Choate's Air Conditioning & Heating, Inc. v. Light, Gas & Water Division

16 F. App'x 323
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJune 22, 2001
DocketNo. 00-5399
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 16 F. App'x 323 (Choate's Air Conditioning & Heating, Inc. v. Light, Gas & Water Division) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Choate's Air Conditioning & Heating, Inc. v. Light, Gas & Water Division, 16 F. App'x 323 (6th Cir. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

COLE, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant Choate’s Air Conditioning and Heating, Inc. (“Choate’s”) appeals from the district court’s order dismissing, for failure to state a cause of action, this § 1983 civil rights action alleging substantive due process violations stemming from an alleged easement-agreement violation by Defendants-Appellees Light, Gas and Water Division of the City of Memphis (“MLGW”); Memphis Cellular Telephone Company (“MCTC”); GTE Mobilnet of Memphis, Inc. (“Mobilnet”); GTE Mobilnet of Memphis II; Inc. (“Mobilnet II”); PowerTel/Memphis, Inc. (“Power-Tel”); and Herman Morris, Jr. (“Morris”), individually and in his official capacity as General Counsel and President of MLGW.

At issue is whether MLGW violated the terms of its easement agreement with Choate’s when it leased a portion of an easement to various private telecommunications companies for the purpose of building various cellular telephone antennas thereon. Choate’s alleges that MLGW’s behavior constituted a taking within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment’s Just Compensation Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. Because, however, MLGW’s actions were for a private use, Choate’s argues that it need not have availed itself of state postdeprivation remedies before filing the instant lawsuit in federal court. Choate’s further [326]*326contends that where a plaintiff has been the subject of an uncompensated taking, as in the instant case, and where a plaintiff has no right to just compensation because the taking was for a private use, such behavior should be found to constitute a substantive due process violation for which a § 1983 action may be brought.

The district court rejected Choate’s substantive due process argument (and a related civil conspiracy claim, also brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983) and granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss on that point. Finding no further basis on which to exercise subject-matter jurisdiction over the remaining state-law claims, the district court dismissed the entire action. Because Choate’s failed to set forth a cognizable substantive due process violation and because Choate’s remedy, if one exists at all, is in state court, the district court properly dismissed Choate’s action. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the district court’s order.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

In 1948, a 500,000-gallon water storage tank elevated on a 140-foot tower (“Choate’s Water Tower”) was constructed on a 2.442-acre tract in western Shelby County. The Memphis Suburban Utility District of Shelby County conveyed the tract and the water storage tank to MLGW by warranty deed in 1957 for the use and benefit of MLGW. MLGW is a division of the municipality of Memphis that provides water, electricity, natural and artificial gas, and other forms of energy to Shelby County residents. In 1990, MLGW conveyed by special warranty deed (“the 1990 Deed”) the tract and water storage tank to Choate’s, but reserved for itself an easement on a 0.441-acre portion of the conveyed property containing the water storage tank. Pursuant to the 1990 Deed, MLGW retained, inter alia, the following rights:

... a perpetual easement or Right-Of-Way to construct, maintain and operate an elevated water storage tank; one, or more, Electric transmission or distribution line or lines, consisting of a variable number of wires and all necessary or desirable appurtenances (including but not limited to regulating, transmission and distribution equipment and necessary housing therefor; towers or poles made of wood, metal or other materials, telephone and telegraph wires, props, guys and anchorages, etc.); ... over, across, upon and under [the easement area]----
Within the hereinabove described easement area, the City of Memphis, acting through the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division, reserves unto itself, its successors and assigns the right to maintain absolute control of the access to and occupancy and use of said easement area. It being expressly understood that no one, including the fee simple property owner, his successors, heirs and assigns, shall be allowed access to and the occupancy and use of any portion of the hereinabove described easement area without prior written authorization for the same from the City of Memphis, acting through the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division, which authorization may be granted or denied at the sole discretion of the City of Memphis, acting through the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division.

On June 14, 1995, MLGW entered into an “Antenna Site License Agreement” (“the Agreement”) with MCTC, under which MCTC, as licensee, was permitted to install, operate, and maintain telecommunications equipment on the easement area and was allowed access to the easement area to perform such functions. Consistent with the terms of the Agreement, MCTC constructed a building to house its telecommunications equipment [327]*327and installed telecommunications antennas on Choate’s Water Tower. MCTC continues to operate and maintain telecommunications equipment on the easement area. MLGW entered into a similar licensing agreement with PowerTel in 1996, pursuant to which PowerTel subsequently constructed telecommunications equipment on Choate’s Water Tower. At issue is whether MLGW violated the 1990 Deed by entering into these licensing agreements and whether this alleged violation constituted an uncompensated taking of Choate’s property for a private use for which Choate’s may seek relief in federal court.

B. Procedural History

Choate’s initiated the instant lawsuit on July 19, 1999, when it filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. The complaint set forth a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and averred that Defendants acted under color of state law to deprive Choate’s of its property rights and liberty interests, as protected by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Specifically, Choate’s alleged that MLGW exceeded its rights under the 1990 Deed by entering into the aforementioned licensing agreements with MCTC and PowerTel; that said agreements were not authorized by the 1990 Deed, the Memphis City Charter, or the laws of the State of Tennessee; and that the telecommunications facilities built by MCTC and PowerTel substantially burdened Choate’s property. Choate’s complaint set forth (1) substantive due process violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; (2) a claim of civil conspiracy, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985; and (3) state-law claims of slander of title and trespass, and sought a declaratory judgment establishing the rights of the parties with respect to the property and a preliminary injunction to preserve the status quo. Choate’s amended its complaint on August 25, 1999, to name defendant Herman Morris, Jr., General Counsel and President of MLGW, as a defendant in his individual and official capacities; to eliminate its § 1985 civil conspiracy claim; and to set forth a civil conspiracy claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

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Bluebook (online)
16 F. App'x 323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/choates-air-conditioning-heating-inc-v-light-gas-water-division-ca6-2001.