Odebrecht Construction, Inc. v. Prasad

876 F. Supp. 2d 1305, 34 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1827, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90982, 2012 WL 2524261
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedJune 29, 2012
DocketCase No. 12-cv-22072-KMM
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 876 F. Supp. 2d 1305 (Odebrecht Construction, Inc. v. Prasad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Odebrecht Construction, Inc. v. Prasad, 876 F. Supp. 2d 1305, 34 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1827, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90982, 2012 WL 2524261 (S.D. Fla. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION FOLLOWING ORDER GRANTING PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

K. MICHAEL MOORE, District Judge.

THIS MATTER is before the Court upon Plaintiffs Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (ECF No. 5). Plaintiff challenges the constitutionality of an amendment to section 287.135, Florida Statutes, “Prohibition against contracting with scrutinized companies.” The amendment to section 287.135 can be found at Chapter 2012-196, Laws of Florida, and generally prohibits the State of Florida from awarding public contracts in excess of one million dollars to companies who have “business operations” in Cuba. Plaintiff argues that the amendment violates the following provisions of the United States Constitution: the Supremacy Clause, the Foreign Affairs Power, and the Foreign Commerce Clause. Plaintiff also argues the amendment is inoperative by its own terms. Defendant denies these claims and further argues Plaintiff cannot make the requisite showing necessary for this Court to issue a preliminary injunction. Following a hearing on Plaintiffs Motion for a Preliminary Injunction on Monday, June 25, 2012, and having considered Defendant’s Response (ECF No. 15) and Plaintiffs Reply (ECF No. 16), this Court entered an Order Granting Plaintiffs Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (ECF No. 21). This opinion follows and sets forth more fully the reasons for this Court’s Order Granting Plaintiffs Motion for a Preliminary Injunction.

I. THE PARTIES1

Established in 1990, Plaintiff Odebrecht Construction, Inc. is a Florida corporation that maintains its principal place of busi[1309]*1309ness in Coral Gables, Florida. Over the years, agencies of the State of Florida and local governments have awarded Plaintiff thirty-five projects amounting to approximately $3.9 billion, and in 2011, all of Plaintiffs revenue — approximately $214.5 million — was derived from public infrastructure and transportation projects. Recently, Broward County awarded Plaintiff a contract valued at approximately $226 million to renovate the Fort Lauderdale Airport.

Plaintiff is a subsidiary of Odebrecht S.A., a “diversified Brazilian conglomerate in the engineering, construction, water and wastewater, ethanol, real estate, chemical, and petrochemical fields.” Am. Compl., ¶20 (ECF No. 4). Odebrecht S.A. engages in business operations in South America, Central America, North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Though Plaintiff maintains that it has never conducted business operations in the Republic of Cuba, one of Odebrecht S.A.’s subsidiaries, COI Overseas Ltd., is involved in a construction project to expand the Cuban Port of Mariel. The project, at a cost of nearly $1 billion, is funded substantially by the Brazilian Development Bank. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff traveled to the Port of Mariel to view the progress of the port’s renovation as recently as February 2012. See Matthew Bristow & Cris Valerio, Rousseff in Cuba Points to U.S. Human Rights Record, Bloomberg, Feb. 6, 2012, available at http://www.bloomberg.com/ news/2012-01-31/castro-rights-recordintrudes-on-rousseff-trade-mission-tocommunist-cuba.html.

Defendant Ananth Prasad is Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation (“FDOT”). Established in 1969, FDOT is a decentralized agency charged with coordinating, maintaining, and regulating public transportation in the State of Florida. In furtherance of this duty, each of the agency’s subdivisions is responsible for acquiring commodities and contractual services under the direction and guidance of Defendant. As Secretary of FDOT, Defendant is charged with implementing and enforcing the Cuba Amendment with respect to FDOT contracts valued at one million dollars or more.

II. JURISDICTION

Plaintiff brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to redress its claimed deprivation of rights, privileges, and immunities secured by the Constitution and the laws of the United States. Accordingly, jurisdiction lies in this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343(a), and 1367(a).

III. BACKGROUND

A The Cuba Amendment

On May 1, 2012, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law Committee Substitute for Committee Substitute for House Bill 99, which was codified at Chapter 2012-196, Laws of Florida (the “Cuba Amendment”).2 The Cuba Amendment is the most recent effort3 by the State of [1310]*1310Florida to place pressure on Cuba4 and provides, in relevant part, that a company “engaged in business operations in Cuba” may not “bid on, submit a proposal for, or enter into or renew a contract with an agency or local governmental entity for goods or services of $1 million or more.” 2012 Fla. Laws 196, § 2(2) (amending Fla. Stat. § 287.135).

For the purposes of the Cuba Amendment, a “company” is defined to mean any “entity or business association, including all wholly owned subsidiaries, majority-owned subsidiaries, parent companies, or affiliates of such entities or business associations, that exists for the purpose of making profit.” Fla. Stat. § 215.473(c). “Business operations” is defined as “engaging in commerce in any form in Cuba or Syria.” 2012 Fla. Laws 196, § 2(b). Taken together, the Cuba Amendment effectively encompasses domestic companies with no connection to Cuba other than by proxy.

The Cuba Amendment enforces its provisions through a certification requirement. Before submitting a bid or proposal for a contract, a company must certify that it does not have business operations in Cuba. Companies found to have submitted a false certification are subject to a “civil penalty equal to the greater of $2 million or twice the amount of the contract for which the false certification was submitted.” Id. § 2(5)(a)(l). Additionally, once it has been determined that a company’s certification was false, the company is rendered ineligible to bid on any contract with an agency or local governmental entity for three years. Id. § 2(5)(a)(2).

B. Federal Law Relating to Cuba

In the five decades following the communist takeover of Cuba in 1959, the federal government has enacted a complex and comprehensive set of sanctions against Cuba. The Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R pt. 515 (the “Regulations”), were issued by the federal government on July 8, 1963, under the Trading With the Enemy Act (“TWEA”), 50 U.S.C. app. § 5(b).5 The Regulations apply to all per[1311]*1311sons and entities subject to United States jurisdiction and generally prohibit trade with Cuba and travel to Cuba. See 31 C.F.R pt. 515.

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876 F. Supp. 2d 1305, 34 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1827, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90982, 2012 WL 2524261, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/odebrecht-construction-inc-v-prasad-flsd-2012.