National Ass'n of Minority Contractors, Dayton Chapter v. Martinez

248 F. Supp. 2d 679, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26594, 2002 WL 32019828
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedNovember 18, 2002
DocketNo. C-3-02-404
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 248 F. Supp. 2d 679 (National Ass'n of Minority Contractors, Dayton Chapter v. Martinez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Ass'n of Minority Contractors, Dayton Chapter v. Martinez, 248 F. Supp. 2d 679, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26594, 2002 WL 32019828 (S.D. Ohio 2002).

Opinion

DECISION AND ENTRY OVERRULING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION (DOC. #2), WITHOUT PREJUDICE, AND OVERRULING DEFENDANTS’ JOINT MOTION TO DISMISS (DOC. # 5), WITHOUT PREJUDICE; PLAINTIFF DIRECTED TO SHOW CAUSE AS TO WHY ITS COMPLAINT SHOULD NOT BE DISMISSED ON PRINCIPLES OF RIPENESS AND/OR STANDING

RICE, Chief Judge.

The Plaintiff in this action is the Dayton Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors (“NAMC”). The named Defendants are Mel Martinez, Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“Secretary Martinez” & “HUD,” respectively), Roland Turpin, Director of the Dayton Metropolitan Housing Authority, the Dayton Metropolitan Housing Authority itself (“DMHA”), Old Dayton View LLC (“Old Dayton View”), TCG Development Services (“TGC”), Oberer Residential Construction Ltd (“Oberer Residential”) and Oberer DVA, Ltd (“Oberer DVA”). In very basic terms, HUD was created by Congress to assist local governments in their efforts to address housing issues affecting their low-income residents. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 3531 & 3532. In its Complaint (Doc. # 1), the NAMC alleges that the Defendants herein are in violation, or will be in violation, of several regulations promulgated by HUD, and, as a result, are also in violation of various civil rights laws, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1982, 1983 & 1985. Accordingly, it is seeking a declaratory judgment that the Defendants must comply with said regulations and laws, and an injunction against all alleged acts or proposed acts of theirs which will, allegedly, violate same. In furtherance of its aims, it has filed a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (Doc. #2). Subsequent to the filing of said Motion, the Court sustained an Agreed Order Dismissing Secretary Martinez Without Prejudice (Doc. # ll).1 [681]*681The other Defendants (“Defendants”) now move for dismissal on several grounds (see Doc. # 5), pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) and (6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to wit: that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction; that the Plaintiff has failed to exhaust its administrative remedies; and that the Plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

For the reasons which follow, the Court shall OVERRULE, without prejudice, both the Plaintiffs Motion for a Preliminary Injunction and the Defendants’ Joint Motion to Dismiss, and order the Plaintiff to show cause as to why its Complaint should not be dismissed on principles of ripeness and standing.

I. Standard of Analysis for Rule 12(b) (6) and 12(b)(1) Motions to Dismiss

Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court may only consider the facts as pled in the Complaint in deciding whether the Plaintiff has stated a valid claim. See Nelson v. Miller, 170 F.3d 641, 649 (6th Cir.1999). “A court should not dismiss a plaintiffs complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) unless, after construing the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and accepting all factual allegations as true, the court determines that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim that would entitle him to relief.” Id. (citation omitted); Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984). “When a party files a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the district court is instructed to treat the motion as one for summary judgment if either party submits additional materials ‘outside the pleadings.’ ” Ohio Nat’l Life Ins. Co. v. United States, 922 F.2d 320, 325 (6th Cir.1990). However, documents attached to and referenced in a complaint are considered part of the pleadings and can therefore be referenced in deciding a motion brought under Rule 12(b)(6). See Nieman v. NLO, Inc., 108 F.3d 1546, 1554 (6th Cir.1997). Indeed, if a factual assertion in the pleadings is inconsistent with a document attached for support, the Court is to accept the facts as stated in the attached document. See The Mengel Co. v. Nashville Paper Prods. & Specialty Workers Union, 221 F.2d 644, 647 (6th Cir.1955).

In Ohio National Life, the Sixth Circuit laid out the procedural framework for motions brought under Rule 12(b)(1):

Rule 12(b)(1) motions to dismiss based upon subject matter jurisdiction generally come in two varieties. A facial attack on the subject matter jurisdiction alleged by the complaint merely questions the sufficiency of the pleading. In reviewing such a facial attack, a trial court takes the allegations in the complaint as true, which is a similar safeguard employed under 12(b)(6) motions to dismiss. On the other hand, when a court reviews a complaint under a factual attack, as here, no presumptive truthfulness applies to the factual allegations. Such a factual attack on subject matter jurisdiction commonly has been referred to as a “speaking motion.” See generally 5A C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1364, at 662-64 (West 1969). When facts presented to the district <;ourt give rise to a factual controversy, the district court must therefore weigh the conflicting evidence to arrive at the factual predicate that subject matter jurisdiction exists or does not exist. In reviewing these speaking motions, a trial court has wide discretion to allow affidavits, documents and even a limited evidentiary hearing to resolve disputed jurisdictional facts. (Citations omitted.)

922 F.2d at 325. Whereas a court cannot consider factual materials outside the pleadings, which go to the merits of the plaintiffs claim, without converting a Rule [682]*68212(b)(6) motion into one for summary judgment, the consideration of “jurisdictional facts,” in contrast, does not require a Rule 12(b)(1) motion to be converted into a summary judgment motion. See id.

II. Factual Background

The Court will set forth the facts as pled in the Complaint.2 The NAMC is a non-profit corporation whose membership is comprised of minority general contractors and subcontractors who work and routinely bid on construction contracts in Montgomery County, Ohio.3 (Compl. ¶ 5; Abney Aff., Compl. at Ex. 1, ¶ 2.)4 Some time prior to the filing of the NAMC’s Complaint, HUD approved a $26 million federal grant for a neighborhood redevelopment project in Dayton, Ohio, known as the Hope VI Program. (Comply 6.) Additional funds for the program were obtained from other, private sources, raising the project’s total funding to over $44 million. (Id.)

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248 F. Supp. 2d 679, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26594, 2002 WL 32019828, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-assn-of-minority-contractors-dayton-chapter-v-martinez-ohsd-2002.