Automotive Tire Service, Inc. v. Green

278 F. Supp. 1, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7868
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJanuary 5, 1968
DocketCiv. A. No. 67-962-C
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 278 F. Supp. 1 (Automotive Tire Service, Inc. v. Green) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Automotive Tire Service, Inc. v. Green, 278 F. Supp. 1, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7868 (D. Mass. 1968).

Opinion

OPINION

CAFFREY, District Judge.

This is a civil action commenced in Suffolk Superior Court by Automotive Tire Service, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation with a usual place of business in Boston, against Captain Charles E. Sharp, Chief of Staff of the First Coast Guard District, stationed in Boston, against Commander Laurence J. Hoch, Legal Officer, United States Coast Guard, also stationed in Boston, and against. George H. Green, Trustee of Commercial Realty Trust under a declaration of trust dated May 12, 1960, duly recorded in Suffolk County Registry of Deeds. The action was removed to this court by respondents Sharp and Hoch pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C.A. § 1442 (a).

Briefly summarized, petitioner’s complaint is to the effect (1) that it is the [2]*2lessee of a building located at 453 Commercial Street, Boston, under a handwritten paper claimed to be a lease for two years commencing November 1, 1967; (2) that the lessor and then owner of record of the building was the Commercial Realty Trust, which executed the lease on October 10, 1967, acting through George H. Green, Trustee; (3) that Green conveyed the fee in the real estate to the United States for use by the United States Coast Guard by a deed executed October 23, 1967 ■and recorded in Suffolk County Registry ■of Deeds on October 24, 1967; (4) that respondents Sharp and Hoch have caused the serving of a notice on petitioner to ■quit the premises on January 1, 1968; (5) that respondents Sharp and Hoch refuse to recognize the lease as valid ■and in so doing are interfering with the petitioner’s right to quiet possession and enjoyment of the premises at 453 Commercial Street in such a way that their conduct amounts to an unconstitutional taking of petitioner’s property without due process of law; and (6) that respondents Sharp and Hoch are acting unlawfully, arbitrarily, capriciously, unconstitutionally, and in excess of their authority as Coast Guard officers.

After the removal respondents Sharp and Hoch filed a motion to dismiss, in which they claimed that at all material times they were acting solely under the color of their office as officers of the United States Coast Guard and in the performance of their duties as such, within the scope of their employment and in behalf of the United States of America. Consequently respondents urge that this action in essence is one against the United States which will not • lie, since sovereign immunity has not been waived by statute or otherwise. The respondents further contend that because the United States has not and cannot properly be joined as a party under Rule 19, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, complete relief cannot be accorded herein and the action is fatally defective because of this non-joinder of an essential party which is the real party in interest.

A hearing was held, at which the parties were directed to present their evidence concerning the validity of the alleged lease, since resolution of the issue of the validity of this lease is basic to a determination of the various rights claimed and might obviate the necessity of passing on a multitude of other contentions raised herein.

After hearing I find and rule that during the summer and early fall of 1967, Green and representatives of the Coast Guard were negotiating for the purchase of the building located at 453 Commercial Street (consisting of seven floors and a basement) by the United States for use by the Coast Guard. These negotiations were as a result of a study made during the period 1965 through 1967 by a Coast Guard committee which concluded that proper development of the existing Coast Guard Base in Boston made it advisable to acquire by purchase three buildings adjacent to the Base, one of which was the building in question. Pursuant to the recommendation of this Committee, the United States obtained from Green an option to purchase the building exercisable on or before September 9, 1967, and the United States gave its check in the amount of $10,000 to Green at the time it obtained the option in June of 1966. George K. Feinberg, referred to frequently in the testimony as “Duddy,” is Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, and the dominant force in Automotive Tire Service, Inc., which in fact did business as “Duddy’s.” I find that Feinberg is a highly sophisticated and experienced business executive who has been extremely successful in the tire business and who has had wide experience in the real estate field. He testified that his family has owned large parcels of real estate, that he himself has owned real estate, and that he is knowledgeable in the area of negotiating real estate leases on commercial property. He was referred to in the testimony as a shrewd businessman and, in fact, was character[3]*3ized by his Sales Supervisor, Harry Gaines, who testified at the hearing, as “pretty shrewd,” “the best in the tire business,” “the most knowledgeable,” and, finally, “the greatest.” Suffice it to say that while Gaines’ exuberant testimony probably should be discounted to some extent, a finding that Feinberg is no novice in the area of commercial dealings is well warranted.

At the time, or shortly after the decision was made by the Coast Guard to enter into negotiations to acquire an option on the building at 453 Commercial Street, this matter was brought to the attention of Feinberg, whose office was adjacent to that of Green, the trustee of the building. It is clear that there was a steady and constant intercommunication between Green, Feinberg, and other officers and employees of petitioner. Green testified without contradiction that he visited Feinberg’s office at least four times daily, for coffee, cigarettes, and free use of a “WATS” telephone, which enabled Green to make free calls to distant parts of the United States. Green testified that he personally informed Feinberg, Sydney Brown, President of petitioner, and several office employees of petitioner, as well as his own employees, of the execution of the option and the payment of $10,000 earnest money by the Coast Guard in June of 1966. I find that from that date until papers were passed transferring title from the Trust to the United States, Feinberg stayed in close touch with the status of the option and the Coast Guard’s intentions with reference thereto. I find that on a large number of occasions Feinberg asked Green for a new lease to replace the lease (which consisted of six typewritten pages) then in existence between the parties, which expired by its terms on October 31, 1967. Feinberg coupled his many requests for the execution of a new lease with an insistent statement to the effect that the Coast Guard would not in fact execute the option. He insisted to Green on many occasions that he was positive, and that he knew on the highest authority, that the Coast Guard would not be successful in obtaining an appropriation from Congress for the purpose of purchasing this building. I further find that at all material times Feinberg realized that if the building was sold to the Coast Guard, possession of the building by the Coast Guard for storage and warehouse purposes would follow, making it necessary for petitioner to engage in the highly • expensive task of removing all of its Warehoused goods to a new location which new location Feinberg had done some searching for without success.

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Bluebook (online)
278 F. Supp. 1, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7868, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/automotive-tire-service-inc-v-green-mad-1968.