Wydra v. Law Enforcement Assistance Admin., 83-1287

• Decision Date: 02 December 1983
• Docket Number: No. 83-1287,83-1287
• Citation: 722 F.2d 834
• Parties: Gloria WYDRA, Petitioner, v. LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE ADMINISTRATION, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics, and United States of America, Respondents.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 834

722 F.2d 834

232 U.S.App.D.C. 348

Gloria WYDRA, Petitioner, v. LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE ADMINISTRATION, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics, and United States of America, Respondents.

No. 83-1287.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Nov. 10, 1983.

Decided Dec. 2, 1983.

Petition for Review of an Order of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Research and Statistics.

Howard K. Cherna, Miami, Fla., for petitioner.

Carlene V. McIntyre, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., with whom J. Paul McGrath, Asst. Atty. Gen. and Barbara L. Herwig, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., were on brief, for respondents.

Before WILKEY and WALD, Circuit Judges, and MACKINNON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge WALD.

WALD, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from a denial of benefits under the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act (PSOBA), 42 U.S.C. Secs. 3796-3796c, by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA). We must first determine whether we have jurisdiction to review the LEAA's decision. Two courts of appeals have previously determined that they did not have jurisdiction to review decisions under the PSOBA, see Russell v. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, 637 F.2d 354 (5th Cir.1981) [hereinafter cited as Elaine Russell ]; Lankford v. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, 620 F.2d 35 (4th Cir.1980), while one court has come to the opposite conclusion. See Russell v. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, 637 F.2d 1255 (9th Cir.1980) [hereinafter cited as Donna Sue Russell ]. Since these three decisions, Congress has made minor revisions in the sections construed. We conclude that under the statute as it now stands we do not have jurisdiction to hear this appeal. However, because the United States Claims Court does have jurisdiction, we will transfer this action to the Claims Court.

I. BACKGROUND

William Wydra, a member of the Metro-Dade County, Florida, Public Safety Department, accidentally shot and killed himself on or about September 4, 1981, in the course of an overnight trip made in order to accompany an extradited prisoner from New Jersey to Florida. His widow filed a claim with the LEAA for death benefits pursuant to the Public Safety Officer's Benefits Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 3796-3796c. ¹ The claim was initially denied on April 29, 1982, on the basis of a determination that the injury did not occur "in the line of duty" as required by the statute. ² This determination was reversed by a hearing officer after a hearing conducted pursuant to agency regulations. ³ However, on January 24, 1983, the Acting Administrator of the LEAA rendered a final agency decision against the claimant, finding that Officer Wydra's death did not occur in the line of duty. ⁴ The petitioner then filed an action in this court for judicial review of the LEAA's denial of benefits.

II. JURISDICTION

The LEAA contends that this court is without jurisdiction to review its decision. It argues that no provision for judicial review appears in the PSOBA and that the legislative history indicates no congressional intent to provide for judicial review in this court. It argues further that section 3785, relied on by the petitioner, establishes jurisdiction in the court of appeals only to review decisions concerning the various law enforcement grants administered pursuant to subchapters I through VII, and not decisions concerning benefits under the PSOBA, contained in subchapter XII. We agree.

This court has only the jurisdiction conferred upon it by Congress. See, e.g., American Federation of Labor v. NLRB, 308 U.S. 401, 404, 60 S.Ct. 300, 302, 84 L.Ed. 347 (1940); Elaine Russell, 637 F.2d at 355. There is nothing in the language or legislative history of the PSOBA, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 3796-3796c, concerning judicial review or the forum in which it shall be granted. The claimant therefore relies on 42 U.S.C. Sec. 3785, ⁵ the provision governing appellate review under certain sections of chapter 46, concerning "Justice System Improvements," in which the PSOBA is codified. Although section 3785 does not explicitly apply to benefits decisions under section 3796, the claimant argues that it may reasonably be construed to extend to those decisions.

Under the predecessor of section 3785, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 3759, ⁶ the circuits were divided on the question of whether its provisions for judicial review applied to final LEAA decisions denying benefits under the PSOBA sections of chapter 46. The Fourth Circuit decided in Lankford, 620 F.2d 35, that neither section 3759 nor any other section of chapter 46 conferred jurisdiction on the circuit courts to review decisions under the PSOBA.

The Ninth Circuit reached a contrary conclusion, however, in Donna Sue Russell, 537 F.2d 1255. The court assumed that if it were without jurisdiction then no court would have jurisdiction. Id. at 1259. Relying heavily upon the presumption against the wholesale preclusion of review of agency action, ⁷ the court construed what it read as the ambiguous language and inconclusive legislative history of section 3759 to confer jurisdiction on the circuit courts to review decisions under the PSOBA. See id. at 1259-60.

Shortly thereafter, the Fifth Circuit decided Elaine Russell, 637 F.2d 354, in which it agreed with the Fourth Circuit decision in Lankford that it had no jurisdiction. Id. at 356-57. Although the court in Elaine Russell did not take note of the Donna Sue Russell decision, it noted, contrary to that decision, that the case could be heard by the United States Court of Claims; it was thus unencumbered by the presumption against precluding judicial review. The court accordingly transferred the action to the Court of Claims. ⁸

We are faced with a slightly different statutory scheme than that which gave rise to this split among the circuits. On December 27, 1979, Congress enacted the Judicial System Improvement Act, which revised and reorganized statutes governing the LEAA and related federal agencies. Pub.L. No. 96-157, 93 Stat. 1167-1223, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 3701-3797. This enactment did not change PSOBA sections 3796 through 3796c. However, it did reorganize the sections to which the Fourth, Fifth and Ninth Circuits looked to determine whether the circuit courts had jurisdiction. There is no evidence in the legislative history that Congress intended to affect, or even considered, the application of those sections to PSOBA claims. We must therefore turn to an examination of the language and structure of those sections.

Before undertaking this inquiry, however, we note our agreement with the conclusion of the Fifth Circuit in Elaine Russell, 637 F.2d at 356, that we need not invoke the strong presumption against precluding judicial review. There can no longer be any doubt that the Claims Court, as it is now called, ⁹ has jurisdiction to review decisions under the PSOBA. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1491 provides that "[t]he United States Claims Court shall have jurisdiction to render judgment upon any claim against the United States founded upon ... any Act of Congress." Appellate courts, the former Court of Claims and the new Claims Court have recognized the application of this language to claims for benefits under the PSOBA. See, e.g., Elaine Russell, 637 F.2d at 356; North v. United States, 555 F.Supp. 382 (Cl.Ct.1982); Smykowski v. United States, 647 F.2d 1103 (Ct.Cl.1981); Harold v. United States, 634 F.2d 547 (Ct.Cl.1980). Indeed, the LEAA has taken the position before this court that jurisdiction lies in the Claims Court. ¹⁰ In our examination of the language and legislative history of the relevant statutory sections, therefore, we need not focus upon whether there is a clear expression of congressional intent to preclude review. ¹¹ We must determine simply whether the statute is most reasonably construed as conferring jurisdiction on this court to review claims under the PSOBA.

Section 3785 provides in part, as follows:

(a) If an applicant or recipient is dissatisfied with a final action with respect to section 3783, 3784, or 3789(c)(2)(G) of this title, such applicant or recipient may, within sixty days after notice of such action, file with the United States court of appeals for the circuit in which such applicant or recipient is located, or in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a petition for review of the action.

We begin with the obvious, though not decisive, observation that Congress could have clearly expressed its intent to afford judicial review in the courts of appeals either by explicitly providing for it in the PSOBA itself or by adding the PSOBA--sections 3796 through 3796c--to the list in section 3785 of statutory sections under which review is provided. It did neither, however. Although it is still possible that section 3785 implicitly provides for review of final agency action under the PSOBA, we investigate this possibility in light of Congress' failure to take either of two very simple steps to avoid any ambiguity or misunderstanding about the availability of review in the circuit courts.

We must determine whether any of the three designated statutory sections for which review is authorized--3783, 3784, or 3789d(c)(2)(G)--can fairly be read to encompass decisions under the PSOBA. ¹² The last statutory section referred to in section 3785, section 3789d(c)(2)(G), provides for sanctions against discrimination in programs funded under the chapter, and is not relevant here. Section 3783, set forth in the margin, ¹³ cannot reasonably be construed to apply to decisions concerning PSOB death benefits. First, such a construction would require us to read "grant application" to apply to benefits claims under the PSOBA although "recipient" or "grantee," as used in the same paragraph, cannot possibly encompass successful claimants under the PSOBA: Section 3783 provides for...