proceed to establish our jurisdiction over Plaintiffs' claims. An action brought pursuant to "42 U.S.C. § 1983 charging denial of constitutional rights by a state agency may not be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction unless it appears that the claim is patently frivolous or wholly insubstantial." Giulini v. Blessing, 654 F.2d 189, 192 (2nd Cir.1981); see also Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 94 S.Ct. 1372, 39 L.Ed.2d 577 (1974); Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida, 414 U.S. 661, 94 S.Ct. 772, 39 L.Ed.2d 73 (1974); Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 681-82, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946). The test for jurisdiction purposes is whether the "complaint on its face, without resort to extraneous matter, is so plainly insubstantial as to be devoid of any merits and thus not presenting any issue worthy of adjudication." Giulini, 654 F.2d at 192.
Pursuant to this standard, the jurisdiction this Court has over Plaintiffs claims is unquestionable. In fact, nothing in Defendant's Motion to Dismiss persuades us to find that under this particular standard, this Court lacks jurisdiction over Plaintiffs' civil rights claims. However the issue, as it should have been presented to this Court, is...
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...federal courts have "gradually but nonetheless with utmost caution, developed the scope of reach of the Younger doctrine." 236 F.Supp.2d 200, 206-07 (D.P.R.2002). In Wal-Mart Stores, a federal action was filed several hours prior to a state court action. Id. at 206. Relying on Bettencourt, ......