Adkins v. United States

16 Cl. Ct. 294, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 43, 1989 WL 11551
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedFebruary 14, 1989
DocketNos. 313-77, 363-80 C
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 16 Cl. Ct. 294 (Adkins v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adkins v. United States, 16 Cl. Ct. 294, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 43, 1989 WL 11551 (cc 1989).

Opinion

ORDER OF PARTIAL DISMISSAL

HORN, Judge.

On November 17, 1986, proceedings in this consolidated case, Rose M. Adkins, et al. and Bobby W. Adkins, et al., Nos., 313-77 and 363-80C, were suspended pending the decision by the United States Court [295]*295of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Harris v. United States, 841 F.2d 1097 (Fed.Cir.1988). After considering numerous motions by the plaintiffs to continue the suspension of proceedings in this case and by the defendant to lift the suspension, the court lifted the suspension on August 12, 1988.

On August 4, 1988, plaintiffs’ counsel, Kevin M. Grile, filed a “Motion for Leave to Withdraw as Attorney of Record for Certain Plaintiffs.” In his motion, counsel informed the court that he had attempted to contact all plaintiffs in order to apprise them of his assessment of the status of their claims as a result of the Federal Circuit’s decision in Harris. Plaintiffs’ counsel also attempted to obtain express consent or denial from each plaintiff to a voluntary withdrawal of his/her law suit. Although many of the plaintiffs agreed to withdraw their claims, certain others either had died, could not be located, failed to respond to counsel’s correspondence or had expressly refused to consent to dismissal. It was apparent to the court that, as a result of Harris, Mr. Grile and the labor organization which he represents, had changed their assessment of the strength of the claims included in the instant action.

At a status conference held on Septem: her 15, 1988, based on the information offered by both counsel, the court determined that it could not yet rule as to whether dismissal of a particular plaintiff’s case was appropriate. The court, therefore, inquired of counsel as to the proper method of determining the status of the individual claims of each plaintiff. In response to the court’s inquiry, the plaintiffs’ attorney suggested that he prepare a chart with each plaintiff listed in the left column and a succeeding column indicating the dates of the claims still pending before the court. Subsequently, on September 19, 1988, due to plaintiffs’ counsel’s filing of the “Motion to Withdraw as Attorney of Record for Certain Plaintiffs,” and in order to resolve the status of each plaintiff’s claim as a result of Harris v. United States, this court ordered the submission of a chart to include at least the following information with respect to each plaintiff: (1) name of plaintiff; (2) type of claim; (3) hiring date; (4) date of termination or death; and (5) applicable date of collective bargaining agreements. In addition, the court scheduled oral argument for October 24, 1988, on the applicability of Harris to the instant claims.

On September 26, 1988, before the date scheduled for the oral argument, the parties filed a “Joint Stipulation of Partial Dismissal.” Citing Harris v. United States, referred to earlier, the parties requested the partial dismissal of all claims governed by Harris. However, the parties failed to identify any of the 393 plaintiffs whose claims they believed should be dismissed by name or plaintiff number. Furthermore, as previously noted, the discussions at the September 15 status conference did not sufficiently reveal which claims, if any, should survive dismissal based on Harris. The only information before the court at that time, which tried to separate plaintiffs’ claims was included in plaintiffs’ counsel’s “Motion for Leave to Withdraw as Attorney of Record for Certain Plaintiffs,” filed with the court on August 4, 1988. This information, however, did not sufficiently state all the criteria necessary to determine which cases should be totally dismissed and which cases should survive if the court found that Harris was indeed controlling.

Subsequent to this court’s order for submission of the chart, a chain of events worth recounting occurred. On October 6, 1988, the parties filed a document entitled:

Joint Motion for an Order Granting the Motion of Plaintiffs’ Counsel to Withdraw
and
Joint Motion to Reconsider This Court’s Order Requiring the Parties to Prepare a Table of Plaintiffs
and
Joint Motion for an Order Requiring Those Plaintiffs Who Have Not Already Agreed to a Dismissal of Their Claims to Inform Plaintiffs’ Counsel, Ninety Days
[296]*296After This Court Issues an Order, Whether They Wish to Dismiss Their Claims or Proceed in this Action
and
Alternative Joint Motion for an Enlargement of Time Within Which to Prepare the Table of Plaintiffs
and
Joint Motion for Expedited Consideration of These Motions

To accommodate the parties’ requests, on October 18, 1988, this court required the submission of a revised table to be submitted on or before December 19, 1988. Once again, at the request of the plaintiffs and the defendant, on December 9, 1988, the court extended the due date for submission of the table by requiring that it be submitted on or before January 9,1989. In addition, at the request of the plaintiffs and the defendant, the court order of December 9, 1988, also postponed oral argument on the outstanding dispositive motions, then scheduled for December 19, 1988, until January 27, 1989.

On the same day, December 9, 1988, defendant’s new attorney, who had filed a notice of appearance as attorney of record for defendant on December 8, 1988, petitioned the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for a Writ of Mandamus and filed a “Motion to Stay Proceedings” in this court. Specifically, the United States petitioned for a writ directing the United States Claims Court to endorse the parties’ “Joint Stipulation of Partial Dismissal.” In Re United States on Petition for Writ of Mandamus, Miscellaneous Docket No. 227 (Fed.Cir. filed December 20, 1988). As a result of defendant’s multiple filings, the United States Claims Court issued an order scheduling a status conference to be held on January 17, 1989. Subsequently, on January 9, 1989, the “Joint Table Required by the Court’s October 18, 1988 Order” was timely filed in this court.

Prior to the January 17, 1989 status conference, the court, using the “Table of Plaintiffs” finally submitted to the court on January 9, 1989, reviewed the status of each plaintiff individually, and categorized the plaintiffs in accordance with the parties’ representations that said individual plaintiff had consented to withdrawal of the law suit, had died, had not responded to plaintiffs’ counsel’s correspondence, or could not be located. Each plaintiff, within these four categories, was further segregated based on the following criteria: (1) claims which predated the collective bargaining agreement of 1979;1 and (2) claims which only arose after the execution of the collective bargaining agreements. This enabled the court to identify plaintiffs whose claims the court determined should be entirely or partially dismissed.

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Related

Adams v. United States
20 Cl. Ct. 542 (Court of Claims, 1990)
Adkins v. United States
19 Cl. Ct. 240 (Court of Claims, 1990)

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Bluebook (online)
16 Cl. Ct. 294, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 43, 1989 WL 11551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adkins-v-united-states-cc-1989.