Jan's Helicopter Service, Inc. v. F.A.A.

• Decision Date: 14 April 2008
• Docket Number: No. 2007-1410.,No. 2007-1411.,2007-1410.,2007-1411.
• Citation: 525 F.3d 1299
• Parties: JAN'S HELICOPTER SERVICE, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, Defendant-Appellee. Americopters, LLC, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Federal Aviation Administration, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit

525 F.3d 1299

JAN'S HELICOPTER SERVICE, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, Defendant-Appellee.

Americopters, LLC, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Federal Aviation Administration, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 2007-1410.

No. 2007-1411.

United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit.

April 14, 2008.

David P. Ledger, Carlsmith Ball LLP, of Hagatna, Guam, argued for plaintiff-appellant in Appeal Nos. 2007-1410 and 2007-1411. With him on the briefs was Elyze J. McDonald.

Kyle E. Chadwick, Senior Trial Counsel, Commerical Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, argued for defendant-appellee in Appeal Nos. 2007-1410 and 2007-1411. With him on the briefs was Jeanne E. Davidson, Director.

Before LINN, DYK, and PROST, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge DYK. Circuit Judge PROST dissents in part.

DYK, Circuit Judge.

Appellants Jan's Helicopter Service, Inc. ("Jan's") and Americopters, LLC ("Americopters"), appeal from decisions of the District Court of Guam transferring their claims against appellee Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA") to the United States Court of Federal Claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1631 (2000). Appellants are seeking money damages against the United States in excess of $10,000 for alleged regulatory takings. Therefore under the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1), the only court that could have subject matter jurisdiction over their claims is the Court of Federal Claims. We affirm the order of the District Court of Guam transferring appellants' claims to that court.

BACKGROUND

Jan's and Americopters both were engaged in helicopter-related businesses in Guam until 2002. Jan's was in the business of transporting helicopters by airplane from Guam International Airport to rental and lease customers in Micronesia. Americopters provided sightseeing helicopter rides to tourists in Guam, using the roof of a restaurant as a takeoff and landing site. Appellants allege that actions by the FAA in 2002 forced them to cease operations. Jan's alleges that on July 31, 2002, Lewis I. Zeigler, an FAA employee in San Francisco, sent an e-mail message to the Guam International Airport authorities directing the airport to halt Jan's flight operations because its transport aircraft did not have authority to operate. On August 9, 2002, airport authorities denied Jan's transport aircraft access to the airport taxiway, allegedly as a result of Zeigler's email. A second FAA employee, Monroe P. Balton, subsequently informed Jan's that, as "a preliminary finding," "it appears that Mr. Zeigler's conclusion was accurate." Jan's J.A. at 67. Guam airport authorities issued a notice on September 13, 2002, stating that, based on Balton's preliminary finding, the airport would restrict Jan's from using its transport aircraft "for commercial air activity at or out of our Airport." Id. at 70.

Americopters alleges that on June 24, 2002, Clarence Kanae, an FAA employee in Honolulu, issued a formal written statement directing Americopters to cease its flight operations because its rooftop helicopter-pad was unsafe and did not meet applicable design requirements.

Both Jan's and Americopters responded to the FAA's actions by seeking various forms of administrative review, including requesting hearings and filing formal complaints with the FAA. The FAA denied or failed to respond to each of these requests. On September 19, 2002, in a letter sent to appellants' counsel, the FAA explained that appellants were not entitled to hearings under 14 C.F.R. § 13.20(b), because that regulation "sets forth the procedures for requesting hearings where the FAA has issued orders of compliance, cease and desist orders, orders of denial, and other orders," and "[n]o such orders were issued with respect to the operations of [appellants]." Americopters J.A. at 85; Jan's J.A. at 79. This letter also stated that appellants "should be aware that [14 C.F.R. § 13.5] does not apply to complaints against the Administrator or complaints against FAA employees acting within the scope of their employment," id., and suggested that formal complaints filed under that regulation would therefore be unsuccessful. Appellants nonetheless filed formal complaints with the agency under 14 C.F.R. § 13.5 after receiving this letter; appellants allege that these complaints went unanswered.

In February 2003, Jan's and Americopters each filed separate but similar complaints in the District Court of Guam, alleging that the FAA's actions violated its own regulations and "constitute[d] a violation of due process under Amendment V to the United States Constitution and therefore, an illegal taking of [appellants'] property," and seeking restoration of their operating authority, "civil penalties pursuant to [14 C.F.R. §§ 13.15-.16]," and money damages for the alleged constitutional violations. Complaint at 5, Americopters, LLC v. FAA, No. 03-00005 (D.Guam filed Feb. 18, 2003); see also Complaint at 6-7, Jan's Helicopter Serv., Inc. v. FAA, No. 03-00002 (D.Guam filed Feb. 4, 2003). On motion by the FAA, the district court dismissed the complaints for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court held that the claims relating to the FAA's alleged violations of its regulations could only be filed as petitions for review of agency orders with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 46110(a), and that the constitutional claims were "inescapably intertwined with" the review of the agency orders.

Jan's and Americopters filed original petitions for review of the FAA's orders under section 46110(a) in the Ninth Circuit and also appealed the dismissal of their claims to the Ninth Circuit. The Ninth Circuit criticized both appellants and the government for the procedural confusion. The court stated that Jan's and Americopters "now find themselves in a sort of procedural limbo or netherworld, largely the making of the FAA," because of the agency's inconsistent legal positions as to the availability of review of the administrative actions, but also noted that appellants "contributed to this mess by taking their own wrong turns in litigating this case." Americopters, LLC v. FAA, 441 F.3d 726, 730 (9th Cir.2006). Addressing the petitions for review, the court held that because the petitions were filed much more than sixty days after the purported final orders were issued, they were therefore untimely. Id. at 733 (finding no reasonable grounds for delay). The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the administrative review claims, explaining that "if the Zeigler Email and Kanae Letter are final orders . . . § 46110 [providing the petition for review procedure] preempts the district court from considering these claims. But if they are not final, then the Administrative Procedure Act ('APA') bars the district court from hearing the case for lack of jurisdiction." Id. at 735 (citing 5 U.S.C. § 704). As to the district court's dismissal of the constitutional claims, however, the court held that the "inescapably intertwined" doctrine, designed to prevent collateral attacks on agency orders and to preserve the jurisdictional limitation of section 46110(a), did not apply in this case. The court explained that "[b]ecause there is no pending FAA order and because there were no previous agency determinations on the merits, no foundation supports the notion of `intertwining.'" Id. at 738. The Ninth Circuit therefore reversed the dismissal of the constitutional claims and remanded those claims to the district court. Id.

On remand, Jan's and Americopters filed amended complaints, each containing a single claim seeking damages for "violations of due process under Amendment V to the United States Constitution and therefore, an illegal taking of [appellants'] property." Americopters J.A. at 10-11; Jan's J.A. at 11. The FAA filed motions to dismiss the amended complaints under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state takings claims, because the appellants did not concede the lawfulness of the government's conduct. The FAA also filed motions in the alternative to transfer the cases under 28 U.S.C. § 1631, because appellants were seeking money damages from the United States in excess of $10,000 and therefore the Court of Federal Claims had exclusive jurisdiction under the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1491. In separate but nearly identical decisions issued on the same day, the district court did not address the Rule 12(b)(6) motions, because it held that transfer of both actions was proper under section 1631. The court found that Americopters and Jan's were alleging takings claims, based on the Ninth Circuit's description of the constitutional claims as "taking claims" and on the complaints' citation to the Fifth Amendment, and that the damages sought were in excess of $10,000. Because the district court found that it lacked jurisdiction over the claims under the Little Tucker Act, and that jurisdiction would be proper in the Court of Federal Claims under the Tucker Act, the district court granted appellee's motions to transfer the actions under 28 U.S.C. § 1631.

Jan's and Americopters timely appealed the transfer orders to this court. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(d)(4)(A).

DISCUSSION

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1631, when a civil action is filed in a federal district court that lacks jurisdiction over the action, "the court shall, if it is in the interest of justice, transfer such action . . . to any other such court in which the action . . . could have been brought at the time it was filed." We review a district court's decision to transfer a case to the Court of Federal Claims without deference. James v. Caldera, 159 F.3d 573, 578 (Fed.Cir. 1998). A case may be transferred under section 1631 only to a court that has subject matter jurisdiction. Souders v. S.C. Pub. Serv. Auth., 497 F.3d 1303, 1307 (Fed.Cir.2007). The propriety of the district court's...