Wall v. King, Civ. No. 52-812.

• Decision Date: 29 December 1952
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 52-812.
• Citation: 109 F. Supp. 198
• Parties: WALL v. KING.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

109 F. Supp. 198

WALL v. KING.

Civ. No. 52-812.

United States District Court D. Massachusetts.

December 29, 1952.

George P. Lordan and Lordan, Katz & Tucker, Boston, Mass., for plaintiff.

Henry M. Leen, Boston, Mass., for defendant.

FORD, District Judge.

Plaintiff brings this action under 8 U.S. C.A. § 43 to recover damages for an alleged deprivation of his constitutional rights. The complaint charges that the defendant King in his capacity as Registrar of Motor Vehicles of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on July 31, 1951, wrongfully suspended plaintiff's license to operate a motor vehicle on the highways of Massachusetts, and thereafter wrongfully denied plaintiff's application of August 9, 1951 for the reissuance of the license. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has decided that the Registrar, who acted under the provisions of Mass. G.L. c. 90, § 22, was not in this case justified in suspending Wall's license, and held that Wall was entitled to have his license reissued. Wall v. Registrar of Motor Vehicles, Mass., 106 N.E.2d 425.

Defendant moves to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. His position is that even if his action in suspending the license and in refusing to reissue it was wrongful, plaintiff has failed to state a case under 8 U.S. C.A. § 43, because the loss of his license and, consequently, of his right to operate a motor vehicle on the highways of Massachusetts was not the deprivation of any right, privilege or immunity protected by that statute.

Plaintiff contends that the suspension of his license violated the Fourteenth Amendment, in that it abridged a privilege or immunity of a citizen of the United States, and deprived him of property without due process of law. He does not contend that defendant's action amounted to a denial of equal protection of the laws, and his complaint does not state such a claim since it lacks any allegation that there was present in the action of the defendant any element of intentional or purposeful discrimination. Snowden v. Hughes, 321 U.S. 1, 8, 64 S.Ct. 397, 88 L.Ed. 497.

The rights protected by the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment are those incident to citizenship of the United States, as such, and not those derived from state law and belonging to a citizen by virtue of his state citizenship. Slaughter-House Cases, 16 Wall. 36, 74, 83 U.S. 36, 74, 21 L.Ed. 394. The regulation of motor traffic upon the highways of a state is a matter primarily within the police power of the state. Hendrick v. Maryland, 235 U.S. 610, 35 S.Ct. 140, 59 L.Ed. 385. Plaintiff's license to operate motor vehicle on the Massachusetts highways is a privilege granted him by that state. It is derived in no way from his status as a citizen of the United States. It does not arise from his relationship to the federal government. It is not sufficient that it may have some indirect effect on his ability to exercise his right to travel freely from state to state, a right which does belong to him as a citizen of the United States. Crandall v. State of Nevada, 6 Wall. 35, 73 U.S. 35, 18 L.Ed. 744. State regulation of motor travel on its highways has been held not to infringe that right. Hendrick v. Maryland, supra, 235 U.S. at page 624, 35 S.Ct. at pages 142, 143.

Plaintiff argues that since, as he alleges, he was unable after the suspension of his license to follow his previous occupation of a salesman, he was thus deprived of his right to a livelihood and to the pursuit of happiness, rights which he argues arise from his United States citizenship. The Supreme Court in the Slaughter-House Cases, supra, 16 Wall. at pages 75, 76, 21 L.Ed. 394, refers to the discussion...