Mitskovski v. Buffalo & Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority

415 F. App'x 264
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 31, 2011
DocketNo. 10-0589-cv
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 415 F. App'x 264 (Mitskovski v. Buffalo & Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mitskovski v. Buffalo & Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, 415 F. App'x 264 (11th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

[266]*266SUMMARY ORDER

Plaintiffs-Appellants Mark B. Mitskov-ski and Elizabeth A. Martina appeal from a Decision and Order of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Schroeder, M.J.) granting summary judgment to Defendant-Appellee Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority (“Bridge Authority”) and denying Appellants’ cross-motion for summary judgment.1 Appellants sought a declaration: 1) that the Bridge Authority is a state agency and public body subject to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”), N.Y. Envtl. Conserv. Law § 8-0101 et seq., the New York State Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”), N.Y. Pub. Off. Law § 84 et seq., and the New York State Open Meetings Law, N.Y. Pub. Off. Law § 100 et seq.; 2) that it violated SEQRA by segmenting its Border Infrastructure Improvement Project (“BIIP”) from its Capacity Expansion Project (“CEP”), and by failing to review adequately the environmental impact of the BIIP; and 8) that it violated a court order issued in a prior state court decision. See City of Buffalo v. N.Y. State Dep’t of Envtl. Conserv. & Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy v. Buffalo & Fort Erie Pub. Bridge Auth., 184 Misc.2d 243, 255-56, 707 N.Y.S.2d 606 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.2000).

Both parties moved for summary judgment. On January 22, 2010, the district court granted the Bridge Authority’s motion for summary judgment and denied the Appellants’ cross-motion, concluding that the abovementioned statutes were inapplicable to the internal operations of the Bridge Authority, and that the Bridge Authority did not violate the state court order. Appellants timely filed their notice of appeal on February 18, 2010. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history.

Before adjudicating the merits of an appeal, we must determine whether we have jurisdiction. See Muhammad v. City of N.Y. Dep’t of Corr., 126 F.3d 119, 122 (2d Cir.1997). We review issues of justiciability, including mootness, de novo. See Adams v. Zarnel, 619 F.3d 156, 161 (2d Cir.2010). We also review de novo a district court’s order granting summary judgment. Molinari v. Bloomberg, 564 F.3d 587, 595 (2d Cir.2009). In reviewing such an order, the appellate court must “constru[e] the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and draw[ ] all reasonable inferences in its favor.” Palmieri v. Allstate Ins. Co., 445 F.3d 179, 187 (2d Cir.2006). Review is limited to determining whether the district court properly concluded that as to each claim there was no genuine issue of material fact, and whether the substantive law was correctly applied for identification of material facts. H.L. Hayden Co. v. Siemens Medical Sys., 879 F.2d 1005, 1011-12 (2d Cir.1989).

Appellants here seek a declaratory judgment that the Bridge Authority is subject to SEQRA, FOIL, and the Open Meetings Law, and that it violated the court’s order issued in City of Buffalo. The Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201(a), permits “any court of the United States” to declare rights and other relations in an “actual controversy.” Id. For the purposes of a declaratory action, an “actual controversy” only exists where “there is a substantial controversy, between parties having adverse legal interests, of sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant the issuance of a declaratory judgment.” Maryland Cas. Co. v. Pac. Coal & Oil Co., 312 U.S. 270, 273, 61 S.Ct. 510, 85 L.Ed. 826 [267]*267(1941). Importantly, “a mere demand for declaratory relief does not by itself establish a case or controversy necessary to confer subject matter jurisdiction.” S. Jackson & Son, Inc. v. Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exch. Inc., 24 F.3d 427, 431 (2d Cir.1994). Where “ ‘the remedy sought is a mere declaration of law without implications for practical enforcement upon the parties, the case is properly dismissed.’ ” Id. (quoting Browning Debenture Holders’ Comm. v. DASA Corp., 524 F.2d 811, 817 (2d Cir.1975)).

Under the doctrine of mootness, a court no longer has subject matter jurisdiction when “the parties lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome” of the case. Fox v. Bd. of Trustees of State Univ. of N. Y., 42 F.3d 135, 140 (2d Cir.1994) (quoting County of L.A. v. Davis, 440 U.S. 625, 631, 99 S.Ct. 1379, 59 L.Ed.2d 642 (1979)) (internal quotation marks omitted). “This occurs “when interim relief or events have eradicated the effects of the defendant’s act or omission, and there is no reasonable expectation that the alleged violation will recur.’” Zarnel, 619 F.3d at 162 (quoting Irish Lesbian & Gay Org. v. Giuliani, 143 F.3d 638, 647 (2d Cir.1998)).

A. Applicability of New York Laws

1. Declaration that the Bridge Authority Violated SEQRA

Appellants seek a declaration that the Bridge Authority is subject to SEQRA, and that it violated SEQRA with respect to the BIIP. In reviewing a SEQRA determination, a court “is solely concerned with the procedural and substantive mandates of SEQRA, not with the ultimate environmental consequences of the proposed action.” Har Enters. v. Town of Brookhaven, 74 N.Y.2d 524, 530, 549 N.Y.S.2d 638, 548 N.E.2d 1289 (N.Y.1989) (emphasis added). Consequently, a SEQRA challenge is often moot where the project at issue has already been completed. See, e.g., Many v. Vill. of Sharon Springs Bd. of Trustees, 234 A.D.2d 643, 644, 650 N.Y.S.2d 486 (N.Y.App.Div. 3d Dep’t 1996). In determining whether a SEQRA challenge is moot, “we must consider how far the work has progressed towards completion.” Citineighbors Coalition of Historic Carnegie Hill v. N.Y. City Landmarks Pres. Comm’n, 2 N.Y.3d 727, 729, 778 N.Y.S.2d 740, 811 N.E.2d 2 (N.Y.2004). Several other factors are “significant in evaluating claims of mootness. Chief among them has been a challenger’s failure to seek preliminary injunctive relief or otherwise preserve the status quo to prevent construction from commencing or continuing during the pendency of the litigation.” Dreikausen v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of the City of Long Beach, 98 N.Y.2d 165, 173, 746 N.Y.S.2d 429, 774 N.E.2d 193 (N.Y.2002). Other factors include “whether work was undertaken without authority or in bad faith, and whether substantially completed work is ‘readily undone, without undue hardship.’ ”

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Bluebook (online)
415 F. App'x 264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mitskovski-v-buffalo-fort-erie-public-bridge-authority-ca11-2011.