Professional Ambulance Service, Inc. v. Blackstone

400 A.2d 1031, 35 Conn. Super. Ct. 136, 35 Conn. Supp. 136, 1978 Conn. Super. LEXIS 153
CourtConnecticut Superior Court
DecidedDecember 12, 1978
DocketFile 214420
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 400 A.2d 1031 (Professional Ambulance Service, Inc. v. Blackstone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Professional Ambulance Service, Inc. v. Blackstone, 400 A.2d 1031, 35 Conn. Super. Ct. 136, 35 Conn. Supp. 136, 1978 Conn. Super. LEXIS 153 (Colo. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

Covello, J.

In this action the plaintiff seeks an injunction restraining the implementation of an alleged emergency medical services directive issued by the named defendant, Richard H. Blaekstone, as mayor of the town of East Hartford. It further seeks to enjoin the enforcement of two state health department regulations, Regs., Conn. State Agencies §§ 19-73w-307 and 19-73w-404 (B) (2). The claim is made that the directive and the regulations as applied to the present case violate General Statutes §§ 35-24 et seq., the Connecticut Anti-Trust Act, and, further, that the plaintiff’s property has been confiscated without just compensation contrary to the due process provisions of the Connecticut and United States constitutions.

The court finds that the plaintiff is a licensed ambulance service provider with an office and place of business in the town of East Hartford. Prior to October 3, 1977, it serviced East Hartford’s emergency ambulance services requirements on a rotational basis with Trinity Ambulance Service and Maynard Ambulance Service. Most requests for emergency ambulance service originate from the police department, and prior to October 3, 1977, department policy indicated that the three ambulance companies would be dispatched by the police to an emergency scene on a rotational basis.

*138 On October 3,1977, Blaekstone, as East Hartford mayor, advised the plaintiff that the Office of Emergency Medical Services and the North Central Emergency Medical Services Council had, on July 15,1977, designated the Ambulance Service of Manchester, Inc., as the “R-2 service company for East Hartford.” The mayor’s letter indicated that that designation would become effective October 10,1977. A copy of the mayor’s communique was sent to the members of the East Hartford police department who thereafter summoned only the Ambulance Service of Manchester, Inc., to situations requiring emergency ambulance service. In addition, the town designated a single telephone number for use in a medical emergency and has widely circulated that number within the community. Further, the town council passed an ordinance prohibiting ambulance companies from advertising their services as “emergency services” or “emergency personnel.” 1 As a result, the plaintiff has noted a significant reduction in the number of its calls for emergency ambulance services with a corresponding loss in revenues.

The actions claimed here to be unlawful are not directly those of Mayor Blaekstone or of the council of the town of East Hartford but actually are the product of the implementation of a series of state regulations promulgated by the Connecticut department of health in furtherance of the emergency medical services program authorized by General Statutes §§ 19-73u et seq. Section 19-73ee 2 authorizes the establishment of a series of regional emergency medical service councils. The council for the *139 geographic area which includes East Hartford is known as the North Central Emergency Medical Services Council. Harvey L. Kagan, president of the plaintiff, was and is a member of this council.

Among their other duties, those councils are required by state regulation to designate so-called “Primary Service Areas” for the various communities within their region. 3 A primary service area (PSA) is simply a defined or known geographic area. 4 Regulations §§ 19-73w-404 (B) and 19-73w-400 (D) both require that within each primary service area there shall be only one firm assigned for a given category of service.

Testimony and examination of the various exhibits discloses that on August 10,1976, the North Central Emergency Medical Services Council designated East Hartford (with the exception of the United Technologies properties) as one primary service area. On the same date the council designated the Ambulance Service of Manchester, Inc., as the responder for the East Hartford service area. Those actions were thereafter approved on July 15, .1977, by the commissioner of health, again pursuant to regulation § 19-73w-404 (B). Thus, Mayor Blackstone’s “directive” of October 3, 1977, was no more than a simple announcement of the state of facts created by the regional council and approved by the commissioner of health.

*140 With respect to the advertising ordinance, this too is reflective of a department of health regulation authorizing such a restraint. 5 Thus, the legality of the actions taken here is a function of the validity of the two underlying state regulations in issue.

Connecticut antitrust laws declare illegal not only any contract in restraint of trade, 6 but also monopolization of any part of trade or commerce. 7 Such acts are illegal even though unintentional and even though it is only the effects which create the proscribed conditions. 8 The plaintiff contends that the designation of the Ambulance Service of Manchester, Inc., as the single R2 responder for the East Hartford primary service area and the prohibition against advertising have had the effect of creating a monopoly and are in violation of these antitrust statutes. The antitrust statutes, however, authorize an exception if the activity is “specifically directed or required by a statute of this state, or of the United States.” 9

*141 In Mazzola v. Southern New England Telephone Co., 169 Conn. 344, the plaintiff alleged that certain of the defendant’s activities violated the Connecticut Anti-Trust Act. The defendant contended that the activities in question were authorized in a tariff approved by the public utilities commission and as such were immune from antitrust liability under the exception articulated in General Statutes § 35-31 (b). In finding that the defendant’s assertion was incorrect the court stated: “Section 35-31 (b) of our General Statutes has no parallel in the federal antitrust statutes. Furthermore, in enacting this provision the Connecticut legislature also did not choose to follow the example set by several other states of specifically and unqualifiedly exempting from antitrust liability the activities of industries and other organizations subject to the supervision of the state regulatory agency equivalent to our public utilities commission. Eather, the exception authorized by § 35-31 (b) represents a narrowly drawn version of the doctrine of ‘state action’ immunity from antitrust liability articulated by the United States Supreme Court in Parker v. Brown, 317 U.S. 341, 350-51 .... The court in that case carved out an exemption from Sherman Act liability for activities ‘commanded’ or ‘directed’ by a state legislature. Ibid.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
400 A.2d 1031, 35 Conn. Super. Ct. 136, 35 Conn. Supp. 136, 1978 Conn. Super. LEXIS 153, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/professional-ambulance-service-inc-v-blackstone-connsuperct-1978.