Heart 6 Ranch, LLC v. Bernhardt

365 F. Supp. 3d 105
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedFebruary 5, 2019
DocketCivil Action No. 17-2711 (CKK)
StatusPublished

This text of 365 F. Supp. 3d 105 (Heart 6 Ranch, LLC v. Bernhardt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Heart 6 Ranch, LLC v. Bernhardt, 365 F. Supp. 3d 105 (D.C. Cir. 2019).

Opinion

COLLEEN KOLLAR-KOTELLY, United States District Judge

This is an Administrative Procedure Act ("APA") case challenging the manner by which the National Park Service ("NPS") has reallocated the rights to provide oversnow vehicle shuttle service transportation events in Yellowstone National Park. Before the Court is Plaintiff's [23] Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record and Defendants' [25] Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment on the Administrative Record. Upon consideration of the pleadings,2 the relevant legal authorities, and the record as it currently stands, the Court DENIES Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment and GRANTS Defendants' Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. The Court concludes that NPS did not violate the APA by reallocating the shuttle service transportation events in a closed process among existing concessioners. The reallocation of these transportation events did not materially alter the existing concessioner's contract; accordingly, a public solicitation process was unnecessary. And, because it was permissible for NPS to exclude Plaintiff and restrict the solicitation process to existing concessioners, Plaintiff does not have standing to challenge the specific method by which NPS reallocated these transportation events.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2013, NPS issued a Prospectus soliciting offers for concessioners to provide *108guided interpretive oversnow vehicle tours in Yellowstone National Park. AR1. Twenty-three concession contracts were awarded pursuant to the Prospectus, including ten contracts for the South entrance of Yellowstone. AR10. Each contract allotted to the concessioner one or more daily oversnow vehicle "transportation event." Id.

Plaintiff had submitted proposals to obtain concession contracts for the South entrance as Plaintiff had previously provided oversnow vehicle services in Yellowstone. However, Plaintiff was not granted a contract. Instead, with respect to the South entrance contracts, NPS awarded one contract to DTRS Jackson Hole, LLC dba Four Seasons Jackson Hole, seven contracts to Forever Resorts, LLC dba Scenic Safaris, and two contracts to Teton Science Schools. AR170.

The contract awarded to Four seasons included two daily transportation events, including one daily snowmobile event. AR356. In October 2014, Four Seasons requested that its contract be terminated, so NPS terminated the contract. AR401. Various existing concessioners expressed interest in obtaining the unused transportation events. AR402-08, AR444-45. Nevertheless, the two transportation events remained unused for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 winter seasons. AR421, AR429.

After hearing that NPS was assessing interest in the two unused transportation events, Plaintiff contacted NPS regarding the transportation events in July 2016. AR475. Plaintiff was told that no decision had been made and that "[w]e will add you to the list to be notified of any future opportunities." AR476.

In October 2016, NPS notified existing concessioners already holding contracts that it had decided to reassign the two unused transportation events "on an experimental basis for one season" and asked interested concessioners to participate in a lottery to reallocate the transportation events. AR478-79. NPS advised concessioners that "[t]he events can be used for one-way shuttle service to and from Old Faithful, for guided interpretive tours that included one-way service to and from Old Faithful, or a combination of the two." AR478. NPS also announced that one of the events would be used for the West entrance rather than the South entrance. AR479. As Plaintiff was not a current concessioner, Plaintiff did not receive a notification of NPS's decision to reallocate the unused transportation events.

In response, various concessioners requested that they be considered in awarding the unused transportation events. AR482, AR519, AR525. The number of lottery entries was determined by the number of contracts each concessioner already held. AR479. In November 2016, Scenic Safaris was selected through the lottery process to receive the unused transportation event for the South entrance. AR532. The lottery process was apparently conducted by pulling numbers out of a hat. AR530, AR532.

In December 2016, NPS issued an addendum to Scenic Safari's operating plan to add one transportation event for the 2016-2017 winter season. AR577-79. But, Scenic Safari was notified that if NPS continued the experimental service, Scenic Safari would continue operating the transportation event. AR576. The addendum stated that the transportation event was to be used primarily for one-way shuttle services between the South entrance and Old Faithful. AR578.

In July 2017 and September 2017, Plaintiff contacted NPS regarding the unused transportation events from the terminated Four Seasons contract. And in October 2017, NPS contacted Plaintiff declining to award Plaintiff a concession contract. Compl., ECF No. 1, Dec. of Frank Hubert Chapman II, ¶ 12.

*109In December 2017, Plaintiff filed this lawsuit challenging the method by which NPS reallocated the unused transportation events from the terminated Four Seasons contract. See generally Compl., ECF No. 1. Plaintiff moved for a Temporary Restraining Order, but the Court declined to grant one. See generally Jan. 4, 2018 Order, ECF No. 9. The parties subsequently moved for summary judgment.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Under Rule 56(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, "[t]he court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). However, "when a party seeks review of agency action under the APA [before a district court], the district judge sits as an appellate tribunal. The 'entire case' on review is a question of law." Am. Bioscience, Inc. v. Thompson , 269 F.3d 1077, 1083 (D.C. Cir. 2001). Accordingly, "the standard set forth in Rule 56 [ ] does not apply because of the limited role of a court in reviewing the administrative record.... Summary judgment is [ ] the mechanism for deciding whether as a matter of law the agency action is supported by the administrative record and is otherwise consistent with the APA standard of review." Southeast Conference v. Vilsack , 684 F.Supp.2d 135, 142 (D.D.C. 2010).

The APA "sets forth the full extent of judicial authority to review executive agency action for procedural correctness." Fed. Commc'n Comm'n v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. , 556 U.S. 502

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Bluebook (online)
365 F. Supp. 3d 105, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heart-6-ranch-llc-v-bernhardt-cadc-2019.