Cole v. United States

52 Fed. Cl. 429, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 91, 2002 WL 859190
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedApril 18, 2002
DocketNo. 98-321
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 52 Fed. Cl. 429 (Cole 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
Cole v. United States, 52 Fed. Cl. 429, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 91, 2002 WL 859190 (uscfc 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

SMITH, Senior Judge.

Plaintiff received a medical separation from the military on February 4, 1993. After objecting to the level of his disability rating before the Army Board for Correction of Military Records, plaintiff seeks the following relief from this court: 1) overturning his “wrongful” discharge from the U.S. Army, 2) correcting the improper calculation of his disability, 3) reimbursement for the failure of the U.S. Army to pay for his medical expenses, and 4) reimbursement for his lost pay.

Plaintiff first joined the Army on July 18, 1974. Over the next twenty years, he served 17 years in the Active Duty Army and in the National Guard. During his service, plaintiff was a combat medic. As early as May 1983, plaintiff began receiving treatment for lower back problems. Eventually, plaintiff was sent to a civilian doctor for treatment of his back. That doctor diagnosed his problem as a bulging, herniated disc. Army doctors concurred on the diagnosis. In addition, Plaintiff had medical problems with his left shoulder and left knee.

Plaintiff was referred to an administrative Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) for the [430]*430purpose of separating him from the Army for medical reasons. A local, informal PEB determined on August 19, 1992, that plaintiff had a disability to his left shoulder and left knee and degenerative disc disease. The Board also assigned him a 10% disability rating. Plaintiff appealed the informal PEB, which triggered a Formal PEB. At a Formal PEB the soldier is to have representation and other trial-like rights. Plaintiffs Formal PEB was held at Fort Sam Houston on October 8, 1992. The Formal PEB rated only plaintiffs chronic shoulder pain and increased his disability rating to 20%. Plaintiff appealed the Formal PEB’s decision to the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, where the appeal failed for lack of jurisdiction. Then, the plaintiff appealed to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR). The ABCMR met on July 25, 1997, and found plaintiff was not entitled to additional relief because the Veterans Administration (VA) had increased his disability rating to 60% for the VA’s purposes. Plaintiff challenges that decision here.

In addition, plaintiff alleges that he had ineffective assistance of counsel for the Formal PEB because he could not understand his JAG attorney due to her heavy Spanish accent. He also states that they only met for 15-20 minutes immediately before the Formal PEB. He argues this violated his due process rights and resulted in ineffective assistance of counsel.

Defendant moved to dismiss under RCFC 12(b)(1) & (b)(4) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, or alternatively, for summary judgment. This court held oral argument on defendant’s motion on November 16, 2001.

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review

RCFC 12(b)(1) requires the court to dismiss a complaint when the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the action and RCFC 12(b)(4) requires dismissal if, assuming the truth of all allegations, the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted as a matter of law. In ruling upon a motion to dismiss, a court must grant the motion “when the facts asserted by the plaintiff do not entitle him to a legal remedy.” Boyle v. United States, 200 F.3d 1369, 1372 (Fed.Cir.2000). See also Moyer v. United States, 190 F.3d 1314, 1317-18 (Fed.Cir.1999); N.Y. Life Ins. Co. v. United States, 190 F.3d 1372, 1377 (Fed.Cir.1999). In addition, the court must “accept all well-pleaded factual allegations as true and draw all reasonable inferences” in the plaintiffs favor. Boyle, 200 F.3d at 1372. See also Perez v. United States, 156 F.3d 1366, 1370 (Fed.Cir.1998).

II. This Court has Jurisdiction Over this Cause of Action

Defendant asserts that this court has no jurisdiction to hear this claim because plaintiff has not invoked the subject matter jurisdiction of the court. Plaintiff relies on 28 U.S.C. § 2671 (1994 & Supp.2001), for jurisdiction. Section 2671 is the definitional section of the code that deals with tort claims procedure. The section does not deal with the jurisdiction of this court. The only other law that the plaintiff cites in his brief is the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 701 et seq. (1998), in its entirety. The APA is not a jurisdictional statute. It simply waives sovereign immunity and governs the way this court (and other courts) review agency action. Thus, neither law cited by the plaintiff gives this court jurisdiction over this case.

Neither does the plaintiff bring this claim under the Back Pay Act, 5 U.S.C. § 5596 (1996 & Supp.2001), because the plaintiff does not seek to be reinstated in the Army. Rather, the plaintiff states he should have a higher disability rating than he currently has. Even if the plaintiff had raised the Back Pay Act, this court would not have jurisdiction because the Act is not jurisdictional in nature. See United States v. Connolly, 716 F.2d 882, 887 (Fed.Cir.1983). To reach the jurisdiction of this court, “[s]ome provision of law other than the Back Pay Act must first mandate, or at least be interpreted to mandate, money damages to an employee suffering an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action...” Walker v. United States, 11 Cl.Ct. 77, 80 (1986). Thus, the Back Pay [431]*431Act provides no jurisdiction for plaintiffs claims.

This court does, however, have jurisdiction under the Tucker Act. See 28 U.S.C. § 1491 (1994 & Supp.2001). See also, Sawyer v. United States, 930 F.2d 1577 (Fed.Cir.1991) (Tucker Act jurisdiction to actions challenging Board of Correction’s disability retirement decision); Sanders v. United States, 219 Ct.Cl. 285, 594 F.2d 804 (1979); Sanders v. United States, 34 Fed.Cl. 75, 80 (1995) (“court has jurisdiction to hear military pay cases in which the claim arises from statutes or regulations as opposed to the subjective expectations of members of the armed forces”); United States v. Larionoff, 431 U.S. 864, 869, 97 S.Ct. 2150, 53 L.Ed.2d 48 (1977) (jurisdiction to hear re-enlistment bonus disputes); Wyatt v. United States, 2 F.3d 398 (Fed.Cir.1993) (jurisdiction to hear specialty pay claims); Taylor v. United States, 33 Fed.Cl.

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Bluebook (online)
52 Fed. Cl. 429, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 91, 2002 WL 859190, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cole-v-united-states-uscfc-2002.