## Facts

- Long Island Sound borders New York and Connecticut and serves as the waterway to ports in both states.
- Interport Pilots Agency, Inc. and three member pilots were licensed by Connecticut (and federally), but not by New York.
- The Connecticut pilots began offering pilotage services for vessels entering and leaving New York ports on Long Island Sound, including via a route they claimed was shorter than routes used by New York-licensed pilots.
- The New York Board of Commissioners of Pilots adopted and communicated policies that effectively discouraged shippers from using Connecticut-licensed pilots for New York-port transits on the Sound.
- Plaintiffs alleged New York’s actions unlawfully denied them the ability to compete for pilotage work to New York ports and harmed their prospective business opportunities.

## Issues

1. Whether 46 U.S.C. § 8501(b) (Federal Boundary Waters Act) applies to Long Island Sound so that vessels entering or leaving New York ports on the Sound may use Connecticut-licensed pilots.
2. Whether the Board’s conduct deprived plaintiffs of a constitutionally protected liberty or property interest in violation of substantive due process under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
3. Whether the Board deprived plaintiffs of a protected interest without adequate procedures in violation of procedural due process under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
4. Whether the Board’s notices and related conduct constituted tortious interference with prospective economic advantage under state law.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit affirmed the judgment in full.
- The court held that Long Island Sound falls within § 8501(b) as waters that are a boundary between two states, and vessels using the Sound to enter or leave New York ports may employ pilots licensed by either New York or Connecticut.
- The court rejected plaintiffs’ § 1983 claims, concluding they did not show a protected entitlement to specific pilotage assignments or conduct meeting the constitutional threshold for substantive due process.
- The court rejected the tortious interference claim, finding the Board’s actions, taken in a regulatory capacity, did not satisfy the elements required for liability.

## Legal Principles

- Under 46 U.S.C. § 8501(b), when waters function as a boundary between two states, a vessel entering or leaving a port on those waters may employ a pilot licensed by either state.
- State pilotage regulation must yield where it conflicts with federal pilotage authorization applicable to boundary waters.
- Economic expectations to compete for work, without a state-law entitlement to a particular assignment, generally do not constitute a protected property interest for procedural due process purposes.
- Substantive due process does not constitutionalize ordinary economic disputes with regulators absent conduct that is sufficiently arbitrary in a constitutional sense.
- Tortious interference with prospective economic advantage requires wrongful or improper means beyond adverse effects from regulators acting within their official responsibilities.

## Conclusion

The court construed § 8501(b) to treat Long Island Sound as boundary waters, permitting Connecticut-licensed pilots to pilot vessels to and from New York ports on the Sound, while affirming dismissal of related constitutional and tort claims for lack of a protected entitlement and insufficiently wrongful conduct.


Interport Pilots Agency, Inc. v. Sammis, 14 F.3d 133 (2d Cir. 1994)