Marozsan v. United States, S 84-500.

• Decision Date: 30 April 1986
• Docket Number: No. S 84-500.,S 84-500.
• Citation: 635 F. Supp. 578
• Parties: Stephen MAROZSAN, Plaintiff, v. The UNITED STATES of America and The Veterans Administration, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

635 F. Supp. 578

Stephen MAROZSAN, Plaintiff, v. The UNITED STATES of America and The Veterans Administration, Defendants.

No. S 84-500.

United States District Court, N.D. Indiana, South Bend Division.

April 30, 1986.

Philip R. Skodinski, South Bend, Ind., for plaintiff.

David H. Kreider, Asst. U.S. Atty., South Bend, Ind., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ALLEN SHARP, Chief Judge.

On August 15, 1984, plaintiff filed a complaint against the United States of America, U.S. Attorney General, The Veterans Administration, Harry N. Walters, Administrator, R.L. Hornbarger, Regional VA Adjudication Officer of Indiana, The National American Legion, Robert E. Lyngh, Director of Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation and the National American Legion Executive Officers, seeking five (5) million dollars in damages. On October 16, 1984, plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint naming the United States of America, The Veterans Administration and National American Legion as defendants. In his Amended Complaint, the plaintiff alleges that the Veterans Administration (V.A.) harassed him, failed to abide by Title 38 and its own rules and regulations, utilized a quota system and that the "use and existence of 38 U.S.C. Sec. 211 denies the Plaintiff due process of law, and the existence of violations permits the court to review Plaintiff's case pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 42." The relief requested by plaintiff with respect to his claim against the V.A. was restoration of plaintiff to his proper disability, retroactive benefits to day of disability and five million dollars ($5,000,000.00) in damages. In support of his claim against the National American Legion, the plaintiff alleges that R.E. Lyngh, Director of Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation for the National American Legion gave false and erroneous statements in his testimony before the congressional subcommittee on Oversights and Investigations and collaborated and conspired with the V.A. Plaintiff further alleged that the National American Legion had direct knowledge of the V.A.'s violations of Federal statutes and regulations and use of quota system but failed to advise the membership of those activities. On November 16, 1984, oral argument was held on the motions to dismiss filed by the various defendants At that time, all the defendants except the United States of America and the Veterans Administration were dismissed and the motion to dismiss filed by those two remaining defendants was converted to a motion for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. All parties have fully briefed the issues and the matter is ripe for ruling. Under Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment is appropriate where the record shows that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R. Civ.Proc. 56(c).

The United States of America, as sovereign, cannot be sued without its consent and the terms of its consent define the court's jurisdiction to entertain a suit. United States v. Mitchell, 445 U.S. 535, 538, 100 S.Ct. 1349, 1351, 63 L.Ed.2d 607 (1980); United States v. Testan, 424 U.S. 392, 399, 96 S.Ct. 948, 953-54, 47 L.Ed.2d 114 (1976). Any waiver of this immunity must be unequivocally expressed. United States v. King, 395 U.S. 1, 4, 89 S.Ct. 1501, 1502-03, 23 L.Ed.2d 52 (1969). Thus, if there is no statute granting jurisdiction generally over actions against the federal government, its officers or agencies, then such actions must find independent grounds for jurisdiction. Wright, Law of Federal Courts § 22 (West Publishing Co. 1983).

Section 211(a) of Title 38, United States Code, provides as follows:

(a) On and after October 17, 1940, except as provided in sections 775, 784, and as to matters arising under chapter 37 of this title, the decisions of the Administrator on any question of law or fact under any law administered by the Veterans' Administration providing benefits for veterans and their dependents or survivors shall be final and conclusive and no other official or any court of the United States shall have power or jurisdiction to review any such decision by an action in the nature of mandamus or otherwise.

The plain language of this statute unequivocally bars a court from hearing and reviewing an action challenging a decision of the V.A., even when a plaintiff alleges that the decision violates his constitutional rights. See, e.g. Anderson v. Veterans Administration, 559 F.2d 935 (5th Cir. 1977); Ross v. United States, 462 F.2d 618 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 984, 93 S.Ct. 326, 34 L.Ed.2d 249 (1972); DeRodulfa v. United States, 461 F.2d 1240 (D.C.Cir. 1972); Mulvaney v. Stetson, 470 F.Supp. 725 (N.D.Ill.1979); see also Johnson v. Robison, 415 U.S. 361, 94 S.Ct. 1160, 39 L.Ed.2d 389 (1974). Thus, to the extent that plaintiff's Amended Complaint challenges the decision of the V.A., it must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The Plaintiff's Amended Complaint also challenges the constitutionality of 38 U.S.C. § 211(a) on equal protection grounds under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and that claim is not barred by the "no judicial review" provision of Section 211(a). Johnson v. Robison, supra; Mulvaney v. Stetson, 470 F.Supp. at 729. Plaintiff's basic argument in support of this claim is that veterans are treated differently by being denied judicial review of their claims for entitlement to benefits and that the classification of veterans for such a purpose is unfair and unreasonable. The court does not find this argument persuasive.

The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, although couched in due process terms, includes the concept of equal protection of the laws. Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497, 499, 74 S.Ct. 693, 694, 98 L.Ed. 884 (1954). Accordingly, "the United States, as well as each of the several States, must accord every person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Eskra v. Morton, 524 F.2d 9 (7th Cir.1975). An individual's right to equal protection of the laws does not, however, deny Congress the power to treat different classes of persons in different ways.

The Supreme Court of the United States has developed a bifurcated approach for analyzing equal protection claims. If legislation affects a fundamental right or involves a suspect class, the legislation is subject to "strict scrutiny" and can be upheld only if a compelling governmental justification is demonstrated. Johnson v. Robison, 415 U.S. at 374 n. 13, 94 S.Ct. at 1169 n. 13, 14. When neither a suspect class nor a fundamental right is involved, a court then applies the "rational basis" standard which only requires that the legislative classification be reasonable and rationally related to legitimate governmental objectives. See, e.g., Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 97 S.Ct. 451, 50 L.Ed.2d 397 (1976).

V.A. beneficiaries and V.A. benefit programs do not fall within the "strict scrutiny" guidelines outlined above. Eligibility for veterans benefits does not depend upon the accident of birth or the vagaries of fate and veterans are not an historically persecuted class. See, e.g., Johnson v. Robison, supra; Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677, 685, 93 S.Ct. 1764, 1769, 36 L.Ed.2d 583 (1973); San Antonio School District v. Rodriquez, 411 U.S. 1, 28, 93 S.Ct. 1278, 1294, 36 L.Ed.2d 16 (1973); Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 372, 91 S.Ct. 1848, 1852, 29 L.Ed.2d 534 (1971). Nor, are veterans benefits a fundamental right. Cf. Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969) (interstate movement a fundamental right); Harper v. Virginia Bd. of Elections, 383 U.S. 663, 86 S.Ct. 1079, 16 L.Ed.2d 169 (1966) (voting a fundamental right); Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973) (procreation a fundamental right); Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 76 S.Ct. 585, 100 L.Ed. 891 (1956) (certain procedural right in criminal cases are fundamental) with Johnson v. Robison, supra, (veterans education benefits not a fundamental right); Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 96 S.Ct. 893, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976) (social security disability benefits not a fundamental right); Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 90 S.Ct. 1153, 25 L.Ed.2d 491 (1970) (welfare benefits not a fundamental right). Accordingly, the court must apply the lower tier of equal protection analysis in this case, or in other words, the "legislation must classify the persons it affects in a manner rationally related to legitimate governmental objectives." Schweiker v. Wilson, 450 U.S. 221, 230, 101 S.Ct. 1074, 1080-81, 67 L.Ed.2d 186 (1981).

The rational basis test was described in Johnson v. Robison, supra as follows:

"Although an individual's right to equal protection of the laws does not deny ... the power to treat different classes of persons in different ways; ... it denies the power to legislate that different treatment be accorded to persons placed by a criteria wholly unrelated to the objective of that statute. A classification `must be reasonable, not arbitrary, and must rest upon some ground of difference having a fair and substantial relation to the objection of the legislation, so that all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike.'"

415 U.S. at 374-75, 94 S.Ct. at 1169-70; see also Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 216, 102 S.Ct. 2382, 2394, 72 L.Ed.2d 786 (1982); Mathews v. DeCastro, 429 U.S. 181, 185, 97 S.Ct. 431, 434, 50...