Adair v. U.S.
| Decision Date | 30 July 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 2006-5077.,2006-5077. |
| Citation | 497 F.3d 1244 |
| Parties | Frank E. ADAIR, Cynthia A. Adams, Joseph Aldridge, Emory T. Allen, Jodee B. Anderson, Alfredo Arias, Joseph W. Arnett, Lisa D. Ayres, Clyde J. Baker, Sr., Paul E. Barnard, Charles M. Bell, Anthony O. Benjamin, Roy E. Beverly, Archie S. Boatright, Jr., Terry James Boulineau, John Bradford, Mary Ann Branch, Danny L. Brantley, Jodi Britt, Yancie W. Britt, Michael E. Brown, Prentice Kerry Brown, Willie M. Brown, Donret G. Buckley, Gregory A. Bullman, Michael R. Bunch, Jonathan Nathaniel Cann, Thomas Way Carter, Erin J. Chalfant, Georgia A. Clark, Tyrone Clark, Richard L. Clemons, Thomas D. Coffey, Debra R. Coleman, Charles S. Collins, Jay D. Collins, Randy L. Courson, Earl F. Cox, Vincent L. Crawford, Van F. Crews, Sr., Anthony Dancer, Debra Davis, Robin Davis, Darius E. Dela Cruz, William Leslie Delk, Richard Eugene Denson, Ricky Dent, Sandra Dickens, James Diller, Jeff A. Dollar, Charles Mitchell Dowling, Glenn Dunlap, Sr., Karen S. Dunn, James O. Echols, Jr., Allen Edenfield, Brian Keith Edmunds, Kerry Edwards, Donald J. Enfinger, Timothy Estep, Retina D. Felton, Dan Force, Jerry C. Forsyth, Jr., Kerry S. Frasier, Dale T. Fredericks, Billy R. Fulks, Charles Futch, Edward L. Gannom, Rodolfo Garcia, Jr., Brian D. Gartner, Marina Gibson, Amos Gibson, IV, Robert Gill, Merle Goarcke, Donald Wayne Graham, Gabrielson Greer, Brian Donald Hagan, Gordan R. Haggard, Randall E. Hand, George A. Hargrove, Beth Hargrove, J. Brian Harrell, Lavada Yvonne Harrell, Luther F. Harter, Brenda A. Hearn, Joe Heatherly, II, Stephen Henriksen, Benjamin James Hockensmith, James Hodge, Floyd Howard, Scott L. Hoyle, Thomas W. Hutcheson, Waldemar Rosario Inigo, Ervin A. Jackson, Nathaniel V. Jackson, Lance E. James, David L. Jarnigan, Tracey Jermon, Bobby Lee Johnson, Donald L. Johnson, Christopher Jones, Michael J. Jones, Edward J. Jones, Jr., Damon Kennedy, Manuel King, Mark B. King, James W. Lankford, Carmon M. Larue, Renee C. Lee, Jay Jimmie Lee Leggett, Kristie Leggett, Jeanne Leroux, Cedric W. Lindsey, Alvin Levon Lovett, Horace David Lowman, G. Eric Mallard, Shawn R. Manning, Primus Mansfield, Jr., Joseph Todd Martel, Robert G. Massey, William Robert Mathis, Jr., Allen Matthews, Ronnie D. Mauldin, Edward F. Mauro, Reginald B. McEuen, Ronald H. McGowan, Jr., Diane L. McGriff, Norwood B. McQuaig, Jr., James Q. McRae, III, Jonathan Mead, Janet Medders, Rickey Miles, Cami Miller, Randy Milton, Nash D. Mitchell, Benjamin Moore, Johnny E. Moore, Patrick C. Moore, Oscar J. Moore, Justin Moran, Delma L. Moseley, Joseph Moseley, Wayne Moseley, James C. Moye, Lawrence R. Nanoy, Dwight Arlington Newbould, Ellis Lee Nichols, Steen W. Nile, Michael W. Nowling, Marvin Orange, Melissa Orvin, Ignacio J. Palacio, David M. Parker, Ricky E. Parker, R.F. Pasley, Robert T. Pitts, II, Wesley K. Popwell, Natasha D. Porter, William H.S. Pratt, Thomas Eugene Presson, Annie Arbuthnot Price, Thomas N. Price, Earl Quarterman, Anita A. Rabidou, Randall A. Reid, Ronnie C. Reid, Jennifer Ricks, Willie H. Roach, Jr., Chad E. Roberson, Frank Robertson, Mario Robinson, Neal A. Rogers, Jason Rogers, Reco Roncaglione, William D. (Dave) Rowland, Jefferey L. Russell, Joanne Santoyo, John C. Schell, Marcus V. Scott, Ricky Sheffield, Donald (Ray) Shiflet, Billy M. Singleton, Marvin Slusser, Jeffrey Smith, Frances A. Smith, Bobby L. Smith, Jr., Robert J. Smith, Jr., Sean L. Snook, Doris E. Spell, Larry D. Spell, Leonard F. Spell, Walter Spence, Scott N. Stanley, Richard D. Starnes, Billy Ray Stoddard, Jeffrey Strickland, Angela Strickland, Christopher J. Strickland, Danny Sullivan, Maria L. Sumner, Randall Leslie Sumner, Frederick C. Sweat, Stacey R. Sweat, Billy R. Talley, Richard E. Tanner, Ronald E. Taylor, Miguel A. Terradas, III, Roy Thomas, Alan Thomason, Bobby L. Thomson, Jeremy J. Todd, Paulino Torres, Yolanda Tubbs, Donald L. Vanhuss, Gary Waher, Jr., Bradley Walker, Glenn Walker, Paulette Walker, Gerald W. Walley, Debraca Walthour, Helen H. Washington, Guylee D. Washington, Jr., John K. Wellington, Clyde Weston, Cameron P. Wheeler, Danny Wheeler, Arthur L. Williams, Joseph M. Williams, Gary E. Williams, Sr., Connie L. Windham, Calvin L. Wingate, Mark Wolfort, Thomas Wood, Jacquelyn N. Wright, John G. Yawn, And Ashley A. Young, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit |
Wallace E. Harrell, Gilbert, Harrell, Summerford & Martin, P.C., of Brunswick, GA, argued for plaintiffs-appellants. With him on the brief was James L. Roberts, IV.
Douglas K. Mickle, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, argued for defendant-appellee. With him on the brief were Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General and Todd M. Hughes, Assistant Director. Of counsel on the brief was Melanie Watson, Office of Personnel Management, Office of General Counsel, of Washington, DC. Of counsel was Alicia Daniels-Lewis, Labor Law Branch, Federal Bureau of Prisons, of Atlanta, GA.
Before MICHEL, Chief Judge, GAJARSA and DYK, Circuit Judges.
Adair et al. (hereinafter "Adair"), prison guards at the Federal Correctional Institution ("FCI") in Jesup, Georgia, appeal from the final decision of the United States Court of Federal Claims dismissing their complaint seeking enhanced back pay for their exposure to inmates' smoking for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the Tucker Act. Adair v. United States, 70 Fed.Cl. 65 (2006). Discerning no reversible error on the part of the Court of Federal Claims, we affirm the judgment of dismissal on the alternative ground that the appellants failed to state a claim for which relief can be granted. The statutes and implementing regulations the complaint invokes simply do not apply to Adair because they do not cover second-hand smoke.
The Adair appellants are former and current (1) General Schedule employees under the Classification Act of 1979 and (2) Wage Supervisor or Wage Grade employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the FCI in Jesup, Georgia. In 2005, the Adair employees sued the United States government in the Court of Federal Claims for back pay, hazard pay, environmental hazard pay, and contributions to thrift savings accounts pursuant to 5 U.S.C. §§ 5545(d) () and 5343(c)(4) () based on their exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke ("ETS") (i.e., second-hand cigarette smoke) at their workplace. The government filed a motion to dismiss the complaint under Rule 12(b)(1) () and Rule 12(b)(6) () of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims ("RCFC").1 After the parties briefed the alternative bases for the government's motion for dismissal, the Court of Federal Claims dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under RCFC 12(b)(1). Adair, 70 Fed.Cl. at 80. This timely appeal followed. After oral argument, we sought and received from the parties supplemental briefing. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(3) to review the trial court's decision and hence what we consider to be the crux of this case, namely whether ETS is covered by the statutes at issue as interpreted in the regulations implemented by the Office of Personnel Management ("OPM").
We review de novo the Court of Federal Claims' dismissal of a claim for lack of jurisdiction. First Hartford Corp. Pension Plan & Trust v. United States, 194 F.3d 1279, 1286-87 (Fed.Cir.1999). We also review without deference the Court of Federal Claims' interpretation of statutes, W. Co. of N. Am. v. United States, 323 F.3d 1024, 1029 (Fed.Cir.2003), and its RCFC 12(b)(6) analysis, viewing the facts alleged as true, Samish Indian Nation v. United States, 419 F.3d 1355, 1363-64 (Fed.Cir.2005).
The Tucker Act confers jurisdiction upon the Court of Federal Claims for claims against the United States for money damages "founded either upon the Constitution, or any Act of Congress or any regulation of an executive department, or upon any express or implied contract with the United States, or for liquidated or unliquidated damages in cases not sounding in tort" and waives the government's sovereign immunity for these claims. 28 U.S.C. § 1491; United States v. Mitchell, 463 U.S. 206, 212, 103 S.Ct. 2961, 77 L.Ed.2d 580 (1983) (Mitchell II). Thus, the Tucker Act does not create any substantive right enforceable against the United States for money damages, but merely confers jurisdiction when such a right is conferred elsewhere. United States v. White Mountain Apache Tribe, 537 U.S. 465, 472, 123 S.Ct. 1126, 155 L.Ed.2d 40 (2003). When the source of such alleged right is a statute, it can only support jurisdiction if it qualifies, as most statutes do not, as money-mandating. White Mountain, 537 U.S. at 473, 123 S.Ct. 1126.
In Mitchell II, 463 U.S. at 217, 103 S.Ct. 2961 (quoting United States v. Testan, 424 U.S. 392, 400, 96 S.Ct. 948, 47 L.Ed.2d 114 (1976)), the Supreme Court held that a statute is money-mandating only if it "`can fairly be interpreted as mandating compensation by the Federal Government for the damage sustained.'" The Mitchell II "fair interpretation" rule is satisfied when the statute is "reasonably amenable to the reading" that it is money-mandating. White Mountain, 537 U.S. at 473, 123 S.Ct. 1126. Thus, Tucker Act jurisdiction requires merely that the statute be "fairly interpreted" or "reasonably amendable" to the interpretation that it "mandates a right of recovery in damages," White Mountain, 537 U.S. at 472-73, 123 S.Ct. 1126, not that a plaintiff-appellant...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- Wolfchild v. United States
-
Bank of Guam v. U.S.
... ... Cir.2007). This Court reviews a dismissal of a claim for lack of jurisdiction by the Court of Federal Claims de novo. Adair v. United States, 497 F.3d 1244, 1250 (Fed. Cir.2007). A well pleaded allegation of a breach of either an express or implied-in-fact contract is ... This does not prevent us from dismissing those claims, however, because, as explained below, those claims were properly dismissed pursuant to RCFC 12(b)(6). See Adair, 497 ... ...
- Perry v. United States
- Mass. Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. United States