Hotel Coamo Springs, Inc. v. Hernandez Colon

426 F. Supp. 664
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 9, 1976
DocketCiv. 74-598
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 426 F. Supp. 664 (Hotel Coamo Springs, Inc. v. Hernandez Colon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hotel Coamo Springs, Inc. v. Hernandez Colon, 426 F. Supp. 664 (prd 1976).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

TOLEDO, Chief Judge.

On May 22, 1974, the plaintiff Hotel Coámo Springs, Inc., filed the present action against the Honorable Rafael Hernán *667 dez Colón, Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and various other public officers of the Commonwealth. 1 The complaint states that it is filed pursuant to .Title 42, United States Code, Section 1983 and Title 28, United States Code, Section 2201, and that it requests damages and declaratory relief to redress the deprivation under color of state law of the rights secured plaintiff under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Federal Constitution. The complaint specifically alleges that the defendants have deprived the plaintiff of due process and the equal protection of the laws by illegally freezing plaintiff’s project to develop a certain parcel of land into a resort development and by unconstitutionally expropriating a certain portion of such land making it useless for its originally intended purpose without just compensation.

The defendants answered the complaint by filing a motion to dismiss on July 8, 1974, alleging that this Court should stay its hand under the abstention doctrine and that the complaint failed to “state facts upon which an action in equity can be entertained”.

On September 18, 1974, this Court, on defendants’ motion, declared that since the statute mandating the freezing and expropriation of plaintiff’s property was not of statewide applicability, the unconstitutionality of such statute could be decided by a single judge of this Court. Board of Regents of the University of Texas v. New Left Education Project, 404 U.S. 541, 92 S.Ct. 652, 30 L.Ed.2d 697 (1972).

On November 19, 1974, the parties entered into a stipulation of facts upon which there is no controversy between the parties, and on July 22, 1975, the parties submitted their documentary evidence to the Court. Both parties have submitted memoranda of law on all the issues involved in the case and have submitted the case for a decision on the jurisdictional aspects and the merits. Plaintiff has requested a subsequent evidentiary hearing on the issue of damages.

We will first dispose of defendants’ contention that the doctrine of abstention precludes a decision by this Court on the constitutionality of the challenged statute of the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in this case.

ABSTENTION

The statute in question is a Joint Resolution of both Chambers of the Legislature of Puerto Rico approved on May 31, 1973, for the state purpose of declaring “a public utility” twenty-five (25) “cuerdas” of land in which exist the buildings and structures and the thermal waters known as Coamo Springs (Los Baños de Coamo); to declare that it is the public policy the establishment of a recreational and vacationing center in Coamo Springs; to establish the procedures necessary for the acquisition and possession or domain of said buildings and lands; and for the preparation of a plan for the use according to the purposes of this resolution.

The Coamo Springs 2 and the 25 cuerdas of land on which they are located are then declared by the resolution to be of public utility. Section 2 of the Resolution orders the Secretary of the Treasury in consultation with the Director of Tourism and the Parks Administrator to select the lands and appraise them together with the buildings located thereon “for the purpose of acquiring said buildings and lands through eminent domain or for the purpose of acquiring their possession by lease for a minimum term of twenty-five (25) years”.

The resolution is clear on at least two important points: the springs and the land *668 are declared of public utility, and the Secretary of the Treasury is ordered to appraise the mentioned land and buildings for purposes of expropriating them. No authorization is contained in such resolution for any further expropriation or compensation than that of the 25 cuerdas of land and the buildings located on it and their value. The declaration of public utility is definite and does not provide for compensation of any vested rights.

In Arias v. Examining Board of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technicians, 353 F.Supp. 857 (D.C.P.R.1972), a three judge court refused to apply the abstention doctrine to a situation where the Puerto Rican statute in question was clear and could not be interpreted constitutionally. The Court (Cancio, J.) states at 859:

“[2-4] Another preliminary issue raised by the defendants is the applicability of the doctrine of abstention in this case. Since its expression in the case of Railroad Commission v. Pullman Company, 312 U.S. 496, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971 (1941), it has been well settled that the doctrine is applicable only when the state court construction of the state law in question may obviate the need for a decision on tthe federal constitutional issues. Thus, some degree of uncertainty and the possibility of variance in the interpretation of the statute must be present to justify the abstention of a federal court. The doctrine is not properly invoked when the purpose is to have the local courts test the validity of the statute in the light of the federal constitutional claims. Its purpose is to allow the state or Commonwealth courts to interpret the statute in the light of the federal claim, so that a decision on federal constitutional grounds might be avoided.” (Emphasis added).

This case was followed in Pearson Yacht Leasing Co. v. Massa, 363 F.Supp. 1337, 1339 (D.C.P.R.1973), in a three judge Per Curiam opinion. 3

The present statute is clear on its face. The land and buildings are declared to be of public utility and the appropriate government official is authorized and ordered to expropriate, appraising only the land and buildings which constitute the 25 cuerdas on which the springs are located. No compensation or expropriation is mandated with respect to' the rest of the plaintiff’s land and the project and actual construction already accomplished on them. We do not see how the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico could reasonably interpret this statute to mean anything else. It is up to this Court to decide whether or not the clear precepts of this statute violate Federal constitutional guarantees. It is incumbent upon us therefore to determine, on the merits, whether or not Joint Resolution 48 is either unconstitutional on its face or as applied to the plaintiff.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The Court, considering the Stipulation of Facts filed on November 19, 1974, by all parties submitting to the Court all the facts upon which there is no dispute, the documentary evidence submitted by the parties on July 22, 1975, and the pleadings of the parties, enters the following findings of fact in this case:

1. On April 2, 1958, Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
426 F. Supp. 664, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hotel-coamo-springs-inc-v-hernandez-colon-prd-1976.