Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-22-1999

Abstract

Defendants-appellants the Town of East Hampton (the "Town"), the Town Board of the Town of East Hampton (the "Town Board") and Thomas Knobel, Nancy McCaffrey and Leonard Bernard, individually and as members of the Town Board (the "Town Board members" or "members") appeal from a portion of an order entered in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Platt, J.) in an action brought against them and others by plaintiffs-appellees Sound Aircraft Services, Inc. ("Sound Aircraft"), Shoreline Aviation, Inc. ("Shoreline"), and JIB, Inc. d/b/a Action Airlines ("Action") (collectively, "Sound"). The action arises out of the award of a long-term hangar lease at the Town of East Hampton Airport (the "Airport"). The portion of the order appealed from rejects the defense of qualified immunity raised in a motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state claims. The Town Board members contend that the district court improperly considered the members' intent as relevant to their qualified immunity defense. Sound argues that the Town Board members' conduct violated clearly established rights of Sound to equal protection of the laws and to the benefit of the protection of an anti-discrimination provision of the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982, 49 U.S.C. § 47107(a).

For the reasons that follow, we vacate the order and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Comments

192 F.3d 329 (1999)

SOUND AIRCRAFT SERVICES, INC., Shoreline Aviation, Inc., JIB, Inc., doing business as Action Airlines, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. TOWN OF EAST HAMPTON, TOWN Board of the Town of East Hampton, Thomas Knobel, Individually, Thomas Knobel, As Councilperson of the Town of East Hampton, Nancy McCaffrey, Individually, Nancy McCaffrey, As Councilperson of the Town of East Hampton, Leonard Bernard, Individually, Leonard Bernard, As Councilperson of the Town of East Hampton, Defendants-Appellants, Bernard ("Ben") Krupinski, Aviation Resources, Inc., doing business as East Hampton Airlines, Myers Aero Service, Inc., Myers Aero Fuel, Inc., Defendants.

Docket No. 98-9339.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued June 23, 1999.

Decided September 22, 1999.

New York Law School location: File #2749, Box #140

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