Bruce v. United States Army

508 F. Supp. 962, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11021
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedFebruary 26, 1981
DocketCiv. A. No. 80-73059
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 508 F. Supp. 962 (Bruce v. United States Army) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bruce v. United States Army, 508 F. Supp. 962, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11021 (E.D. Mich. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JAMES HARVEY, District Judge.

The plaintiff herein has filed an action seeking damages for the defendants’ alleged breach of an enlistment agreement. Presently before the Court is a motion by the defendants seeking alternatively summary judgment or dismissal of the complaint. FR Civ P 12 and 56. The defendants assert in their motion that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, and that this Court lacks jurisdiction of the subject matter.

Defendants have submitted, in support of their motion, a fairly extensive statement of facts, supported by certified copies of the plaintiff’s official military personnel file and the Army regulations in force at the pertinent times. Plaintiff has not taken issue with this statement, and therefore, for purposes of this motion, the Court will take these facts as established insofar as they do not contradict the factual allegations of the complaint. A brief summary of these facts will suffice to convey an overview of this case.

Plaintiff Bruce applied for enlistment in the United States Army in December of 1978. In connection with his enlistment, plaintiff elected the Training of Choice Enlistment Option provided by Army Regulation (AR) 601-201. Pursuant to this election, plaintiff was allowed to specify the Military Occupational Specialty for which he would be trained. Plaintiff selected training as a “Clinical Specialist 91C10.2.” In February of 1979 plaintiff entered active duty, and after six weeks of basic training, began receiving specialized training in medical care. Plaintiff received sufficient training to qualify for the military occupational specialties of “Medical Specialist 91B 00” and “Patient Care Specialist 91C 10.” Apparently, however, there was some confusion on the part of the Army, for it did not, as it now admits, provide the plaintiff with the full measure of training he expected to receive. In fact, the Army determined that because plaintiff did not meet the longevity and promotion eligibility requirements to qualify as a “careerist,” he was not eligible to receive the so-called “long course” training which he desired. In February of 1980, plaintiff protested to his commanding officer that receiving the [964]*964“long course” training was an essential part of what he understood his Training of Choice Enlistment Option to mean, and that if he could not be given the “long course” training, he was entitled to discharge for erroneous enlistment under Chapter 5 of Army Regulation (AR) 635-200. The Army upon review of his case, granted plaintiff an Honorable Discharge in April of 1980.

I.

The defendants submit that, as a matter of law, damages cannot be awarded for breach of an enlistment agreement. The reason for this, it is stated, is because an enlistment agreement, although analogous in many respects to an ordinary contract, is nonetheless fundamentally unique.

The uniqueness of the enlistment agreement, as a distinct species of contract, has been recognized by courts as early as the case of United States v. Blakeney, 44 Va. (3 Gratt) 405 (1847), where it was observed that the enlistment contract “is a contract of a peculiar nature (and) in its principles and consequences, is certainly widely different from the ordinary civil compacts between individuals.” Id. at 409.

This difference was recognized and further defined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case In Re Grimley, 137 U.S. 147, 11 S.Ct. 54, 34 L.Ed. 636 (1890). The essential distinguishing feature of the enlistment agreement, according to Grimley, is that it effectuates a change in the enlistee’s status, in a manner similar to marriage or naturalization. The Court in Grimley reasoned from this that mere breach of the enlistment agreement, would not ipso facto require the change of status to be revoked.

Although the “peculiar nature” of enlistment agreements has been widely observed and remarked upon by the courts and the commentators, nonetheless no clear consensus has emerged as to exactly what effect this “peculiar nature” has upon the applicability of traditional common-law principles of contract law. It appears to be well settled now, for instance, that in suits by enlistees for pay, the applicable federal statutes and regulations are to be regarded as having displaced entirely common-law contract principles. United States v. Larionoff, 431 U.S. 864, 869, 97 S.Ct. 2150, 53 L.Ed.2d 48 (1977); Bell v. United States, 366 U.S. 393, 401, 81 S.Ct. 1230, 1235, 6 L.Ed.2d 365 (1961). Further, when confronted with a suit by the Secretary of the Air Force to recover the cost of the Air Force Academy educations provided to individuals who obtained conscientious-objector discharges prior to fulfilling their active duty commitments, another court held that, although there was no provision made by statute or regulation for such a suit, nonetheless the issue presented was “essentially a question of fiscal policy far too involved for simple contract principles to settle,” and “a matter best left to the political processes of Congress.” McCullough v. Seamans, 348 F.Supp. 511, 513 (E.D.Cal., 1972).

On the other hand, several courts have found no obstacle at all to the application of contract law principles to the issue of whether an enlistment contract is valid and enforceable, where enlistees have sought discharge by writ of habeas corpus. See e. g., Pence v. Brown, 627 F.2d 872, 874 (CA 8, 1980); Heavy v. Warner, 493 F.2d 748, 750 (CA 5, 1974); Johnson v. Chafee, 469 F.2d 1216 (CA 9, 1973), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 966, 93 S.Ct. 2146, 36 L.Ed.2d 686 (1973); United States ex rel. Roman v. Schlesinger, 404 F.Supp. 77, 85 (E.D.N.Y., 1975). This Court would therefore reject, at the outset, the contention that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over questions of enforcement and interpretation of enlistment agreements. Lundgrin v. Claytor, 619 F.2d 61, 62 (CA 10, 1980).

However, on the issue of whether breach of an enlistment agreement will support a claim for money damages, the Court’s research has failed to uncover any precedent. There have been cases where courts have considered claims for money damages arising from alleged breaches of enlistment agreements, but in each case the court has found no breach. Jackson v. United States, 573 F.2d 1189 (Ct.Cl.1978); Reamer v. United States, 532 F.2d 349 (CA 4, 1976); Ad[965]*965ams v. Clifford, 294 F.Supp. 1318 (D.Hawaii, 1969). At least one commentator has observed, in discussing the range of potential judicial remedies for breach of enlistment agreements, that: “The damages remedy would probably involve insuperable problems of valuation.” Comment,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
508 F. Supp. 962, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11021, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bruce-v-united-states-army-mied-1981.