Board of Sup'rs of Fairfax County, Va. v. United States

408 F. Supp. 556, 10 ERC (BNA) 1881, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17040
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedJanuary 23, 1976
DocketCiv. A. 75-392-A
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 408 F. Supp. 556 (Board of Sup'rs of Fairfax County, Va. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Sup'rs of Fairfax County, Va. v. United States, 408 F. Supp. 556, 10 ERC (BNA) 1881, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17040 (E.D. Va. 1976).

Opinion

*559 MEMORANDUM

MERHIGE, District Judge.

The Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County, Virginia, bring this action seeking damages and injunctive relief for injuries resulting from the operation of an alleged public nuisance at Lorton, Virginia. Plaintiff alleges that (1) the District of Columbia and certain of its officials have failed to maintain and operate the Lorton Reformatory in a manner required by law; (2) that this improper maintenance causes the facility to be a public nuisance; and (3) that the Attorney General has no authority to designate as a suitable plp.ce of confinement, a facility which is a public nuisance. Defendants include the District of Columbia and certain of its officials, the United States of America and the Attorney General of the United States. The matter is before the Court on defendants’ motion to dismiss, plaintiff’s response thereto, and argument of counsel.

The Lorton Complex itself is a prison facility maintained and operated by the District of Columbia. The complex is situated on approximately 3000 acres of land located in Fairfax County, Virginia. The United States retains legal title to the land upon which the prison is located having acquired the land in several parcels beginning in 1910. Persons convicted in the courts of the District of Columbia for any offense are committed to the custody of the Attorney General whose responsibility is to select a place of confinement for the prisoner. D.C.Code § 24-425 (1973 ed.). The Lorton Complex is one such place of confinement.

Count I of the complaint alleges that due to the number and increasing frequency of escapes, riots and disturbances, the Lorton Complex constitutes a public nuisance. Plaintiff alleges numerous escapes, fires, and kidnappings to support this claim. The breaches of security and the resulting threat to the health and safety of the surrounding community allegedly stems from the negligent conduct of the District of Columbia defendants in maintaining the facility. The Lorton Complex, so it is argued, is a public nuisance, and the Attorney General must be enjoined from designating it as a suitable place of confinement.

Count II contends that the operation of the Lorton Complex deprives the inhabitants of Fairfax County of several rights secured under the Constitution of the United States. Plaintiff further asserts in Count III that water and waste water treatment plants, the coal dust run-off from the coal-fired boilers and gases emitted from the Lorton Complex has and continues to pollute the air and waters of Fairfax County in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq., 4332(C)(i), and the Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., and the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1857 et seq. Plaintiff, in Count IV, seeks compensation for services provided by the county to the Lorton Complex. All defendants maintain that sovereign immunity precludes this action, that the Court does not have jurisdiction over the subject matter or in the alternative, that plaintiffs have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and that plaintiffs lack standing to maintain this suit.

Defendants’ position is that sovereign immunity precludes this action with regard to the District of Columbia- and the named defendants. Despite recurring criticism 1 it remains the law that the sovereign need not be subjected *560 to unconsented suits. Dugan v. Rank, 372 U.S. 609, 83 S.Ct. 999, 10 L.Ed.2d 15 (1963); Malone v. Bowdin, 369 U.S. 643, 82 S.Ct. 980, 8 L.Ed.2d 168 (1962); Larson v. Domestic and Foreign Commerce Corp., 337 U.S. 682, 69 S.Ct. 1457, 93 L.Ed. 1628 (1948). A suit is one against the sovereign if the judgment expends itself on the public treasury, interferes with the public administration, or if the effect of the judgment would restrain the government from acting or compel it to act. Dugan v. Rank, 372 U.S. 609, 620, 83 S.Ct. 999, 10 L.Ed.2d 15 (1963). Beginning with Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908), exceptions to the applicability of sovereign immunity were recognized. It is now settled that the doctrine does not apply to suits against government officials who act beyond their statutory authorization, or where the statute conferring their authority is unconstitutional. Larson v. Domestic and Foreign Commerce Corp., 337 U.S. 682, 689-90, 69 S.Ct. 1457, 93 L.Ed. 1628 (1948); Dugan v. Rank, 372 U.S. 609, 620-21, 83 S.Ct. 999, 10 L.Ed.2d 15 (1963). A declaration that the Lorton Reformatory is a public nuisance could indeed have a major impact on the public administration of the unit and could affect all the defendants in their official capacities. Therefore, the suit is barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity unless encompassed by either of the Larson exceptions, or is otherwise consented to by the respective governments. Land v. Dollar, 330 U.S. 731, 738, 67 S.Ct. 1009, 91 L.Ed. 1209 (1947).

Plaintiff does not challenge the constitutionality of the statutes under which the Attorney General confines persons to Lorton, 2 or the statute under which the District of Columbia maintains and operates the facility. 3 Rather, plaintiff asserts that the Lorton Complex is being maintained in a manner not authorized by statute and one which is constitutionally void. Neither title to the property nor the right to locate a prison on that property is challenged. Cf. Ely v. Velde, 451 F.2d 1130 (4th Cir. 1971); Ferris v. Wilbur, 27 F.2d 262 (4th Cir. 1928).

This case, then, is unlike Ferris v. Wilbur, 27 F.2d 262 (4th Cir. 1928) where the Court refused to enjoin the use of *561 certain land as a munition depot. In Wilbur, it was the location of an activity that was drawn in issue and not the manner in which the activity was pursued. Indeed, the Court in Wilbur recognized that “[wjhere the act complained of is not authorized by statute, .

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Bluebook (online)
408 F. Supp. 556, 10 ERC (BNA) 1881, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17040, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-suprs-of-fairfax-county-va-v-united-states-vaed-1976.