Stevedoring Services of America, Inc. v. Eggert
| Decision Date | 05 November 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-35015,90-35015 |
| Citation | 953 F.2d 552 |
| Parties | STEVEDORING SERVICES OF AMERICA, INC., formerly Seattle Stevedore Company, a California Corporation, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Edward M. EGGERT; Jodi Eggert, his wife; and the marital community composed thereof, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Craig R. Elkins, Bellevue, Wash., James R. Walsh, Lynnwood, Wash., for defendants-appellants.
Richard Martin Slagle, Williams, Kasner & Gibbs, Seattle, Wash., for plaintiff-appellee.
Joshua T. Gillelan II, Office of Solicitor, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D.C., for Director of Dept. of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, as amicus curiae.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Before TANG, O'SCANNLAIN and LEAVY, Circuit Judges.
Edward M. Eggert ("Eggert") appeals the district court's order granting summary judgment in favor of Stevedoring Services of America, Inc. ("Stevedoring"). Eggert alleges that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to decide this case. Specifically, Eggert contends that the district court erroneously implied a federal cause of action under the Longshore Harbor Workers' Compensation Act ("LHWCA" or "Act") for recoupment of alleged overcompensation paid to Eggert. We agree with Eggert that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction and therefore we reverse and vacate the judgment below.
Eggert was injured several times in 1978, 1979, and 1980. On January 26, 1980, he was injured while working for Stevedoring. On July 14, 1981, an administrative law judge ("ALJ") awarded Eggert disability pay under the LHWCA pursuant to 33 U.S.C. § 919(c), (d). The ALJ awarded Eggert $380.78 per week from December 6, 1980, through the date of the order. The order further provided for the continuation of payments to retrain Eggert.
Stevedoring appealed the 1981 order and moved for reconsideration. On July 12, 1985, the Benefits Review Board ("BRB") vacated the 1981 Order and remanded the case for reconsideration of whether Stevedoring was liable for Eggert's injury and whether the injury was permanent.
On remand, Stevedoring introduced additional evidence. The ALJ preliminarily noted that Eggert had concealed income that he had received at the same time he was receiving compensation benefits. The ALJ further noted that Eggert had misrepresented his medical condition to the doctors evaluating him, which affected their diagnosis of his condition. The ALJ, however, did conclude that Eggert's claim for benefits did have some legitimacy, stating that:
Claimant has objective evidence of degenerative disk disease, and did suffer the injuries claimed. It is not unreasonable for him to have assumed that his inability to perform longshore work from January, 1980 through July, 1980, and again after December 6, 1980, was due, at least in part, to his various industrial accidents.... I decline to award [Stevedoring] costs under section 26 of the [LHWCA].
The ALJ then turned to the issues submitted to him on remand from the BRB. The ALJ ruled that two non-industrial accidents were separate and intervening causes of Eggert's disability. Consequently, on March 9, 1987, the ALJ ordered that Stevedoring was only liable to pay Eggert compensation for the period January 26, 1980, through April 15, 1980. The ALJ further held that Stevedoring was entitled to a credit for all sums after April 15, 1980.
Neither Eggert nor Stevedoring appealed the 1987 order. In a subsequent order, the ALJ awarded Stevedoring an attorney's fee of $60 against Eggert as a sanction for having made proceedings to compel discovery necessary.
On February 23, 1989, Stevedoring filed a complaint in United States District Court for the Western District of Washington to recover alleged overpayment of disability benefits paid to Eggert. Because Stevedoring had continued to pay Eggert disability benefits up until the issuance of the March 1987 order, Stevedoring claimed that Eggert had been overpaid $96,651.55 in compensation. The parties brought cross-motions for summary judgment. The court granted Stevedoring's motion and ordered Eggert to reimburse Stevedoring $96,651.55, plus interest, for the excess payments. Eggert appeals. 1
The existence of subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law reviewed de novo. Kruso v. International Tel. & Tel. Corp., 872 F.2d 1416, 1421 (9th Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 3217, 110 L.Ed.2d 664 (1990). The district court's factual findings on jurisdictional issues must be accepted unless clearly erroneous. Stock West, Inc. v. Confederated Tribes, 873 F.2d 1221, 1225 (9th Cir.1989).
I. SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION
Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. "A federal court is presumed to lack jurisdiction in a particular case unless the contrary affirmatively appears." Stock West, 873 F.2d at 1225. The district court ruled that it had federal question jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1331, because Stevedoring's action was fundamentally a suit to enforce an administrative order of the ALJ.
Under the LHWCA, federal district courts have jurisdiction to enforce certain ALJ orders. First, they have jurisdiction under 33 U.S.C. § 921(d), to enforce any order awarding workers' compensation. 2 Second, they have jurisdiction under 33 U.S.C. § 918(a) to enter judgment on an administrative supplementary order that declares an amount of default by an employer in a compensation award. 3 Both of these provisions concern employers who are in default in payment of a compensation award and are thus inapplicable here.
Finally, pursuant to 33 U.S.C. § 927(b), the district courts may punish as contempt of court any disobedience or resistance to a lawful order or process issued in the course of administrative proceedings under the Act. 4 Importantly, this provision relates to all persons in proceedings under the Act. A direct order of an ALJ to a claimant can be compelled by the district court using the means available for punishing contempt. In conjunction with these grants of jurisdiction, the Act also requires that proceedings for suspending, setting aside, or enforcing a compensation order, whether rejecting a claim or making an award, shall not be instituted otherwise than as provided by 33 U.S.C. §§ 918 and 921. 33 U.S.C. § 921(e).
The district court held that it had jurisdiction because it was enforcing the ALJ's administrative order. While there may have been jurisdiction pursuant to 33 U.S.C. § 927(b) if the ALJ had issued a direct order to Eggert to pay Stevedoring a sum certain, the March 1987 order did not do this. The order merely provided Stevedoring a credit for payments previously made. It would be inconsistent to award the allowance of a credit and concurrently to give Stevedoring an award of reimbursement. Because Stevedoring's complaint was not an action to enforce compliance with a direct order of the ALJ, there is no jurisdiction under section 927(b). As there are no other statutory provisions under the LHWCA authorizing the district court's jurisdiction, see 33 U.S.C. § 921(e), we are as yet unable to find a basis for federal jurisdiction.
The district court also ruled that Stevedoring had an implied cause of action under the LHWCA. The district court reasoned that there was nothing in the Act which precluded Stevedoring from being reimbursed for an alleged overpayment of compensation benefits.
In Sample v. Johnson, 771 F.2d 1335, 1344-47 (9th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1019, 106 S.Ct. 1206, 89 L.Ed.2d 319 (1986), we considered whether to imply a cause of action under the LHWCA in a different context. 5 Our reasoning in Johnson is instructive here. Quoting Mobil Oil Corp. v. Higginbotham, 436 U.S. 618, 625, 98 S.Ct. 2010, 2015, 56 L.Ed.2d 581 (1978), we reiterated that " '[t]here is a basic difference between filling a gap left by Congress' silence and rewriting rules that Congress has affirmatively and specifically enacted.' " Johnson, 771 F.2d at 1345-46. Thus, our preeminent inquiry is whether Congress has specifically enacted LHWCA provisions that regulate the ability of an employer to recover overpayments of compensation from claimants.
Contrary to the judgment of the district court, we hold that the Act does regulate the ability of employers to recoup alleged overcompensation from claimants. Because Congress has not been silent concerning the availability of an appropriate remedy under the LHWCA, the district court erred in holding that the Act did not preclude Stevedoring's implied cause of action under the LHWCA for repayment of alleged overcompensation from the claimant.
The LHWCA contains three provisions dealing with payments in excess of what is later determined to have been due. First, "[i]f the employer has made advance payments of compensation, he shall be entitled to be reimbursed out of any unpaid installment or installments of compensation due." 33 U.S.C. § 914(j). This section allows the employer a credit for its prior payments of compensation against any compensation subsequently found due. See Phillips v. Marine Concrete Structures, Inc., 877 F.2d 1231, 1234 (5th Cir.1989), reinstated in relevant part, 895 F.2d 1033, 1036 (5th Cir.1990) (en banc). Section 914(j) aims at reimbursing an employer for the amount of its advance payments, where these payments were too generous, for however long this takes, out of unpaid compensation found to be due. Tibbetts v. Bath Iron Works Corp., 10 Ben.Rev.Bd.Serv. (MB) 245, 249 (1979), cited in Phillips, 877 F.2d at 1234. However, section 914(j) also shows a congressional recognition that there might not...
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