West 14th Street Commercial Corp. v. 5 West 14th Owners Corp.

How later courts describe this case

• holding that FERC’s interpretation of a settlement agreement between the Commission’s staff and a private party was entitled to Chevron deference
• discussing why a lease is a "contract" within meaning of the Act
• even if Staff is considered a “party” to settlement negotiations, the Commission itself does not thereby become improperly involved in negotiations
• use of the term “set up” in a familial context implied that one family member provided an opportunity to another family member on the basis of kinship, not merit
• "if the agency itself were an interested party ... deference might lead a court to endorse self-serving views that an agency might offer...."
• “[A] plaintiff may prove the defendant’s subjective state of mind through the cumulation of circumstantial evidence.”
• “if the agency itself were an interested party ... deference might lead a court to endorse self-serving views that an agency might of-fer_”
• court should defer to agency’s construction of agreement