Davis v. Horry County Council

          OPINION AND ORDER

          Donald C. Coggins, Jr., United States District Judge.

         This matter is before the Court on the Motion to Dismiss filed by Defendants Horry County Council, Harold Worley, Mark Lazarus, Bill Howard, Jimmy Washington, Gary Loftus, Tyler Servant, Cam Crawford, Harold Phillips, Johnny Vaught, W. Paul Prince, Jody Prince, Al Allen, Marion Foxworth, Pat Apone, Jason Terri, Charles Bree, Chad Cox, Tim Jackson, Randall Smith, Sarah Glanders, Lisa Bourcier, Arrigo Carotti, Randolph Haldi, Frank Venegas, and Horry County Department of Airports. ECF No. 216. Plaintiffs filed a Response in Opposition. ECF Nos. 222. Accordingly, the Motion is ripe for consideration.

         FACTUAL HISTORY ^[1]

         Plaintiffs are eleven individuals who claim prior employment with, or ownership of, the business Skydive Myrtle Beach. In March 2012, Plaintiffs made plans to open Skydive Myrtle Beach, Inc. "to provide recreational skydiving activities at the Grand Strand Regional Airport ["the Airport"] in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which is owned by Horry County." ECF No. 207 at 5. During this period of time, the Airport was operated by Grand Strand Aviation, Inc., and was known as "Ramp 66." Id. at 6. Ramp 66 and the Horry County Department of Airports agreed to allow Skydive Myrtle Beach, Inc. to carry out recreational skydiving activities at the Airport. Despite this agreement, Robinson Aviation, Inc., which was under contract to provide air traffic control and tower services to the Airport, "initially balked" at permitting recreational skydiving, "stating that it was Robinson Aviation's policy not to allow skydiving at any of the airports at which Robinson provides tower management." Id. "Eventually, however, Robinson Aviation was required to back down since the Federal Aviation [Administration] ["FAA"] controls skydiving, and Robinson Aviation could not determine federal law on its own." Id.

         On May 10, 2012, Skydive Myrtle Beach signed an eight-year lease with Ramp 66 "and also executed a Letter of Agreement with Ramp 66, the Airport tower, and the Horry County Department of Airports." Id. However, these parties never briefed Plaintiffs on the Airport's Landing Operations Area ("LOA") or provided Plaintiffs with an official airport operation brief. Id. From April to May 2012, Skydive Myrtle Beach "gained access and commenced skydiving." Id. On March 21, 2013, Horry County announced that it was resuming control of the Airport from Ramp 66. Id. Starting in May 2013, Ramp 66 attempted to make Skydive Myrtle Beach sign a new lease due to Horry County's takeover of the Airport, but Skydive Myrtle Beach refused. Id. However, on July 1, 2013, the Horry County Department of Airports required Skydive Myrtle Beach to sign "a space use permit" or to vacate the Airport property.^[2] Id. This was intended to be a temporary measure until Horry County created new leases for all tenants. Id.

         On September 13, 2013, the Airport and the Horry County Department of Airports notified Skydive Myrtle Beach that they were "interested in bringing in a bigger aircraft, in order to start to increase business." Id. at 6-7. On that day, Skydive Myrtle Beach asked when it would receive a new lease from Horry County and was told that it would take several more weeks. Id. at 7. According to Plaintiffs, a campaign of harassment began around this time. For example, on October 2013, Plaintiffs discovered that their business mail was not being forwarded from the front desk at the Airport and that there were lost parcels of mail and packages that were returned to sender. Id. Over the next few weeks, Plaintiffs were unilaterally told to relocate their landing zone to a smaller and less safe area, received no assistance in procuring permits and logistical support for skydiving activities, and obtained no resolution for their mail difficulties. Id.

         This harassment continued, as the Horry County Department of Airports enlisted the support of a police officer to place restrictions on Plaintiffs' activities and accuse Plaintiffs of violating various Airport policies. Id. at 8. In January 2014, Skydive Myrtle Beach was fined by the Fire Marshall for a defective circuit panel, which Skydive Myrtle Beach had been asking the Horry County Department of Airports to fix. Id. at 9. Additionally, Plaintiff Aaron Holly began receiving emails from the Airport about jumpers landing outside of the approved landing area. Id. However, Plaintiffs did not receive any official communications from the FAA, and there was no official investigation by any federal authorities. Id. On top of these harassing communications, the Airport's tower began placing holds on Skydive Myrtle Beach while skydivers were in the air. Id. This cost Plaintiffs "a huge amount of money due to fuel and hours on the airplane." Id.

         On February 5, 2014, Plaintiff Holly caught an Airport employee breaking into Plaintiffs' hangar with two unauthorized contractors. Id. This caused Skydive Myrtle Beach to shut down for two days to inspect its plane and equipment. Id. In response, Plaintiff Holly requested a meeting to clear the air with the Airport and FAA. Id. This meeting took place on February 7, 2014 but was unproductive. Id. After this meeting, Plaintiffs determined that the Airport was seeking to shut down Skydive Myrtle Beach. Id. While this harassment continued, Plaintiffs' "received a letter from Horry County attorney Randolph Haldi of allegations of violations, and a 72-hour notice to vacate" unless Skydive Myrtle Beach signed a new lease giving the Airport 24% of its gross profits. Id. at 10.

         After months of confusion related to determining what rules and regulations the Airport expected Skydive Myrtle Beach to comply with, the tension between the parties escalated. Id. at 12. On September 1, 2015, the FAA wrote a letter to the Horry County Department of Airports stating that 91 violations were reported by the Airport. Id. at 13. As it turns out, the Horry County Department of Airports "and Robinson Aviation employees filed some 112 'safety violations' against the Plaintiff(s) during the period of March 29, 2013 and September 27, 2015" which were not investigated by the FAA. Id. On October 15, 2015, Plaintiffs received an email giving them 24 hours to vacate the hangar. Id. Plaintiffs complied with the request in order to avoid criminal charges. Id.

         Plaintiffs contend that the alleged violations were unfounded, including some alleged violations that were said to have taken place on dates that Plaintiffs did not conduct jumps. In 2014, Plaintiffs filed a Complaint with the FAA in what is known as a Part 16 proceeding. The Complaint states that Horry County's "actions, including attempts to restrict the landing area (Drop Zone or DZ) and reporting violations as 'safety concerns,' are unreasonably restrictive and discriminatory as applied to an FAA-recognized aeronautical activity-skydiving." See Skydive Myrtle Beach, Inc. v. Horry Cty. Dep't of Airports, FAA Docket No. 16-14-05, Director's Determination at 1 (Oct. 7, 2015). Randall S. Fiertz, Director of Airport Compliance and Management Analysis for the FAA, issued a Determination on October 7, 2015, which found that Horry County was not engaged in economic discrimination against Skydive Myrtle Beach and that "[u]nless immediate steps are taken, up to and including closure of the DZ, [Horry] County will be considered to be in violation of [a federal grant]."^[3] Id. at 66.

         Plaintiffs then filed an administrative appeal with the FAA, and the FAA issued a Final Agency Decision affirming the Director's Determination on August 4, 2016.^[4] Skydive Myrtle Beach, Inc. v. Horry Cty. Dep't of Airports, FAA Docket No. 16-14-05, Final Agency Decision (Aug. 4, 2016). The Final Agency Decision advised Plaintiffs that they could petition for judicial review "in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit or in the Court of Appeals of the United States for the Circuit in which the [Plaintiffs reside] or [have their] principal place of business." Id. at 9. Plaintiffs filed an appeal of the Part 16 Determination in the Fourth Circuit; however, the appeal was untimely and denied by the Court. Skydive Myrtle Beach, Inc. v. Horry Cty. Dep't of Airports, 735 Fed.Appx. 810 (4th Cir. 2018).

         PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

         Initially, each Plaintiff filed factually identical cases pro se, naming a large group of Defendants in each lawsuit. ECF No. 199 (citing initial pro se cases). The Court "considered consolidating the matters for pre-trial handling and trial but concluded that because each of the [P]laintiffs was pro se, consolidation would be problematic." ECF No. 199. Indeed, while Plaintiffs' cases proceeded individually and pro se, there were a large number of dispositive motions filed, leading to extensive briefing, many rulings by the Court, and several Amended Complaints.

         On July 10, 2018, nearly a year and a half after this federal litigation began, attorney Robert Bratton Varnado filed a Notice of Appearance on behalf of all Plaintiffs. ECF No. 191. The following day, Plaintiffs' counsel filed a Motion to Consolidate the individual cases and sought an extension of time to reply to the various pending dispositive motions. ECF No. 194. Generally, Defendants opposed consolidation, claiming defects in Plaintiffs' pleadings, failure to serve those pleadings or ...