Corrigan v. United States

70 Fed. Cl. 665, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 119, 2006 WL 1283539
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMay 10, 2006
DocketNo. 04-1587 C
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 70 Fed. Cl. 665 (Corrigan 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
Corrigan v. United States, 70 Fed. Cl. 665, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 119, 2006 WL 1283539 (uscfc 2006).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

HEWITT, Judge.

Before the court is Plaintiffs Motion for This Court’s Reconsideration Dismissing Plaintiffs Claims on Summary Judgment (Pl.’s Mot.) and the following responsive briefing: Defendant’s Response to Plaintiffs Motion for Reconsideration (Def.’s Resp.) and Plaintiffs Reply to Defendant’s Response to Plaintiffs Motion for This Court’s Reconsideration (Pl.’s Reply). Plaintiff moves for reconsideration of this court’s opinion in Corrigan v. United States, 68 Fed.Cl. 589 (2005). In its opinion, the court held that plaintiffs Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims that accrued more than three years before the filing of plaintiffs complaint were time-barred, Corrigan, 68 Fed.Cl. at 593; that plaintiffs remaining FLSA claims were barred because his position as a CU-11 examiner was classified as FLSA-exempt based on the professional exemption, id. at 595; that plaintiffs Federal Employee Pay Act (FEPA) overtime claims were barred because plaintiff did not obtain prior written approval as required by 5 C.F.R. § 550.111(c), id. at 596; and that plaintiff was ineligible for reimbursement of his travel expense claims under the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Travel Manual, id. at 601. Plaintiffs motion for reconsideration consists of the following. First, requesting the court to reconsider plaintiffs time-barred FLSA claims, plaintiff introduces the new arguments that his time-barred claims are “subject to ‘equitable tolling’” and that “the ‘continuing claims doctrine applies.’ ”1 Pl.’s Mot. at 5. Second, requesting the court to reconsider plaintiffs remaining FLSA claims, plaintiff reiterates his argument that he is subject to the FLSA, rather than exempt from it, despite his position as a CU-11 credit union examiner. Id. at 5-6. Third, plaintiff reiterates his argument that “[t]he FEPA and FLSA are in pari materia” and that “under both [the FLSA and FEPA,] covered employees must be paid when working overtime.” Id. at 5. Finally, plaintiff argues that the court erred in its analysis of plaintiffs travel expense claims because the court did not follow the process articulated by the General Services Board of Contract Appeals (GSBCA) in Thurman, GSBCA No. 15562-TRAY, 01-2 BCA II31516, 2001 WL 748223 (G.S.B.C.A. June 27, 2001), and, further, that the court erred by deciding the travel claims on sum[667]*667mary judgment because the GSBCA allegedly applies an inconsistent approach to “personal convenience” travel expense claims, so that the court is not empowered to adopt one approach over another. Id. at 1-4. For the reasons detailed below, plaintiffs motion for reconsideration is DENIED.

1. Background2

Plaintiff, a credit union examiner for the NCUA, filed a complaint with this court on October 20, 2004, and an amended complaint on March 7, 2005, seeking reimbursement for overtime pay and travel expenses allegedly incurred in connection with his professional duties. Specifically, Mr. Corrigan sought overtime pay for travel during non-working days and beyond the forty-hour work week from December 1, 1999 to present and from December 1, 2000 to present and reimbursement for the following travel expenses: the constructive cost of lodging in Seattle when he stayed with relatives because of voluntary and requested reassignment there; costs of car rental on weekends between business travel in Anaheim, California; costs of lodging and per diem expenses between business engagements in Orlando, Florida; and lodging and per diem expenses incurred in Alexandria, Virginia after a conference there. Mr. Corrigan began working for NCUA as a CU-9 examiner on November 14, 1999 and was promoted to the position of CU-11 credit examiner effective January 14, 2001. Corri-gan, 68 Fed.CI. at 591. NCUA classified his CU-9 position as non-exempt and his CU-11 position as exempt from the provisions of the FLSA.3 Id. Mr. Corrigan concedes that he did not obtain prior written authorization for his overtime work; rather, “all authorization to work overtime was oral.” Id. at 596.

On August 5, 2005, defendant filed its Motion to Dismiss and Motion for Summary Judgment (Def.’s Mot. or Defendant’s Motion).4 Responsive briefing followed.5 In an Opinion and Order (Opinion) dated November 15, 2005, the court granted defendant’s motion, holding that plaintiffs claims that had accrued prior to October 21, 2001 were time-barred, Corrigan, 68 Fed.CI. at 593; that plaintiffs position as a CU-11 credit examiner rendered him ineligible for plaintiffs remaining overtime claims under the FLSA pursuant to the FLSA’s professional exemption, id. at 595; that the fact that plaintiff did not obtain prior written approval for overtime work rendered him ineligible to receive overtime pay under FEPA, id. at 596; and that plaintiff was ineligible as a matter of law to receive reimbursement for his travel expense claims under the rules contained in the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) and the NCUA Travel Manual, id. at 601. Plaintiff now requests reconsideration of the court’s determinations of those issues. Pl.’s Mot. at 1-7. The court considers plaintiffs request in accordance with the standards of Rule 59 of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims (RCFC).

II. Standard of Review

RCFC 59(a)(1) affords this court discretion to grant reconsideration “to all or any of the parties and on all or part of the issues, for any of the reasons established by the rules of common law or equity applicable as between private parties in the courts of the United States.” RCFC 59(a)(1); see Yuba Natural Res., Inc. v. United States, 904 F.2d 1577, 1583 (Fed.Cir.1990) (“The decision whether to grant reconsideration lies largely within the discretion of the district court.”). A party “does not persuade the court to [668]*668grant ... [a] motion [for reconsideration] by merely reasserting arguments which were previously made and were carefully considered by the court.” Henderson County Drainage Dist. No. 3 v. United States, 55 Fed.Cl. 334, 337 (2003). In addition, by failing to raise an issue when it is first available to be litigated, a party waives consideration by the court of the issue on reconsideration, even when the party is pro se. Lamle v. Mattel, Inc., 394 F.3d 1355, 1359 n. 1 (Fed. Cir.2005) (holding that pro se party had waived issue where party had first raised issue on motion for reconsideration); Abbott Labs. v. Syntron Bioresearch, Inc., 334 F.3d 1343, 1355 (Fed.Cir.2003) (holding that party had waived issue by fading to raise issue in opening brief); Seldovia Native Ass’n, Inc. v. United States, 36 Fed.Cl. 593, 594 (1996) (“[A] motion for reconsideration ... should not be based on evidence that was readily available at the time the motion was heard.”); see Bishop v. United States, 26 Cl.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
70 Fed. Cl. 665, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 119, 2006 WL 1283539, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corrigan-v-united-states-uscfc-2006.