Air India, Ltd. v. Brien

239 F.R.D. 306, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93435, 2006 WL 3791263
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedDecember 27, 2006
DocketNo. 00-CV-1707
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 239 F.R.D. 306 (Air India, Ltd. v. Brien) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Air India, Ltd. v. Brien, 239 F.R.D. 306, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93435, 2006 WL 3791263 (E.D.N.Y. 2006).

Opinion

[308]*308 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

GLASSER, Senior District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

This action has been the subject of protracted litigation extending over a period of more than a decade and involving more than a dozen airlines. Familiarity with the underlying facts and issues is assumed. These issues have been litigated repeatedly before this Court not only in this action, but in three related ones as well,1 and have found their way to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and back. Despite the numerous efforts of this Court to decide the issues with finality, this action once again presents itself for adjudication. These efforts have obviously failed. Currently pending before the Court is Defendants’ Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(6) motion for relief from this Court’s March 13, 20032 Order.

BACKGROUND

On March 23, 2000, a group of airlines (collectively, “Air India” or “Plaintiffs”) filed this action seeking a declaratory judgment that the Immigration and Naturalization Services’s (“INS”) imposition of fines on them for transporting special immigrants who subsequently received waivers of the visa requirement was unlawful. Additionally, Plaintiffs sought a declaration that a 1998 amendment to the Regulations addressing visa requirements of aliens (“the Regulations”), promulgated pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1323, was void because it was contrary to Congressional intent and because it was promulgated without opportunity for notice and comment in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 553 (“APA”). In a Memorandum and Order (“M & O”) dated February 14, 2002, this Court extensively reviewed the Regulations promulgated under 8 U.S.C. § 1323, specifically, 8 C.F.R. § 211,3 including the various revisions and amendments to the Regulations. In that M & O, this Court determined that while the fines were properly imposed pursuant to the plain text of the Regulation, the 1966 version of the Regulation was void as it was promulgated in violation of the APA’s notice and comment requirement. Since the 1966 version allowed for the imposition of fines where the 1957 version did not, the 1966 version imposed a liability that did not exist in the previous version and was thus subject to the notice and comment requirement. Since it did not comply with the APA, the Regulation was void and any fines imposed pursuant to the Regulation were arbitrary and capricious. This Court also determined that any challenges to the 1998 amendment were not ripe for review. See Air India, et. al., v. Brien, et. al., No. 00-1707, slip op. (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 14, 2002).

Subsequently, Defendants moved for reconsideration of the March 13 Order pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e). Defendants asserted a statute of limitations defense, contending that challenges to Regulations as being promulgated without notice and comment in violation of the APA are subject to a six year statute of limitations as set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 2401. In an M & O dated March 13, 2003, this Court determined that any procedural challenge to the 1966 Regulation was in fact time barred, but revisited the substantive challenge to the Regulation.4 Noting that this Court had addressed several substantive challenges in its February 14 Order and rejected them, this Court nonetheless considered a previously unconsidered substantive challenge: namely, that the imposition of fines under the Regulation was improper in that it violated the stated intent of the [309]*309Attorney General in promulgating the 1966 version of the Regulation. This Court noted that the notice and comment section of the 1966 version specifically stated that the Regulation was not subject to notice and comment because it “conferred] benefits on persons affected thereby.” 31 Fed.Reg. 13387 (Oct. 15, 1966). This Court found that such a clear expression of intent refuted the argument that the Regulation was intended to impose liability on airlines when none had existed under the 1957 version of the Regulation, despite the clear language of the 1966 Regulation that in fact did allow for the imposition of fines. This Court also found that the INS had not sought to impose the fines for the first twenty-two years after the 1966 Regulation, which suggested that the INS had not interpreted the Regulation as allowing for such fines, either. Therefore, this Court found that the INS’s decision to impose fines twenty-two years after the 1966 version of the Regulation was promulgated was arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion. See Air India v. Brien, 261 F.Supp.2d 134 (E.D.N.Y.2003).

Considering the six-year statute of limitations to procedural challenges, this Court sua sponte addressed the Plaintiffs’ procedural challenge to the 1998 amendment of the Regulation. The Court found that the 1998 amendment to the 1997 version of the Regulation was a legislative rule that was subject to the notice and comment requirement of the APA. Since there was no notice and comment period, it was void. See id.

On September 14, 2004, this Court issued an M & O in a related case, United Airlines, Inc. v. Jones, 337 F.Supp.2d 406 (E.D.N.Y. 2004) (“United Airlines ”). In United Airlines, this Court held that the unambiguous Congressional intent of 8 U.S.C. § 1323 was to preserve fines against airlines which brought undocumented aliens to the United States regardless of the subsequent admission of the alien either via waiver of the required documents or parole. In a lengthy and detailed M & O, this Court analyzed prior decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) that found certain versions of the Regulations as not allowing for the imposition of fines on airlines when the alien received a waiver of the documentary requirements. This Court found those BIA decisions to be contrary to Congressional intent and flawed. Relying heavily on the Supreme Court decision in Hamburg-American Line v. United States, 291 U.S. 420, 54 S.Ct. 491, 78 L.Ed. 887 (1934), this Court found that interpreting Regulations as not allowing for the imposition of fines was erroneous. The Court specifically found that a waiver of the required documents is “for the benefit of the alien and not for the benefit of the carrier as against which the fine is preserved against any discretionary admission.” United Airlines, 337 F.Supp.2d at 418. Moreover, this Court found that since “[t]he manifest intention of Congress ... was to subject carriers to a penalty for taking on board and bringing to the United States aliens not in possession of required documents,” id.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United Airlines, Inc. v. Brien
588 F.3d 158 (Second Circuit, 2009)
Gottlieb v. Carnival Corp.
595 F. Supp. 2d 212 (E.D. New York, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
239 F.R.D. 306, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93435, 2006 WL 3791263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/air-india-ltd-v-brien-nyed-2006.