Western Steel Buildings, Inc. v. Adams

• Decision Date: 18 April 1968
• Docket Number: Civ. A. 67-C-583.
• Citation: 286 F. Supp. 570
• Parties: WESTERN STEEL BUILDINGS, INC., a Colorado corporation; B & C Steel Corporation, a Nebraska corporation, Plaintiffs, v. Robert W. ADAMS; Donald D. Ryan; Leonard J. Walker; United States of America; Nelson, Haley, Patterson and Quirk, Inc.; Penn Metal Company, Inc.; Joseph F. Herrick, Jr.; Wallace Ashby; W. V. Hukill and Alfred D. Edgar, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Colorado

286 F. Supp. 570

WESTERN STEEL BUILDINGS, INC., a Colorado corporation; B & C Steel Corporation, a Nebraska corporation, Plaintiffs, v. Robert W. ADAMS; Donald D. Ryan; Leonard J. Walker; United States of America; Nelson, Haley, Patterson and Quirk, Inc.; Penn Metal Company, Inc.; Joseph F. Herrick, Jr.; Wallace Ashby; W. V. Hukill and Alfred D. Edgar, Defendants.

Civ. A. 67-C-583.

United States District Court D. Colorado.

April 18, 1968.

James L. Treece, Denver, Colo., for plaintiffs. Thomas E. McCarthy and R. W. Sullivan, Denver, Colo., and Doyle T. Johns, Jr., Fort Morgan, Colo., for defendants Robert W. Adams, Donald D. Ryan and Leonard J. Walker.

Mike Hilgers, Denver, Colo., for defendant Penn Metal Co., Inc.

Robert E. Long, Asst. U. S. Atty., Denver, Colo., for defendants United States, Joseph F. Herrick, Jr., Wallace Ashby, W. V. Hukill and Alfred D. Edgar.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ARRAJ, Chief Judge.

The complaint asserts jurisdiction under the provisions of the Federal Tort Claims Act, Title 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b). Answers, counterclaims, cross-claims and various motions were filed by the respective defendants, including a motion to dismiss by the United States. In considering the latter motion our attention became focused on the question of whether we have jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action. Counsel were informed and were given the opportunity to file additional briefs. Defendant United States of America moved for summary judgment. Some additional briefs were filed and the matter is now ripe for determination.

The pertinent facts are as follows. In June of 1966 the plaintiffs were employed by defendants Robert W. Adams, Donald D. Ryan and Leonard J. Walker to construct a potato storage warehouse at Wiggins, Colorado. Plaintiffs thereafter employed an architectural firm, Nelson, Haley, Patterson and Quirk, Inc., to prepare the plans and specifications for the warehouse. In designing the building the architectural firm allegedly referred to and relied upon certain stress tables contained in a 1960 publication of the Department of Agriculture, AMS-401, entitled "Pressures on Walls of Potato Storage Bins". It is further alleged that these stress tables contained erroneous data. After completion of the warehouse by the plaintiffs its walls collapsed resulting in the spoilage and loss of the potatoes stored inside. Adams, Ryan and Walker commenced an action against plaintiffs in the District Court, Morgan County, Colorado, seeking damages for breach of contract and breach of warranty of fitness. Plaintiffs filed a third-party complaint against the United States in that action but it was dismissed by the state court on the ground that it lacked jurisdiction to determine the matter against the United States.

Plaintiffs allege in a jurisdictional statement that we have jurisdiction over the subject matter of this action pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b) because the claims are against the United States for money damages for injury to property caused by the negligent and wrongful acts of Government employees acting within their scope of employment. In the statement of claim plaintiffs assert that defendants Joseph F. Herrick, Jr., Wallace Ashby, W. V. Hukill, Alfred D. Edgar and the United States expressly and impliedly warranted the correctness of the Department of Agriculture publication, AMS-401, and breached these warranties. Jurisdiction over the remaining claims of the plaintiffs is alleged to be ancillary to the claim against the Government; therefore, if the claim against the United States fails, so also do the other claims, counterclaims and cross-claims. See United States v. Acord, 209 F.2d 709 (10th Cir. 1954); Town of Ayer v. Lazzaro, 234 F.Supp. 372 (D.Mass.1964).

It is clear that the United States may not be sued without its consent, nor can it be estopped from asserting that an action is one against it to which it has not consented. This objection to suit can be raised at any time, either by the parties or by the Court on its own motion. Mellos v. Brownell, 102 U.S.App. D.C. 67, 250 F.2d 35 (1957).

It is our opinion that this matter falls within the exceptions to the Federal Tort Claims Act, Title 28 U.S.C. § 2680, and therefore that we do not have jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action. United States v. Neustadt, 366 U.S. 696, 81 S.Ct. 1294, 6 L.Ed.2d 614 (1961); De Lange v. United States, 372 F.2d 134 (9th Cir. 1967); Hall v. United States, 274 F.2d 69 (10th Cir. 1959); Jones v. United States,...