Airport Coach Service, Inc. v. City of Fort Worth

518 S.W.2d 566, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2823
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 5, 1974
Docket783
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 518 S.W.2d 566 (Airport Coach Service, Inc. v. City of Fort Worth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Airport Coach Service, Inc. v. City of Fort Worth, 518 S.W.2d 566, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2823 (Tex. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinions

DUNAGAN, Chief Justice.

Appellant, Airport Coach Service, Inc., brought suit for a declaratory judgment against the appellees, the cities of Fort Worth and Dallas, alleging that their formation of D/FW Surtran Systems as the “single operator of ground transportation services for the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport,” denies appellant a privilege it has under RRC authority to operate limousine service from and on the D/FW Regional Airport. Appellant further sought injunctive relief from the enforcement of applicable regulations and penal ordinances enacted by the appellees in conjunction with the formation of Surtran. The trial court granted appellees’ motion for summary judgment and appellant perfected its appeal.

Appellant holds Amended Certificate of Convenience and Necessity No. 2429-B, issued by the Railroad Commission of Texas. This certificate authorized appellant to transport passengers having prior or subsequent transportation by air and airline personnel over twelve specified routes to and from Love Field, Greater Southwest International Airport and certain specified cities in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Appellant had the authority to serve all the intermediate points on these routes and to tack, join or combine the routes to render a coordinated or through service.

In 1964, Dallas and Fort Worth jointly undertook to establish a regional airport. Appellees now own and operate the D/FW Regional Airport under the authority of the Municipal Airport Act, Article 46d, sec. 14, Vernon’s Ann.Tex.Civ.St. The airport area consists of 17,000+ acres and is located in the cities of Fort Worth, Grapevine, Euless and Irving. It is governed by a joint airport board appointed by the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. Following the approval by both cities of a Code of Rules and Regulations prepared by the Joint Board,1 the appellees contracted [570]*570to form a joint venture called D/FW Sur-tran Systems which was designated as the single operator of ground transportation service for the Regional Airport.

Surtran’s responsibility consists of four operations: (1) Dallas bus-limousine service, (2) Fort Worth bus-limousine service, (3) service to other cities in the region, and (4) taxi and subcontract service. Sur-tran therefore has the franchise required by the code.

Appellant sought a judicial declaration that Certificate of Convenience 2429-B provided adequate authority for appellant to serve the D/FW Airport.

Appellant contends that each city in which the Regional Airport is located is a point which the appellant is authorized to serve under RRC Certificate No. 2429-B. Appellant asserts that by tacking, joining and combining various authorized routes, it can follow its routes from any point within the Airport to any point on its twelve routes. Appellant is also contending that the exclusive franchise held by Surtran violates the anti-monopoly provision of the Texas Constitution, Art. I, sec. 26, Vernon’s Ann.St.; that the operation of the D/FW Airport is designed to close other area airports and that these closings will destroy the appellant’s business. Because of this, appellant sought an injunction to prevent enforcement of the applicable code provisions so as to enable Airport Coach, Inc., to serve the D/FW Airport.

Appellant brings two points of error: (1) that the trial court erred in finding that it had no jurisdiction, and (2) that the trial court erred in granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment. The jurisdictional error presented in point one, being essential to the power of this court to consider this appeal must be considered first.

In the motion for summary judgment filed by Fort Worth and adopted by Dallas, it is contended in relation to the interpretation of Certificate of Convenience and Necessity 2429-B "that there exists no right or privilege from which a justiciable controversy coxild spring between the plaintiff and this defendant and with respect to which the Declaratory Jttdgmcnt Act, Article 2524-1 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, gives this Honorable Court jurisdiction(Emphasis added.) In paragraph three of the motion, which we interpret to refer to the court’s interpretation of those penal ordinances enumerated in footnote one, it is stated that “Even a cursory examination of plaintiff’s prayer for relief, in light of the foregoing, reveals the attempted invocation of this court’s equitable and declaratory powers to provide plaintiff with a bar to prosecution for violation of valid ordinances of the Cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, Grapevine and Irving and violation of the Code of Rules and Regulations of the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport Board. Such a stratagem of collaterally attacking the ordinances and skirting the joinder of otherwise essential parties cannot create and does not present a valid, justiciable controversy concerning which this Honorable Court could or should exercise jurisdiction under the provisions of Article 2524-1, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas.” (Emphasis added.)

In granting the summary judgment the district court states that in addition to specific findings indicating the non-existence of any genuine issue as to any material fact, “the City of Fort Worth and the City of Dallas, are entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and that summary judgment [571]*571should, ha granted upon each and every ground stated in said motion * * * (Emphasis added.)

A declaratory judgment is one which declares the rights and duties or the status of the parties. Article 2524-1, V.A.T.S. Although a cause of action in the sense of a claim upon which consequential relief may be granted is not essential to the maintenance of an action for declaratory judgment, there must exist a justiciable controversy. California Products, Inc. v. Puretex Lemon Juice, Inc., 160 Tex. 586, 334 S.W.2d 780 (1960). The existence of a justiciable controversy is a jurisdictional pre-requisite to the granting of a declaratory judgment. Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Bivins, 423 S.W.2d 340 (Tex.Civ.App., Amarillo, 1967, n. r. e.). The court has the duty to decide whether a justiciable controversy exists. State v. Margolis, 439 S.W.2d 695 (Tex.Civ.App., Austin, 1969, n. r. e.).

As we construe the record in this case, appellant is asking the court to first construe Certificate of Convenience and Necessity 2429-B and declare rights thereunder and second, to construe the aforementioned penal ordinances and thereafter enjoin their enforcement. As evidenced from the language previously quoted from the motion for summary judgment and the judgment itself, the court found that it had no jurisdiction to construe Certificate 2429-B. In this finding the court erred. We believe that this is a proper situation for the application of the Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act. The Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act is broad in scope and should be liberally construed. Cobb v. Harrington, 144 Tex. 360, 190 S.W.2d 709 (Tex.1945). In Central Freight Lines, Inc. v. Becker, 373 S.W.2d 767, 770 (Tex.Civ.App., Houston, 1963, n. r. e.), the court, upon plaintiffs request for an interpretation of a Railroad Commission Certificate of Convenience, stated:

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Bluebook (online)
518 S.W.2d 566, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2823, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/airport-coach-service-inc-v-city-of-fort-worth-texapp-1974.