Maritrans Inc. v. United States

51 Fed. Cl. 277, 2002 A.M.C. 419, 53 ERC (BNA) 1989, 2001 U.S. Claims LEXIS 263, 2001 WL 1649803
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedDecember 21, 2001
DocketNo. 96-483 C
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 51 Fed. Cl. 277 (Maritrans Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maritrans Inc. v. United States, 51 Fed. Cl. 277, 2002 A.M.C. 419, 53 ERC (BNA) 1989, 2001 U.S. Claims LEXIS 263, 2001 WL 1649803 (uscfc 2001).

Opinion

OPINION and ORDER

HODGES, Judge.

This is a claim for a taking under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs allege that eight of their ocean-going tank barges were taken by the double-hull requirement of section 4115 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90). Pub.L. No. 101-380,104 Stat. 484 (codified as amended at 46 U.S.C. § 3703a(a)-(c) (2001)). They argue that a regulatory taking occurred when OPA 90 was enacted, and that a categorical taking occurs from the retirement date of each vessel approximately 15 years later.

I. BACKGROUND

Maritrans purchased Sonat Marine’s tank barge fleet for approximately $240 million in 1987. The capital for the purchase was raised by debt financing in the form of a fleet mortgage and the sale of limited partnership units. Maritrans allocated the following purchase prices to the eight barges in the suit:

Ocean 90 (1967) $3,200,000
Ocean 96 (1969) $2,200,000
Ocean 115 (1968) $3,000,000
Ocean 135 (1969) $2,200,000
Ocean 155 (1974) $4,200,000
Ocean 244 (1971) $8,000,000
Ocean 255 (1971) $7,500,000
Maritrans 192 (1979) $8,000,000

Since purchasing the fleet in 1987, Mari-trans has operated its tank vessels under the authority of 46 U.S.C. § 883 (2001), the Jones Act. The Jones Act requires that vessels engaged in point-to-point shipping within the United States be built in the United States and be owned and operated by citizens of the United States. Maritrans provides marine transportation, storage, and distribution coordination services primarily to integrated oil companies, independent oil companies, and oil distributors on the Gulf and East Coasts.

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 requires that all single-hulled tank vessels be retrofitted with double hulls to operate in Jones Act trade or be phased out of service according to a retirement schedule that began in January 1995. The eight vessels in this lawsuit have retirement dates ranging from 2002 to 2005.

Maritrans used each of the barges in this lawsuit after the passage of OPA 90. It retrofitted Maritrans 192 in 1999, and sold five vessels in 2000. Ocean 255 became a casualty loss as a result of a collision in 1996. Maritrans is retrofitting the eighth vessel, Ocean 244. Maritrans argues that its vessels were effectively taken by the enactment of OPA 90 because as of the retirement date, single-hull tank vessels in the Maritrans fleet will have no value.

We concluded that plaintiffs have a Fifth Amendment property interest in their vessels, Maritrans Inc. v. United States, 40 Fed.Cl. 790 (1998), and that they had reasonable investment-backed expectations when they acquired the vessels at issue. Maritrans Inc. v. United States, 43 Fed.Cl. 86 (1999); See Penn Cent. Transp. Co. v. City of New York, 438 U.S. 104, 98 S.Ct. 2646, 57 L.Ed.2d 631 (1978).

We dismissed this case as premature, however, because plaintiffs stated that retrofitting was not economically feasible, and that no barges had been scrapped or sold in reliance on the approaching effective date of OPA 90. Plaintiffs moved to reconsider, advising the court that 10 barges in fact had been sold, retrofitted, or scrapped, and were ripe for a takings analysis. We reopened the case to address the economic impact of OPA 90 on eight barges.

Plaintiffs assert that a regulatory taking of their single-hull tank vessels occurred during the period between passage of OPA 90 and the retirement dates set forth for each vessel in that law. “It is for this time period that the three-pronged regulatory taking analysis of Penn Central is to be applied,” according to plaintiffs. Apparently, they also are arguing that a categorical taking will occur on and after OPA 90’s statutory retirement dates for each of their single-hull tank barges. Those dates have not yet arrived for any vessels in Maritrans’ fleet.

[280]*280Plaintiffs argue in their post-trial brief that OPA 90’s double-hull requirement “effects a taking of plaintiffs’ single-hull tank barges after their respective OPA 90 retirement dates because the statute denies plaintiffs all economically viable use of their barges after these dates.” However, the law of this case is that barges not sold, scrapped, or retrofitted in reliance on the regulation are not ripe for a takings analysis.

Plaintiffs seem to be seeking compensation for a categorical taking of either (1) barges that are not in this ease; or (2) barges for which they also are seeking a regulatory taking. We understand their argument to be that the eight barges disposed of were taken according to the Penn Central analysis. Neither theory supports a taking, however.

II. DISCUSSION

The Takings Clause does not prohibit the taking of property but requires the Government to compensate for interference with property. First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los Angeles, 482 U.S. 304, 314-15, 107 S.Ct. 2378, 96 L.Ed.2d 250 (1987). A taking claim requires that the plaintiff establish that it was the owner of property and that such property was taken by the United States for a public use. Shanghai Power Co. v. United States, 4 Cl.Ct. 237, 239-40 (1983), aff'd 765 F.2d 159 (Fed.Cir.), cert. denied 474 U.S. 909, 106 S.Ct. 279, 88 L.Ed.2d 243 (1985). Plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment property interest in their vessels was determined in a prior opinion. Maritrans, 40 Fed.Cl. 790 (1998).

A. Categorical Taking

Plaintiffs’ categorical analysis evidently is based on the possibility that their vessels will become worthless on the retirement dates mandated by OPA 90. Those vessels are not in this lawsuit. In any event, Rith Energy disposes of the categorical argument.

Rith argues that the permit revocation deprived it of all of its remaining property, i.e., 100% of the coal that was left in the ground. We reject that argument____[I]t is artificial to divide the interests in the coal lease in the way that Rith proposes and to disregard the coal that had already been mined under the permit ... [before it was revoked]. The course of regulatory action viewed as a whole, did not deprive Rith of all the economic value in its coal leases and thus did not constitute a categorical taking of Rith’s property.... Although the regulatory action in this case caused a substantial diminution in the value of Rith’s coal leases, it did not deprive Rith of its opportunity to make a profit on the leases; it simply reduced the margin of profit that Rith had hoped to achieve.

Rith Energy v. United States, 270 F.3d 1347 (Fed.Cir.2001).

Plaintiffs bought their ships in 1987. OPA 90 passed in 1990. It becomes effective in 2005. By analogy to Rith,

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51 Fed. Cl. 277, 2002 A.M.C. 419, 53 ERC (BNA) 1989, 2001 U.S. Claims LEXIS 263, 2001 WL 1649803, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maritrans-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2001.