Los Angeles Customs & Freight Broker Ass'n v. Johnson

277 F. Supp. 525, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9342
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedDecember 7, 1967
DocketNo. 67-1225
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 277 F. Supp. 525 (Los Angeles Customs & Freight Broker Ass'n v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Los Angeles Customs & Freight Broker Ass'n v. Johnson, 277 F. Supp. 525, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9342 (C.D. Cal. 1967).

Opinion

DECISION, FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW and ORDER FOR DISMISSAL AND SUMMARY JUDGMENT

HAUK, District Judge.

Defendants have filed motions to dismiss and for summary judgment in this case in which plaintiff, an organization of customs brokers in the downtown area, seeks a permanent injunction prohibiting the move and transfer of the headquarters of the United States Customs-Collection District No. 27 from its location in the area commonly designated as downtown Los Angeles to the recently completed Customs Building, located approximately twenty-five miles distant on Terminal Island in the harbor area. In addition, the brokers seek a declaration that they are entitled to have all services and facilities currently furnished by defendants retained in the downtown area; or in the alternative a declaration either that the maintenance of the current customs service shall include, at a minimum, the downtown retention of the commodity specialist teams, or that adequate custom service be maintained in an amount proportionate to the volume of business and number of entries processed through the downtown Los Angeles area compared to the whole of the business transacted with customs brokers for the Los Angeles district of the United States Bureau of Customs.

The complaint contained two causes of action, the first being the original claim for declaratory relief that, in light of alleged representations made by defendants and plaintiff’s reliance thereon, defendants are required to maintain in downtown Los Angeles all customs service currently furnished without curtailment or that the downtown customs service shall retain at least the commodity specialist teams, and the second seeking a temporary and permanent injunction restraining and enjoining defendants from removing the services furnished from the downtown Los Angeles area to the Terminal Island location. The Court issued a temporary restraining order and placed on calendar plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction which the Court denied after an extended hearing.

Plaintiff thereupon filed an amended and supplemental complaint setting forth a third cause of action asking for the further declaration that plaintiff is entitled to have all current facilities furnished by defendants retained in the downtown Los Angeles area or that adequate downtown custom service be retained in an amount proportionate to the volume of business and number of entries processed through the downtown area compared to the whole of the business transacted with customs brokers.

The defendants subsequently filed their answer and have now moved for summary judgment and dismissal.

The uncontested facts as set forth in the verified complaint, the amended and supplementary complaint, the plaintiff’s affidavits and as admitted in the defendants’ answer and set forth in the affidavits submitted by them are relatively simple.

[529]*529Jurisdiction of this Court has been invoked pursuant to Title 5, United States Code, Sections 701 to 705, inclusive.1

The members of the plaintiff assoeiation are customs brokers with their principal place of business in Los Angeles, California. In general, the function and business of a customs broker is to facilitate the clearance of imports through the United States Bureau of Customs on behalf of importers by whom they are employed. The customs brokers have been operating in the downtown Los Angeles area since the Port of Los Angeles was opened in 1900, and all of the business of plaintiff’s members is currently conducted in downtown Los Angeles at the “Customs House”, located at 354 South Spring Street,

jn 1961 the Bureau of Customs made the decision to build a new “Customs House” at Terminal Island, Los Angeles, California. In the prospectus for the new customs building submitted by the [530]*530Administrator of the General Services Administration on May 23, 1962, it was set forth that the interest of the government would be more effectively served by the consolidation of all of the activities of the Bureau of Customs in Los Angeles at a single location in the harbor area, except for the mail examination function and a small administrative group. This prospectus was the subject of a hearing before the Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds, Committee on Public Works, of the United States Senate, on June 27, 1962, and was approved by both the House and the Senate Committees on Public Works by resolution dated July 20, 1962.

Subsequently, plaintiff’s members actively promoted and sponsored the proposed new customs house on Terminal Island, including the donative grant to the Federal Government by the City of Los Angeles of approximately nine acres of city-owned land on the Island for the sum of $2.00 as the site of the new customs house. This grant was actually made on October 2, 1963, through the technique of a friendly condemnation action filed in the United States District Court, Central District of California, case no. 63-1137-CC, in which the Federal Government acquired title by stipulated judgment.

Construction of the new customs building was undertaken and completed, and the defendants made plans to move all facilities and services currently conducted in the Customs House in the downtown Los Angeles area to Terminal Island on August 26, 1967. In its original complaint, plaintiff sought to enjoin defendants from implementing the move and transfer. The Court thereupon issued a temporary restraining order and placed the matter on calendar for a hearing on plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction. After an extended hearing, the Court denied the plaintiff’s application for a preliminary injunction.

Now, in order to meet the planned moving date without delay, defendants Lester D. Johnson, Commissioner of Customs; William R. Knoke, District Director of Customs for the District of Los Angeles; and General Services Administration, Region 9, move the Court, pursuant to Rule 12(b) (1) and Rule 12(b) (6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to dismiss the action on the ground that the Court is without jurisdiction of the subject matter of the action, and on the ground that the original complaint for declaratory judgment and injunction and the amended and supplementary complaint for additional declaratory relief fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

The Court has examined the record before this Court, which includes, among other things, the complaint for declaratory judgment and injunction, the amended and supplementary complaint for additional declaratory relief, and affidavits submitted by defendants. The matter has been extensively argued by counsel, in writing and orally. Plaintiff has presented the same factual claims several times in the record and in its oral argument. Additionally, plaintiff has been given repeated opportunity to state and to expand upon its factual claims both in writing and in oral presentation. The Court has reviewed all of this material and concludes that even if every alleged fact that is favorable to plaintiff were true, such facts would not establish any cause of action for the plaintiff. On the contrary, taking all the facts alleged in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and indulging every inference in support of plaintiff’s allegations, it is clear that the defendants are entitled to summary judgment. There is no genuine issue as to any material fact and there is nothing to litigate.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
277 F. Supp. 525, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/los-angeles-customs-freight-broker-assn-v-johnson-cacd-1967.