National Cold Storage Co. v. Port of New York Authority

286 F. Supp. 1016, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9799
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 12, 1968
DocketCiv. No. 150-266
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 286 F. Supp. 1016 (National Cold Storage Co. v. Port of New York Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Cold Storage Co. v. Port of New York Authority, 286 F. Supp. 1016, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9799 (S.D.N.Y. 1968).

Opinion

EDELSTEIN, District Judge.

OPINION

This is an action for a declaratory-judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 2201. The plaintiff, National Cold Storage Co., Inc., by virtue of an assignment of three leases from its predecessor, has occupied certain premises near the East River in the Borough of Brooklyn, since 1951. These premises are used as a cold storage warehousing facility. Defendant, The Port of New York Authority, has been plaintiff’s landlord since 1956 when it purchased the land from the New York Dock Company, the original lessor. The three leases were granted to plaintiff’s predecessor by the New York Dock Company in 1914 and 1915. The dispute between plaintiff and defendant is one between tenant and landlord and is centered about the question of whether the Port Authority is discharging its responsibilities under the leases. Plaintiff claims that it is not being granted reasonable access to the bulkhead of the East River as covenanted for in the leases and that while the landlord is not to compete or allow anyone else to compete with the tenant under the leases, the Port Authority has constructed a cold storage facility in New Jersey. When this dispute arose, there was also some disagreement between the parties as to plaintiff’s right to berth ships and defendant’s alleged interference with plaintiff’s water intake pipe. Happily, the berthing and water pipe controversies were settled by the parties prior to trial.

Defendant moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that this court lacked jurisdiction over the subject matter of this dispute. The court reserved decision on that motion and a trial was held. At the trial the issues separating the parties were drawn sharply into focus both as to the jurisdictional question and the merits of plaintiff’s allegations.

Plaintiff, in its amended complaint, alleges that this court has jurisdiction of this action by -virtue of 28 U. S.C. §§ 1331, 1337 and 1343, and by virtue of its pendent jurisdiction. Section 1343 of 28 U.S.C. grants jurisdiction to the district court in civil rights cases. This section is patently inapposite to the factual situation at bar. Defendant is not alleged to have discriminated against plaintiff. All that the complaint alleges is that defendant, as a landlord, interfered with plaintiff’s rights as a tenant. The complaint does not set out any allegations of interference with plaintiff’s civil rights. Section 1337 of 28 U.S.C. grants jurisdiction to the district courts of actions arising under acts of Congress regulating commerce. The case at bar arises under the leases in question and plainly does not arise under any congressional act. Pendent jurisdiction relates to a federal court’s power to hear and determine state law causes of action. The doctrine of pendent jurisdiction, however, is not an independent basis of jurisdiction over an entire action but only relates to causes of action which are premised upon state law. For pendent jurisdiction to arise, there must be at least one cause of action premised upon a federal question. See Hart & Wechsler, The Federal Court and the Federal System, 802-809 (1953).

The only possible basis of jurisdiction remaining to plaintiff is his claim of jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. There is no question but that the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $10,000.00. Plaintiff so alleged, defendant so stipulated, and, at the trial, it became fully apparent. The court finds that the monetary requirement of Section 1331 is met. The satisfaction of the monetary requirement does not of itself vest federal jurisdiction for the action must arise under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States, the so-called federal question provision. It is not enough, however, that there be any federal question at issue but that there be a federal question which is not unsubstantial. See Port Authority Bondholders Protective Comm. v. Port of New York Auth., 387 F.2d 259 (2d Cir. 1967). Plaintiff al[1018]*1018leges that this action arises under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution (the contracts clause), and 42 Stat. 174 and 42 Stat. 822 (congressional approval of the compact which established the Port Authority) .

To say that this action arises under the congressional approval of the compact establishing the Port Authority is at best tenuous. The compact has absolutely nothing to do with the issue at bar. To hold that this court has jurisdiction over the case at bar because of the approval of the compact would be tantamount to holding that the federal court has jurisdiction in any action involving the Port Authority and such a holding would clearly be contrary to established concepts of jurisdiction. See Port Authority Bondholders Protective Comm. v. Port of New York Auth., supra.

Plaintiff’s allegation that this court has jurisdiction by virtue of the impairment of contracts clause of the Constitution is also without merit. Plaintiff alleges that the resolutions of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority are laws and that pursuant to such resolutions the Port Authority constructed and leased a cold storage facility in Port Newark in violation of the right to be free of competition contained in the leases. In the first place, the resolutions of the Commissioners constructing and leasing the facility in Port Newark are not laws within the framework of the contracts clause. Although railway commission orders, Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Garrett, 231 U.S. 298, 34 S.Ct. 48, 58 L.Ed. 229 (1931); Grand Trunk Western Ry. Co. v. Railroad Comm., 221 U.S. 400, 31 S.Ct. 537, 55 L.Ed. 786 (1911), and municipal corporation ordinances or by-laws, City of Vicksburg v. Vicksburg Water Works Co., 202 U.S. 453, 26 S.Ct. 660, 50 L.Ed. 1102 (1906), might be laws in this context, the resolution must be an exercise of legislative power for the resolution to be a law within the framework of the contracts clause. See Atlantic Coast Line Ry. Co. v. City of Goldsboro, 232 U.S. 548, 34 S. Ct. 364, 58 L.Ed. 721 (1914). The resolutions are not given the force of law in that they are not being enforced against anyone but they are merely the method by which a body corporate bestirs itself to action in the conduct of its affairs as a functioning entity. In the second place, assuming arguendo that the resolutions are laws, such regulations do not impair the obligations of contracts. Plaintiff’s leases are not being impaired and, at best, plaintiff only might have an action for breach of contract since the Port Authority in no way attempted to negate the leases and is only alleged to be acting in violation of provisions in the leases.

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Bluebook (online)
286 F. Supp. 1016, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9799, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-cold-storage-co-v-port-of-new-york-authority-nysd-1968.