Air Cal, Inc. v. City & County of San Francisco

865 F.2d 1112, 1989 U.S. App. LEXIS 338, 1989 WL 1859
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 17, 1989
DocketNos. 86-2520, 86-2530
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 865 F.2d 1112 (Air Cal, Inc. v. City & County of San Francisco) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Air Cal, Inc. v. City & County of San Francisco, 865 F.2d 1112, 1989 U.S. App. LEXIS 338, 1989 WL 1859 (9th Cir. 1989).

Opinion

TANG, Circuit Judge:

The City and County of San Francisco (the City), along with the San Mateo Central Labor Council and the San Francisco Airport Labor Coalition (labor organizations) as intervenors, appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Air Cal, Inc. and nineteen other airlines (Airlines). At issue is a San Francisco city ordinance which requires most airport contractors, lessees, franchisees and others, to pay not less than the “prevailing rate of wage” to any person performing personal services on San Francisco Airport property. The district court concluded that the ordinance was invalid as applied to the Airlines because it contravened existing lease and use agreements between the Airlines and the City. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

On April 9,1984 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed Ordinance No. 140-84 (the ordinance) amending Chapter 6 of the City’s Administrative Code. The ordinance requires most City contractors “to pay not less than the prevailing rate of wage to any person performing personal services ... on property under the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Airports Commission.” San Francisco, Cal., Admin.Code § 6.1-3 (1984). The “prevailing rate of [1114]*1114wage” is defined as “that rate of compensation being paid to a majority of workers engaged in a specified category of personal services” as determined by the Civil Service Commission.1 Id. The introductory findings to the ordinance indicate it was designed to promote the “safe and efficient operation” of the Airport in the wake of a series of labor disputes relating to the practice of subcontracting out the performance of certain personal services. Ordinance § 1, Findings (7M10).

The ordinance sets out a complaint and hearing procedure for determining whether there has been a violation of the prevailing rate of wage and also provides a penalty scheme for its violation. Id. § 6.1-3(b), (c), (d), (d), (e). Finally, the ordinance is expressly made applicable to

all existing contracts, with or on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco subject to the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Airports Commission, and to all subcontracts existing pursuant thereto, to the extent those contracts are expressly subject to the application of lawful ordinances enacted after the date the contracts were executed.

§ 6.1-3(g) (emphasis added).

In July 1981, the Airlines entered into 30-year lease and use agreements (agreements) with the San Francisco Airports Commission. Following the enactment of the ordinance, the Airlines on February 7, 1985 filed suit in district court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The Airlines argued, inter alia, that the ordinance: (1) was invalid under the San Francisco City Charter; (2) violated the lease and use agreements; (3) was preempted by state law; and (4) was preempted by various federal statutes and regulations. The district court granted summary judgment for the Airlines on June 6, 1986. The court concluded that the ordinance was invalid as applied to the Airlines because it contravened the existing 30-year lease and use agreements between the Airlines and the City. Air Cal, Inc. v. City and Cty. of San Francisco, 638 F.Supp. 659 (N.D.Cal.1986). The City’s motion for reconsideration was denied on July 29, 1986. The court entered judgment for the Airlines on July 30, 1986, decreeing the ordinance “invalid as applied to the lease and use agreements” and permanently enjoining the City from the application or enforcement of the ordinance “so long as the lease and use agreements are in effect.” The City and intervenors timely appeal.

JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

The district court exercised federal question jurisdiction over the federal constitutional and federal statutory preemption claims raised by the Airlines under 28 U.S. C. § 1331 (1982), and exercised pendent jurisdiction over the related California law claims. United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966). Jurisdiction over the state law issues was properly exercised even though resolution of the state claims obviated the need to address the federal issues. Hillery v. Rushen, 720 F.2d 1132, 1140 (9th Cir.1983). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1982).

The district court’s grant of summary judgment and its interpretation of state law are both reviewed de novo. Jewel Companies, Inc. v. Pay Less Drug Stores Northwest, Inc., 741 F.2d 1555, 1559-60 (9th Cir.1984); Matter of McLinn, 739 F.2d 1395, 1397 (9th Cir.1984) (en banc).

DISCUSSION

Resolution of this appeal requires consideration of several provisions of the lease and use agreements entered into between the Airlines and the City, as well as reference to the Charter of the City and County of San Francisco. We are guided and governed by at least one case of this circuit, Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. City and County of San Francisco, 228 F.2d [1115]*1115473 (9th Cir.1955), cert. denied, 351 U.S. 919, 76 S.Ct. 711, 100 L.Ed. 1451 (1956), and informed by the opinion of the court below. Air Cal, 638 F.Supp. 659 (N.D.Cal.1986). At the outset, we note the somewhat unusual jurisdictional consequences arising from the airport’s location in the County of San Mateo, outside of the City’s limits and thus, beyond its police power jurisdiction. We conclude that the City’s prevailing wage ordinance is invalid as applied to the Airlines because the ordinance is at least impliedly inconsistent with the lease agreement, and further, because the City, by charter, has vested its limited proprietary powers over the airport in the Airports Commission, and may not subsequently interfere with particular agreements entered into by its executive commission.

A. Section 201 of the Agreement

Briefly, we consider first whether the ordinance is invalid as applied to the Airlines because it conflicts with rights conferred in the lease and use agreements signed in July 1981. The lease agreements generally permit the Airlines “to perform such operations and functions as are incidental, necessary or proper to the conduct of their air transportation business.” Lease and Use Agreement, art. II, § 201. The agreements specifically enumerate certain permissible uses of the airport, including the following:

The hiring and training on the Airport of personnel in the employ of or to be employed by Airlines ... or Airline’s contractors ... Id., § 201(D).
$ $ ‡ $ ‡ >f<
The purchase or other acquisition of services or personal property of any nature ... deemed by it to be required by, or incidental to, Airline’s operations ... consistent with Section 1001 of this Agreement. Id., § 201(N).

Section 1001 of the agreement provides that:

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Nos. 86-2520, 86-2530
865 F.2d 1112 (Ninth Circuit, 1989)

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865 F.2d 1112, 1989 U.S. App. LEXIS 338, 1989 WL 1859, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/air-cal-inc-v-city-county-of-san-francisco-ca9-1989.