Baker v. United States

711 F. App'x 982
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedOctober 6, 2017
Docket2017-1884
StatusUnpublished

This text of 711 F. App'x 982 (Baker v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. United States, 711 F. App'x 982 (Fed. Cir. 2017).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Patrick Baker appeals from a decision of the Court of Federal Claims (“the Claims Court”) granting the Department of the Army’s (“the Army” or “government”) motion for summary judgment that the Army .did not breach a negotiated settlement agreement. See Baker v. United States, 131 Fed.Cl. 62, 66 (2017) (“Claims Court Decision”). For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

Background

Baker worked at the Army’s Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas. On November 12, 2008, he and a coworker consumed an alcoholic beverage before coming to work, and they admitted to doing so when questioned by a supervisor. In response, according to Baker, the Army gave him a choice: voluntarily resign or be fired. Baker chose to resign. After doing so, he learned that the coworker had been allowed to continue his employment, and Baker filed a racial discrimination claim against the Army.

On August 11, 2009, Baker entered into a settlement agreement with the Army (“the Agreement”), wherein the Army agreed to “[p]lace [Baker] on a time limited appointment as a Heavy Mobile Equipment Repairer WG-5803-08 in the Directorate for Maintenance Production, Travel Division, effective not later than September 14, 2009.” Resp’t’s App. 12. By signing the Agreement, Baker agreed that “[he] understands that his appointment is contingent upon his meeting physical requirements for the aforementioned position and meeting all suitability requirements for placement.” Id. (emphases added).

Soon after. executing the Agreement,. Baker was arrested and charged with “second degree domestic battery, a terroristic act,” a felony under Arkansas law, which is punishable by a three to ten year imprisonment and a $10,000 fíne. Baker was initially unable to pay his' bond and thus remained in custody until October 26, 2009. In December 2009, Baker pleaded guilty to third degree domestic battery, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced in December 2010 to twelve months’ probation. While Baker was in custody, an Army human resources specialist, Ms. Shirley Hickson, attempted unsuccessfully several times to contact him in order to complete the hiring process by September 14, 2009, the deadline established by the Agreement. Ms. Hickson finally made contact with Baker on October 22,2009.

In November 2009, the Army learned that felony charges had been brought against Baker. Ms. Hickson informed him that the Army would not be able to hire him at that time because the then-pending charges “rendered him unsuitable for employment.” Claims Court Decision, 131 Fed.Cl. at 64 (internal quotation marks omitted). Baker unsuccessfully appealed the decision to the Army and to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

On April 1, 2016, Baker filed a complaint in the Claims Court, alleging racial discrimination, defamation of character, emotional stress, retaliation, and breach of contract. The court dismissed all of Baker’s claims for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. See Baker v. United States, 123 Fed.Cl. 203, 205 (2015), aff'd in part, rev’d in part and remanded, 642 Fed.Appx. 989 (Fed. Cir. 2016). On appeal, we affirmed the dismissal, except as to Baker’s breach of contract claim, which it found to be money-mandating under the Tucker Act, and which it found Baker had sufficiently pleaded, in light of the leniency afforded pro se plaintiffs. See Baker v. United States, 642 Fed.Appx. 989, 993 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (“[The Claims Court’s] characterization fails to give [Baker’s] handwritten, informal, pro se complaint the reading it warrants. Taken as a whole, and read generously, Mr. Baker’s complaint alleges that the Army breached the settlement agreement by not giving him the promised job, seemingly because it viewed his conviction as rendering him unsuitable.”). This court remanded the case for further proceedings on Baker’s breach of contract claim. Id.

On remand, Baker moved for summary judgment, arguing that this court’s decision entitled him to summary judgment on his breach of contract claim. See Claims Court Decision, 131 Fed.Cl. at 64. In response, the government filed a cross-motion for summary judgment, arguing that Baker’s admission of pending criminal charges rendered him unsuitable for employment. The government also argued that, due to Baker’s incarceration, he was unavailable to perform the work contemplated in the Agreement on September 14, 2009, the agreed-upon date. Id.

The Claims Court granted the government’s motion, finding that this court’s previous decision, Baker, 642 Fed.Appx. at 993, did not entitle Baker to summary judgment. Rather, the court explained, it merely required the court to consider the merits of his breach of contract claim. Claims Court Decision, 131 Fed.Cl. at 64-65. Upon considering the merits, the court concluded that the government was entitled to summary judgment because Baker’s pending criminal charges rendered him unsuitable for employment and because Baker was unavailable to perform the employment contemplated by the agreement. Id. at 65-66.

The Claims Court pointed to the terms of the Agreement, which conditioned Baker’s employment on “his meeting ... all suitability requirements for placement.” Resp’t’s App. 12. The court found that standard Army procedure was to “assess! ] suitability, in part, with Option Form 306 which specifically asks whether the applicant has any pending criminal charges.” Claims Court Decision, 131 Fed.Cl. at 65. Furthermore, the court found that according to the Army’s Suitability Processing Handbook, criminal charges will render an applicant with pending criminal charges unsuitable for employment until the “case is disposed.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Resp’t’s App. 42 (The Suitability Processing Handbook, which states that “[c]riminal activity creates doubt about a person’s judgment, reliability, and trustworthiness” because “[b]y its very nature, it calls into question a person’s ability or willingness to comply with laws, rules, and regulations” and that “pending charges of a nature that are potentially disqualifying cannot be adjudicad ed until the case is disposed”).

Because Baker had informed the Army that he was currently facing criminal felony charges, the Claims Court concluded that the Army “properly found Mr. Baker unsuitable using standard Army procedures” and thus did not breach the terms of the Agreement. Claims Court Decision, 131 Fed.Cl. at 65. The court also found that, due to his incarceration and probation, Baker was unavailable to perform the job contemplated in the Agreement and thus “did not satisfy a condition precedent to receiving compensation under the agreement.” Id. at 66.

For those reasons, the Claims Court granted the government’s motion for summary judgment. Baker timely appealed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(3).

Discussion

This court “review[s] the Claims Court’s grant of summaiy judgment de novo.” Am-ergen Energy Co. v. United States, 779 F.3d 1368, 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2015). Summary judgment is appropriate if there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. See Fed. R. Civ.

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Bluebook (online)
711 F. App'x 982, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-united-states-cafc-2017.