NAT. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS, MEBA, AFL-CIO v. Pena

944 F. Supp. 1337, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16942, 1996 WL 662703
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedNovember 8, 1996
Docket1:94CV0574
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 944 F. Supp. 1337 (NAT. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS, MEBA, AFL-CIO v. Pena) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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NAT. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS, MEBA, AFL-CIO v. Pena, 944 F. Supp. 1337, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16942, 1996 WL 662703 (N.D. Ohio 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ANN ALDRICH, District Judge.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, MEBA, AFL-CIO (“NATCA”) and two individual air traffic controllers, David Clinkscale and Margaret Graham, filed this suit against Federico Pena, Secretary of the Department of Transportation (“DOT”), and David Hinson, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”), challenging the FAA’s decision to privatize operations at Level 1 air traffic control towers.

On June 19, 1996, defendants filed a supplemental motion to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction, asserting that plaintiffs lack standing under Article III, that they failed to exhaust administrative remedies, and that the case is not ripe for review. For the reasons stated below, the Court denies defendants’ motion.

I. Facts

In September of 1993, the FAA, a division of the Department of Transportation, determined that it would proceed with its decision to contract out to the private sector the air traffic control responsibilities at all one hundred and fifteen (115) of its Level 1 facilities. 1 Second Am.Compl., ¶ 19. Pursuant to this privatization plan, the first 25 Level 1 towers were converted to private ownership in 1994, as were an additional 25 in 1995. Def.’s Supp. Motion to Dismiss, 9. Another 25 were slated to be privatized during July and August of 1996. Id. The FAA continues to proceed with its plan.

In the course of the privatization of Level 1 towers, 1,500 air traffic controllers employed by the FAA at these towers •will lose their current government jobs and will be forced to either (1) relocate to another FAA facility in order to remain employed by the FAA as air traffic control specialists, or (2) retire or resign from federal service, in which case they may seek employment with the private contractor who takes over their tower. 2

Federal procurement policy, as it relates to the FAA and DOT, is governed by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (“OFP-PA”), 41 U.S.C. § 401 et seq., and the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 (“Act of 1921”), 81 U.S.C. § 101 et seq. Pursuant to these statutes, the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) promulgated OMB Circular A-76, which governs agency decisions on whether commercial activities should be performed in-house by federal employees or under contract with commercial sources. Circular A-76 sets out an elaborate, mandatory scheme of procedures which agencies must follow before contracting out such activities.

Specifically, Circular A-76 first requires an agency to evaluate its activities in order to determine whether they are governmental functions or commercial activities. Governmental functions must be performed by government employees, while commercial activities may be contracted out to the private sector, unless the agency determines that they must be performed by government employees for national defense purposes. Once an activity is determined to be a commercial activity that is eligible to be contracted out, the agency must complete a cost comparison *1341 study to ascertain whether the activity can be performed more economically by private contractors. In certain cases, the assistant secretary of the agency may authorize a waiver of the study. If the activity can be performed more economically by the private sector, then the commercial activity must be privatized.

In 1994, NATCA, along with Clinkscale and Graham, two air traffic control specialists employed at Burke Lakefront, a Level I facility in Cleveland, Ohio, filed suit challenging the FAA’s decision to contract out Level 1 air traffic control towers. Plaintiffs contend that the FAA’s privatization of Level 1 towers violates the statutory scheme established by the Act of 1921, and the OFPPA, and the mandatory procedural requirements of Circular A-76 and its Supplement. In particular, plaintiffs allege that the FAA’s plan violates the Circular and its Supplement because (1) the FAA is unlawfully contracting out an inherently governmental function; (2) the FAA’s decision to contract out air traffic control responsibilities will impair the national defense; (3) the FAA improperly waived the requirement that a cost comparison study be performed prior to a decision to contract out; and (4) the FAA’s decision to contract out Level 1 facilities does not meet the cosVbenefit requirements of the Circular and its Supplement. Plaintiffs seek a declaration that the FAA’s decision is unlawful, and an injunction prohibiting further implementation of the privatization plan.

On November 28,1994, this Court granted defendants’ original motion to dismiss the suit, on the grounds that plaintiffs failed to meet the prudential requirements for standing under the Administrative Procedure Act. On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed that decision, and remanded the case to this Court in order to complete the standing analysis by determining whether plaintiffs have standing under Article III of the Constitution.

Subsequently, on June 19, 1996, defendants filed a supplemental motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that plaintiffs lack Article III standing, that they failed to exhaust administrative remedies, and that the ease is not ripe for review. Because the parties have not fully briefed the issue of exhaustion, this Court now considers only the issues of Article III standing and ripeness. 3 For the reasons stated below, the Court denies defendants’ motion to dismiss, as plaintiffs have met the requirements of standing under Article III of the Constitution, and the case is ripe for review.

II. Standing

For purposes of ruling on a motion to dismiss for lack of standing, the court must view the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, accepting as true all material allegations in the complaint. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 501, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2206-07, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975). The court may also consider any affidavits submitted by plaintiff containing further particularized allegations of fact deemed supportive of standing. Id. at 501-02, 95 S.Ct. at 2206-07. A complaint must be dismissed if “the plaintiffs standing does not adequately appear from all materials of record.” Id. at 502, 95 S.Ct. at 2207.

Because the federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, the threshold question in every case is whether there exists a “case or controversy” over which the federal court may exercise its power. Jet Courier Services, Inc. v. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 713 F.2d 1221, 1225 (6th Cir.1983); U.S. Const, art. III, § 2. Article III’s “case *1342 or controversy” requirement serves to distinguish “those disputes which are appropriately resolved through the judicial process,” Whitmore v. Arkansas,

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944 F. Supp. 1337, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16942, 1996 WL 662703, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nat-air-traffic-controllers-meba-afl-cio-v-pena-ohnd-1996.