Central Pines Land Co. v. United States

99 Fed. Cl. 394, 181 Oil & Gas Rep. 5, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1850, 2011 WL 3913099
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedSeptember 7, 2011
DocketNo. 98-314L
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 99 Fed. Cl. 394 (Central Pines Land Co. 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
Central Pines Land Co. v. United States, 99 Fed. Cl. 394, 181 Oil & Gas Rep. 5, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1850, 2011 WL 3913099 (uscfc 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

FIRESTONE, Judge.

Pending before the court in this case involving the plaintiffs’ claims of a Fifth Amendment taking without just compensation is the government’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”). The court has previously issued a number of opinions in this case on motions for summary judgment; following trial on liability and damages, the court issued an opinion awarding the plaintiffs $1,667,042.86 plus interest, representing the fair market value of the government’s temporary taking of portions of the plaintiffs’ mineral interests. In the course of the parties’ briefing on the plaintiffs’ motion for attorney’s fees and costs, the Supreme Court entered its decision in United States v. Tohono O’Odham Nation, — U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 1723, 179 L.Ed.2d 723 (2011), regarding the limit placed on the jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims (“CFC”) by 28 U.S.C. § 1500 (“section 1500”).1 The Supreme Court held:

The CFC has no jurisdiction over a claim if the plaintiff has another suit for or in respect to that claim pending against the United States or its agents.
... Two suits are for or in respect to the same claim, precluding jurisdiction in the CFC, if they are based on substantially the same operative facts, regardless of the relief sought in each suit.

Tohono, 131 S.Ct. at 1727, 1731. Based on this decision, the government filed the subject motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In its motion, the government argues that this ease must be dismissed under section 1500 because this suit is “for or in respect to the same claim” as that which the plaintiffs had pending in the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana at the time the plaintiffs filed this CFC suit. For the reasons that follow, the government’s motion to dismiss is GRANTED.

[396]*396I. BACKGROUND

The facts of this case have been recited numerous times in the multiple opinions this court has issued since the case was filed in 1998. The case involves a taking of a mineral servitude underlying land owned by the United States and occupied by Fort Polk and the Kisatchie National Forest in Vernon Parish, Louisiana. The court described the relevant procedural history in its opinion following trial as follows:

The plaintiffs filed a quiet title suit with regard to their mineral rights in the Western District of Louisiana on August 22, 1996. The decisions of that court clarifying the nature and ownership of the mineral servitude may be found at Central Pines Land Co. v. United States, No. 2:96-2000 (W.D.La. Apr. 7, 1999) (“Central Pines I”), aff'd, 274 F.3d 881 (5th Cir.2001) (“Central Pines II ”). In those cases, the Fifth Circuit affirmed that trial court’s conclusion that the plaintiffs retained mineral interests in only the lands designated as Group C. The plaintiffs’ interests in Groups A and B had prescribed to the government because of non-use under Louisiana law.
The plaintiffs filed the present case on April 4, 1998, alleging a taking of their mineral interests. The case was stayed pending resolution of the quiet title dispute.

Central Pines Land Co. v. United States, 95 Fed.Cl. 633, 635 n. 1 (2010) (“Central Pines V”). After the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s quiet title ruling and the Supreme Court denied the plaintiffs’ petition for certiorari, Central Pines Land Co. v. United States, 537 U.S. 822, 123 S.Ct. 101, 154 L.Ed.2d 30 (2002), the plaintiffs filed their “First Amended and Restated Complaint” in this court on January 6, 2003, indicating that the quiet title dispute had been resolved and was no longer pending. Am. Compl. ¶ 2. Following the filing of this “Amended” complaint, a number of intermediate decisions narrowed the issues for trial:

In Central Pines Land Co. v. United States, 61 Fed.Cl. 527 (2004) (“Central Pines III ”), Judge Yoek dismissed claims based on mineral interests that had been determined to be owned by the government rather than the plaintiffs in the quiet title action. Judge Yock also determined that certain claims were barred by the statute of limitations. The case was transferred to Judge Damich, who in Central Pines Land Co. v. United States, No. 98-314 (Fed.Cl. Sept. 30, 2008) (“Central Pines IV”), held that the government’s mere assertion of title with regard to the Group C lands was not enough to effect a taking and held that the plaintiffs must show that the government did “something more” in order to establish a taking. Central Pines TV, slip[ ] op. at 17. He determined that there were disputed facts as to whether the government’s leasing activities with regard to the Group C minerals constituted “something more.” The court also held that genuine issues of material fact existed as to whether military use and surface contamination frustrated the plaintiffs’ leasing opportunities and constituted a taking of the plaintiffs’ entire Group C mineral interests — not just the leased minerals. However, the court granted summary judgment to the government with respect to the plaintiffs’ claims that the government had taken their property rights by denying potential lessees protective leases, denying access to the surface, or instituting a de facto moratorium on mineral exploration, holding that there was no evidence of final agency action and the claims were largely based on contingent future harms. The court further held that no specific facts had been alleged regarding the plaintiffs’ claim that the government had unlawfully subordinated the plaintiffs’ interest in mineral exploration and development to the government’s military mission.
The case was transferred to [Judge Firestone] for trial.

Central Pines V, 95 Fed.Cl. at 635 n. 1. After trial, the court held that the plaintiffs were entitled to compensation for a temporary taking of certain mineral interests:

[T]he government’s leasing of plaintiffs’ mineral interests deprived the plaintiffs of the benefit they otherwise would have received from a potential lessee during that [397]*397period. That government action effected a temporary taking of the mineral interests leased for the period they were leased, for which the plaintiffs are entitled to just compensation.

Id. at 652 (footnote omitted). The court calculated that just compensation for the government’s taking amounted to $1,667,042.86 plus interest. Id. at 654. The court did not calculate attorneys’ fees and costs.

As noted, while the court was considering the plaintiffs’ claim for attorneys’ fees and costs, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Tohono and the government moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction based on the application of section 1500, arguing that because the plaintiffs’ district court ease was pending at the time the plaintiffs filed their initial complaint in this court involving the same claim, this court never possessed jurisdiction over the plaintiffs’ taking claims.

II. DISCUSSION

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
99 Fed. Cl. 394, 181 Oil & Gas Rep. 5, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1850, 2011 WL 3913099, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/central-pines-land-co-v-united-states-uscfc-2011.