American Financial Associates, Ltd. v. United States

32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 72,681, 5 Cl. Ct. 761, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1375
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJuly 3, 1984
DocketNo. 409-83C
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 72,681 (American Financial Associates, Ltd. 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
American Financial Associates, Ltd. v. United States, 32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 72,681, 5 Cl. Ct. 761, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1375 (cc 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

REGINALD W. GIBSON, Judge:

This contract case comes before the court on plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, defendant’s cross-motion for partial summary judgment, and defendant’s motion for default judgment against the third party defendant. Plaintiff, American Financial Associates, Ltd. (AFA), is a financial institution which was assigned the accounts receivable respecting two ongoing government contracts held by the contractor and third party defendant, Complex Industries and Associates, Inc. of Texas (Complex). AFA contends that it is entitled to two payments from defendant, which were erroneously made to Complex in 1980 by defendant after the statutory notice required by the Assignment of Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3727 and 41 U.S.C. [763]*763§ 15, was duly met.1 Defendant alleges, in turn, that plaintiff did not provide the obligatory statutory notice of the assignment prior to the issuance of one of the payments, in the amount of $134,066.55, therefore entitling it to partial summary judgment with respect to said payment. Additionally, defendant urges that plaintiffs motion for summary judgment must be denied with respect to all claims, because there is a genuine issue of material fact with respect to whether payments to Complex, the assignor, were “in effect” made to the assignee, AFA. Defendant also argues, alternatively, that if it is liable to plaintiff to any extent premised on the alleged assignment, it is entitled to recover all such “erroneous” payments made to Complex.

Jurisdiction in this court is bottomed on 28 U.S.C. § 1491, 31 U.S.C. § 3727 (formerly 31 U.S.C. § 203), and 41 U.S.C. § 15.

This court has carefully considered the pleadings of the parties and their contentions at oral argument. For the reasons set forth below, we are of the opinion that defendant’s motion for partial summary judgment should be granted with respect to the $134,066.55 payment, plaintiff’s related motion for summary judgment should be denied, and plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment should be granted with respect to the remaining claim for $9,521.28. Additionally, defendant’s motion for a default judgment against Complex shall be granted.

FACTS

Plaintiff is an Illinois corporation, having its principal place of business in Lincoln-wood, Illinois. The business was founded in February 1980, and has two shareholders, Morton Tatar and August Lihosit, each of whom has owned 50% of the company since its inception. Although the precise nature and extent of plaintiff’s business is not discernible from the record, the parties agree that plaintiff is a “financing institution.” Complex, as of the time of the assignment to AFA, was a Texas corporation in the business of providing security guard and related services to federal installations, with its principal place of business in San Antonio, Texas. The two contracts at issue, and assigned in this case, were entered into between Complex and two offices of the United States Navy. The record does not reveal any connection between the two offices or the personnel who administered the two contracts, aside from the fact that both offices are located in Charleston, South Carolina.

Contract No. N00612-80-D-7004 (Contract No. 7004), the last in point of time, was awarded by the Regional Contracting Department, Naval Supply Center, Charleston, South Carolina, for the provision of eseort/guard services at the Polaris Missile Facility Atlantic. This contract, which took effect on December 28, 1979, contemplated an award in the total estimated amount of $1,114,569.00. In addition, it specifically incorporated by reference certain applicable Armed Services Procurement Regulations (ASPR), among which was 32 C.F.R. § 7-103.8 (Assignment of Claims), which provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

(a) Pursuant to the provisions of the Assignment of Claims Act of 1940, as amended (31 U.S.C. 203, 41 U.S.C. 15), if this contract provides for payments aggregating $1,000 or more, claims for monies due or to become due the Contractor from the Government under this contract may be assigned to a bank, trust company, or other financing institution, ____ Unless otherwise provided in this contract, payments to an assignee of any monies due or to become due under this contract shall not, to the extent provided in said Act, as amended, be subject to reduction or set-off.
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[764]*764When a contract is to be assigned pursuant to the above clause, the assignee shall forward to the administrative contracting officer, the disbursing officer, and the surety, if any, the notice and instrument of assignment in the number of copies indicated below:

(i) To the administrative contracting officer — a true copy of the instrument of assignment and an original and three copies of the notice of assignment. The administrative contracting officer shall acknowledge receipt by signing and dating all copies of the notice of assignment and shall—
(A) file the true copy of the instrument of assignment and the original of the notice in the contract file.
(B) forward two copies of the notice to the disbursing officer designated in the contract to make payment.
(C) return a copy of the notice to the assignee, and
(D) advise the procuring contracting
officer that the assignment has been' made____
(iii) To the disbursing officer designated in the contract to make payment a true copy of the instrument of assignment and an original and one copy of the notice of assignment. The disbursing officer shall acknowledge and return to the assignee the copy of the notice and shall file the true copy of the instrument and original notice____

(Emphasis added.)

Another provision of Contract No. 7004 stated that:

Payment will be made by
Naval Supply Center
Code 55.23
Charleston, SC 29408.

Prior to the foregoing, on or about September 28,1979, the Southern Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command entered into Contract No. N62467-79-C-0795 (Contract No. 0795), which was also for the provision of security guard services, at the Regional Medical Center Compound, Naval Regional Medical Center, Charleston, South Carolina. A copy of a confirmation letter to Complex dated September 28,1979, from J.W. Little, the contracting officer, reveals that the award under Contract No. 0795 was in the amount of $135,714.00, and covered services to be performed between October 1, 1979 and September 30,1980.2

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Bluebook (online)
32 Cont. Cas. Fed. 72,681, 5 Cl. Ct. 761, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1375, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-financial-associates-ltd-v-united-states-cc-1984.