Kreitzer v. Puerto Rico Cars, Inc.

417 F. Supp. 498, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12087
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedJune 3, 1975
DocketCiv. 786-73
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 417 F. Supp. 498 (Kreitzer v. Puerto Rico Cars, Inc.) 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
Kreitzer v. Puerto Rico Cars, Inc., 417 F. Supp. 498, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12087 (prd 1975).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

TOLEDO, Chief Judge.

This complaint was filed on August 30, 1973. In it plaintiff alleges that on May 23, 1973 while she was in her own vehicle, riding as a passenger, she was injured when said car was struck by a 1973 Ford LTD operated by Juan J. Garcia, who had leased said vehicle from the defendants Puerto Rico Cars, Inc. and Hertz Rent-A-Car, which were the owners thereof. As a result of the foregoing, the plaintiff became sick, sore, lame and disabled, suffering injuries, was compelled to undergo hospital and medical services, and will be compelled to undergo future medical, hospital and surgical treatment.

Plaintiff also sued Insurance Company of North America which was the insuror of Hertz Rent-A-Car, the parent corporation, and all the local subsidiaries at the moment the accident occurred.

Jurisdiction was invoked under the diversity provision, Title 28, United States Code; Section 1332.

On October 15, 1973, defendant'filed a motion requesting a non-resident bond since the plaintiff was a resident of the State of Maryland. Plaintiff opposed said motion on October 18, 1973, alleging that the requirement that non-residents post a bond for costs denies the non-residents the privileges and immunities of citizenship and violates their right to the equal protections of the laws, affecting also their right to travel.

As a result thereof plaintiff, in the case at bar, is attacking the constitutionality of this Court’s local rule requiring non-residents to post a bond. 1

Rule 83 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure reads as follows:

“Each district court by action of a majority of the judges thereof may, from time to time, make and amend rules governing its practice not inconsistent with these rules. Copies of rules and amendments so made by any district court shall, upon their promulgation, be furnished to the Supreme Court of the United States. In all cases not provided for by rule, the district courts may regulate their practice *502 in any manner not inconsistent with the rules.”

Where there is no controlling Federal statute, a district court may, by virtue of Rule 83, deal with the matter by local rule; 2 which may refer to and adopt state practice or the court may regulate the matter in any just manner which is not inconsistent with the Federal rule. See Brewster v. North American Van Lines, Inc., 461 F.2d 649 (7 Cir. 1972); Russell v. Cunningham, 233 F.2d 806 (9 Cir. 1956); Levine v. Bradlee, 248 F.Supp. 395 (E.D.Pa.1965); McClure v. Borne Chemical, 292 F.2d 824 (3 Cir. 1961).

The general solution to the problem as to whether a party (usually a non-resident plaintiff) should be required to give security for costs can be found in Rule 83. See also Azarow v. Sherneth Corporation, 8 F.R.D. 247 (S.D.N.Y.1948); Cary v. Hardy, 1 F.R.D. 355 (E.D.Tenn.1940).

Various grounds for requiring security for costs will be found in the statutes. For example, security may be required where the plaintiff does not own, within the state, property out of which costs could be made by execution. The manifest purposes of a rule requiring non-residents to furnish security for costs is to insure to the defendant and to the officials of the court the payment of costs which may be awarded against a plaintiff against whom the court has no means of enforcing a collection, Outlaw v. Pearce, 176 Va. 458, 11 S.E.2d 600, to have within reach of process of the court some financially responsible person who is bound therefor, Myrus v. Commonwealth Fuel Co., 120 Misc. 201, 198 N.Y.S. 1. A further object is to protect a party from being harassed with groundless suits. Moore v. Banner, 39 N.C. 293; Leslie One-Stop In Pennsylvania, Inc. v. Audiofidelity, Inc., 33 F.R.D. 16 (S.D.N.Y.1963); A and R Theatre Corp. v. Azteca Films, Inc., 32 F.R.D. 47 (S.D.N.Y.1962).

I. EQUAL PROTECTION AND THE RIGHT TO TRAVEL

Laws are usually based on classifications of persons or property. Such classifications are not per se violative of equal protection. The only constitutional requirement is that any disparity in treatment caused by such classification be reasonable. Hitchcock v. Collenberg (D.C.Md.1956), 140 F.Supp. 894, affirmed 353 U.S. 919, 77 S.Ct. 679, 1 L.Ed.2d 718; Feinerman v. Jones (D.C.Pa.1973), 356 F.Supp. 252; Faruki v. Rogers (D.C.D.C.1972), 349 F.Supp. 723; Green v. Waterford Board of Education (D.C.Conn.1972), 349 F.Supp. 687; Amezquita v. Hernandez-Colon, 378 F.Supp. 737 (D.C.P.R.1974).

The standards traditionally utilized by the United States Supreme Court in determining the reasonableness of a statutory classification are as follows;

(a) Whether the classification itself is a rational one;

(b) Whether the classification bears a reasonable relationship to a proper legislative purpose;

(c) Whether all persons within the classes established are treated equally.

In recent years, the Supreme Court has employed a stricter test where the classification is based on “suspect criteria” or where the classification restricts some fundamental right. There those are involved, the classification must not only meet the standards of the traditional test of the reasonableness as pointed above, but there must be a compelling state interest served by the classification. Shapiro v. Thompson, *503 394 U.S. 618, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969).

In Re Application of Fre Le Pole Griffiths, 413 U.S. 717, 93 S.Ct. 2851, 37 L.Ed.2d 910 (1973), the Court stated the following:

“The Court has consistently emphasized that a State which adopts a suspect classification ‘bears a heavy burden of justification.’ McLaughlin v. Florida, 379 U.S. 184, [196, 85 S.Ct. 283, 290, 13 L.Ed.2d 222] (1964), a burden which, though variously formulated, requires the State to meet certain standards of proof. In order to justify the use of a suspect classification a State must show that its purpose or interest is both constitutionally permissible and substantial, and that its use of the classification is ‘necessary . . . to the accomplishment’ of its purpose or the safeguarding of its interest.”

In any event the first criterion which must be established to support any statutory classification is that it be rational —based on factors which justify disparate treatment.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
417 F. Supp. 498, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12087, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kreitzer-v-puerto-rico-cars-inc-prd-1975.