Mascony Transport & Ferry Service, Inc. v. Mitchell

94 Misc. 2d 618, 405 N.Y.S.2d 380, 1978 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2286
CourtNew York County Courts
DecidedMay 3, 1978
StatusPublished

This text of 94 Misc. 2d 618 (Mascony Transport & Ferry Service, Inc. v. Mitchell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York County Courts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mascony Transport & Ferry Service, Inc. v. Mitchell, 94 Misc. 2d 618, 405 N.Y.S.2d 380, 1978 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2286 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1978).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Harry E. Seidell, J.

On December 30, 1977 a petition for an order pursuant to article 8 of the Navigation Law of the State of New York and article 6 of the Transportation Corporations Law of the State of New York requesting a license to operate a ferry service between Greenport, Suffolk County, New York and New London, Connecticut be granted to Mascony Transport and Ferry Service, Inc. (hereinafter called Mascony). The petition was served upon Harry J. Mitchell and Pauline Mitchell (hereinafter called Mitchell) and East End Supply Company, Inc. (hereinafter called East End) as persons entitled to notice of petition as they are owners of land through which that part of the highway adjoining the proposed ferry site runs.

The petition was originally noticed to be heard on January 4, 1978 and adjourned to February 1, 1978 for a conference which was attended by counsel for the petitioner and the respondent Mitchell and East End and counsel for Shelter Island & Greenport Ferry Company, Inc. (hereinafter called Shelter Island), the Village of Greenport, Inc. (hereinafter called Greenport), Commissioner of Transportation of the State of New York (hereinafter called D.O.T.), Cross-Sound Ferry Services, Inc. (hereinafter called Cross-Sound) and Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, Inc. (hereinafter called Bridgeport) proposed intervenors. As a result of that conference, it was agreed that the court would, prior to taking any action with respect to the petition, decide first the question of jurisdiction and if jurisdiction was found in any [621]*621degree, then decide the questions of intervention. All parties agreed to serve and file pleadings, proposed pleadings, answers, replies and memoranda of law. The matter was set down for March 1, 1978 anc^ final papers were filed with the court on or about March 20, 1978.

Mascony filed a petition for an Interstate Commerce Commission certificate of public convenience and necessity on or about May 29, 1973. Its application was, after hearing, initially denied by the Administrative Law Judge of the I.C.C. Thereafter, and on or about October 19, 1975 at Mascony’s request, the proceedings were reopened and additional materials received by the Interstate Commerce Commission (hereinafter called I.C.C.). These materials consisted of: (1) a report by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation concerning the improvement of a ferry slip in Greenport Harbor; (2) a permit to improve the slip; (3) a letter dated August 15, 1974 from the City Manager of New London indicating that he expected city counsel approval for the city to enter into a contract for the use of the municipal pier as a docking facility; and (4) a lease between the applicant (Mascony) and the city.

At the same time the I.C.C. also ordered an evaluation be made of the effect of the proposed operation upon the environment. Subsequently, the I.C.C. limited the acceptance of items (1) through (4) above to consideration only as they apply to the environmental impact statement. Thereafter, and by a two to one decision, the Interstate Commerce Commission granted to the petitioner Mascony a certificate of public convenience and necessity dated November 3, 1977.

Bridgeport, Greenport, D.O.T. and Cross-Sound, as successor and interest to New London Freight Lines, Inc. (it appears from the I.C.C. decision that Cross-Sound did not participate in the fact finding hearings and that at one point, prior to Cross-Sound’s participation, the I.C.C. considered the application unopposed) participated in these proceedings. The decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals and the appeal was denied.

Thereafter, on or about December 30, 1977, Mascony commenced this proceeding.

The proposed intervenor, Commissioner of Transportation of the State of New York, does not contest the statutory authority of the court to issue the license.

[622]*622The respondents Harry J. Mitchell and Pauline Mitchell and the proposed intervenors Cross-Sound and Bridgeport contend that the court does not have jurisdiction of the subject matter of the petition in that the Federal Government by part 3 of the Interstate Commerce Act has pre-empted the field and that the State of New York and this court have no authority to grant or withhold a license applied for arguing that the requirement to obtain a State license imposes a burden on interstate commerce and further that no State can require a certificate of necessity to engage in interstate commerce and, therefore, the petition must be dismissed.

The proposed intervenors, Greenport and East End, make similar contentions. Basically, these intervenors claim that the case law grants some limited jurisdiction with respect to regulating interstate ferries and to grant or withhold the franchising or licensing of such services, but since the enactment of part 3 of the Interstate Commerce Act (US Code, tit 49, § 901 et seq.) in 1940, the Federal Government has preempted the field in this respect in that Congress has exercised jurisdiction over "water carriers” and that the petitioner Mascony is a "common carrier by water” and, therefore, exclusively under the jurisdiction of the I.C.C. The above respondents and proposed intervenors in taking this position assert that the court cannot render any decision with respect to the fitness of the petitioner or the necessity for its service.

It should be noted parenthetically that the proposed intervenors Cross-Sound and Bridgeport operate a service similar to the one herein proposed by the petitioner and do not have licenses issued by the State of New York, nor have they applied for any. The petitioner itself takes the position that the court may grant the license or withhold the license from petitioner, but that in any event, the court’s action would be mere surplusage to the action taken by the I.C.C. and any authority that might be conferred upon the petitioner by the issuance of the license has already been conferred on the petitioner and, further, that the court is bound by the findings of fitness and necessity made by the I.C.C., that it must grant or deny the application on the papers submitted without further inquiry. All other respondents make similar contentions, that is: (1) the court does not have jurisdiction of the subject matter; (2) that the Federal Government by the enactment of part 3 of the Interstate Commerce Act (1940) has pre[623]*623empted the field; (3) that the issuance or denial of the license by this court is a burden upon interstate commerce.

It is undisputed that a certificate of convenience and necessity was granted to the petitioner herein on October 7, 1977 and that thereafter, and on December 30, 1977, the petitioner filed a petition with the court seeking a State license. It is also undisputed that all of the factual hearings were concluded in 1973 and were based upon the needs of the public that existed at that time and that most, if not all of the facts in support of public need, were based on the circumstances that existed and the transportation offered in 1972 and 1973.

The petitioner could have applied for this license prior to the I.C.C. application or simultaneously therewith or upon the conclusion of the I.C.C. proceedings. Petitioner elected to file upon the conclusions of the I.C.C. proceedings.

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Related

Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania
114 U.S. 196 (Supreme Court, 1885)
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274 U.S. 676 (Supreme Court, 1927)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
94 Misc. 2d 618, 405 N.Y.S.2d 380, 1978 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mascony-transport-ferry-service-inc-v-mitchell-nycountyct-1978.