Admiral Financial Corp. v. United States

51 Fed. Cl. 366, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 6, 2002 WL 46794
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJanuary 10, 2002
DocketNo. 93-489C
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 51 Fed. Cl. 366 (Admiral Financial Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Admiral Financial Corp. v. United States, 51 Fed. Cl. 366, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 6, 2002 WL 46794 (uscfc 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

BASKIR, Chief Judge.

Defendant’s motion to dismiss the claims of Intervenor-Plaintiff, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), is GRANTED. The FDIC’s claims fail to satisfy the case-or-controversy requirement and are untimely under 28 U.S.C. § 2501. This Opinion confirms the Court’s oral ruling of December 18, 2001.

I. Standing/Justiciability

The Court finds that the FDIC presents claims of a non-justiciable nature. As a result, the FDIC lacks standing to intervene in this matter under the standards set forth in Landmark Land Co. v. United States, 256 F.3d 1365 (Fed.Cir.2001), reh’g en banc denied (Nov. 15, 2001) and Glass v. United States, 258 F.3d 1349 (Fed.Cir.2001), reh’g en banc denied (Nov. 15, 2001).

Article III, Section 2 of the United States Constitution confines our judicial power to cases and controversies between adverse parties. There is no case-or-controversy where, as here, the Government, in the guise of the FDIC, is suing the Government, in the guise of the FDIC, and recovery from the United States benefits the United States. To avoid the result in Landmark and Glass, the FDIC must seek a dollar recovery that repays the FSLIC Resolution Fund (FRF) and still provides additional amounts to pay other nongovernmental creditors. If all the FDIC’s suit does is repay itself, an instrumentality of the Government, its claims must be dismissed.

The FDIC in this case claims $8.8 million in damages. These damages, awarded from the FDIC, will be recovered solely by the FDIC, as priority creditor of the failed thrift, Haven Federal Savings and Loan Association (Haven). Even were we to award the FDIC its full award under its claim, the recovery would not satisfy the amount of the total receivership deficit which is owed the FRF, an estimated $32.8 million, and $70 million if interest is included. Consequently, no parties other than the Government will be affected by the FDIC’s claim. Because the FDIC’s claim would simply funnel money from one FDIC sub-account to another, the FDIC is not adverse to the United States as defendant. See, e.g., Landmark, 256 F.3d at 1382; Glass, 258 F.3d at 1355.

[368]*368The FDIC’s newly articulated arguments attempt to establish a case-or-controversy by transforming the FDIC’s Complaint into a dispute against the Plaintiff, Admiral Financial Corporation, instead of against the United States, as its Complaint explicitly states. The FDIC suggests that there may be a dispute as to the ownership of certain Admiral claims, such as a $115 million lost profits claim and approximately $14 million sought for recovery of the supervisory goodwill promised by the government; the FDIC contends these claims rightly belong to Haven and, by succession, to the FDIC. Accordingly, this “dispute” confers standing under Glass and Landmark, because Admiral’s claims may not be fully adjudicated without regard to the FDIC’s claims.

We reject this argument on a number of grounds. First, we do not interpret Glass and Landmark to recognize such an exception to the case-or-controversy requirement. FDIC has cited no other authority for the concept that a plaintiff suing a defendant against which it has no adverse interest, can nonetheless satisfy the case-or-controversy requirement by asserting it has a dispute with another plaintiff. Second, if there is a dispute as to ownership of a claim, we would expect the Government to protect the fisc in the event that Admiral seeks to recover on a claim belonging to another party. This is especially so in this case, since that other party (the FDIC) manages the FRF, which in turn funds the Justice Department’s litigation costs to defend this lawsuit. Congress has charged the Department of Justice with defending agencies of the United States from improper claims. See 28 U.S.C. § 516 (“Except as otherwise authorized by law, the conduct of litigation in which the United States, an agency, or officer thereof is a party, or is interested, ... is reserved to officers of the Department of Justice, under the discretion of the Attorney General”)

Finally, there appear to be no disputed or overlapping claims. Admiral has represented that its claims are direct claims against the United States for breach of Admiral’s contract and property rights, not those of any other party; it does not bring any claims on behalf of Haven. Admiral has also expressly disavowed any intention to pursue lost profits. And although Admiral’s restitution theory may share the supervisory goodwill component of a potential Haven claim, Admiral’s cause of action is independent of any claim that could have been brought by Haven. In any event, even if that claim is properly the FDIC’s, adding the $14 million Admiral claims to the $8.8 million currently sought would still not exceed the amount of the FDIC’s subrogated claim. Therefore, the FDIC can not establish standing under Landmark and Glass.

Accordingly, the Government’s motion to dismiss is GRANTED based upon Intervenor-Plaintiff s lack of standing.

II. Statute of Limitations

The Court also finds that FDIC’s claims are barred by the statute of limitations.

The applicable statute of limitations provides:

Every claim of which the United States Court of Federal Claims has jurisdiction shall be barred unless the petition is filed within six years after such claim first accrues.

28 U.S.C. § 2501 (2001). This statute is jurisdictional and may, therefore, not be waived. Hopland Band of Pomo Indians v. United States, 855 F.2d 1573 (Fed.Cir.1988); see 14 Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure Jurisdiction 3d § 3654 and n. 21 (West 1998) (“[A]n action against the government may be brought only in the particular court designated in the consent statute and within the time limits set out in the applicable statute, which means that a statute of limitations defense cannot be waived by the government ... ”).

The Attorney General has no more authority than does the Court to alter the terms of the statutory waiver of sovereign immunity contained within Section 2501. The tolling agreement cited by the FDIC is, therefore, of no legal effect. See Castle v. United States, 48 Fed.Cl. 187, 194-95 (2000). Although the Department of Justice represented that it had the authority to enter into this agreement, it lacks the power to alter the [369]*369Congressional definition of the waiver of sovereign immunity. See 1 Fed. Peoc., L. Ed. § 1:441 (1995)(“The immunity of the United States from suit may be waived by Congress and only by Congress, and not by government officials.”); cf., Janakes v. United States Postal Serv.,

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Bluebook (online)
51 Fed. Cl. 366, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 6, 2002 WL 46794, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/admiral-financial-corp-v-united-states-uscfc-2002.