Demontiney v. United States

54 Fed. Cl. 780, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 342, 2002 WL 31875069
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedDecember 17, 2002
DocketNo. 02-170C
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 54 Fed. Cl. 780 (Demontiney 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
Demontiney v. United States, 54 Fed. Cl. 780, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 342, 2002 WL 31875069 (uscfc 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

HORN, Judge.

Defendant has moved to dismiss plaintiffs breach of contract complaint, stating that the plaintiff “has not and cannot allege that it is a party to any contract with the United States and has provided no other sufficient basis for this Court’s jurisdiction.” Plaintiff, however, contends that, “based upon the actual contract documents and their implementation, there was privity between the Plaintiff engineer and the Defendant BIA,” so that a contractual relationship did exist between the United States and the plaintiff. Plaintiff relies on this asserted contractual relationship to establish that the United States Court of Federal Claims has jurisdiction in this case.

FINDINGS OF FACT

In 1992, the Department of the Interior (DOI). Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), entered into a Final Design contract, which was modified at least once, with the Chippewa Cree Tribe Business Committee (the Tribe), to develop the final design for modifications to the Bonneau Dam, located on the Reservation. According to the BIA contracting officer, the government entered the Final Design contract with the Chippewa Cree Tribe under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA), Public Law 93-638, 25 U.S.C. § 450 et seq.

Plaintiff, however, focuses in its complaint on the contract, and modification, plaintiff Earthwalker Engineering entered into with the Tribe, according to the complaint, “a [782]*782series of agreements calling for the provision of engineering services contracts dated July 16, 1992, and August 6, 1992” for the Bonneau Dam Project. Plaintiff states that the contract it signed “was executed by the Chippewa Cree Tribal Chairman and was approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.” Plaintiff also alleges that it performed additional work outside the original description of,, work in the contract in response to express requests and demands of the BIA contracting officer and the Chippewa Cree contracting officer. In its complaint, plaintiff states that the contract was terminated prior to its completion on May 3, 1995, and that the project was 92 percent complete when the contract was terminated. Plaintiff claims $185,419.19 for the balance due on the contract, plus an additional amount of $76,748.64 in interest accrued, for a total claim of $262,168.63.

This case has been before a number of tribunals prior to reaching this court. John Demontiney apparently first filed a complaint for breach of contract against the Tribe in the Tribal Court.1 Following the Tribal Court’s dismissal of his claim, Demontiney filed a claim concerning the alleged unpaid contract balance with a BIA contracting officer. In a decision dated July 8, 1998, the BIA contracting officer stated that since there was no contract between the United States and Demontiney, no relief was available from the BIA.

Demontiney next filed a complaint against the United States and the Tribe in the United States District Court for the District of Montana. The District Court dismissed the claims against the United States and against the Chippewa Cree Indian Tribe, concluding that neither had waived sovereign immunity to suit or had its sovereign immunity negated by Congress. The District Court found that if Demontiney was in privity with the BIA, jurisdiction to pursue a contract claim would be in the United States Court of Federal Claims under the Contract Disputes Act, 41 U.S.C. §§ 601-613 (1994). Demontiney v. United States, 255 F.3d at 805. The District Court ordered any remaining claims against the United States transferred to the Court of Federal Claims. The District Court’s decision was appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the dismissal of the United States and the Tribe was affirmed on the grounds that there had been no waiver of sovereign immunity. The Ninth Circuit did not address the issue of whether there was privity of contract between Demontiney’s company and the United States. Id. at 805.2

[783]*783Following the appeal to the Ninth Circuit, this case was transferred from the United States District Court for the District of Montana to the United States Court of Federal Claims on March 5, 2002. Pursuant to Rule 84(a)(2) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (RCFC), plaintiff, Earthwalker Engineering, was required either to file the complaint from the District Court, with the necessary changes in the caption and in conformance with RCFC 82, or to file an amended complaint setting forth the claim or claims transferred, on or before April 2, 2002. Plaintiff did not meet the court’s filing deadline. On April 11, 2002, plaintiff was ordered to show cause, on or before May 10, 2002, why the court should not dismiss plaintiffs claim.

On July 16, 2002, the court received and filed plaintiffs counsel’s untimely response to the court’s order to show cause, accompanied by an amended complaint and affidavits from plaintiffs counsel and a paralegal in the Southside Law Center working with plaintiffs counsel. According to the affidavit of plaintiffs counsel, the filing of the amended complaint was delayed because plaintiffs counsel had difficulty communicating with his client. Plaintiffs counsel claimed he filed the documents in spite of a lack of contact with the plaintiff in order to preserve the plaintiffs cause of action, and further claimed that the delay in filing was due to his confusion as to whether he had been admitted to the bar of the United States Court of Federal Claims.

This court ordered the plaintiff, Mr. Demontiney, to file an affidavit with the court on or before June 7, 2002, indicating whether he wished to continue the suit. The affidavit was filed and indicated that Mr. Demontiney had experienced serious health problems, but requested his attorney to proceed with the case before this court. The court, therefore, ordered the amended complaint to be filed.

DISCUSSION

The defendant has filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, pursuant to RCFC 12(b)(1). Although defendant argues for dismissal based on subject matter jurisdiction, RCFC 12(b)(1), the proper basis to argue lack of privity is RCFC 12(b)(6), for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Therefore, because the court has been presented with matters outside the pleadings by both parties, upon which the court has relied, an otherwise proper RCFC 12(b)(6) motion is treated as a RCFC 56 motion for summary judgment. See RCFC 12(b). In a procedurally similar case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that summary judgment was warranted in a case in which there had been no privity of contract between the parties:

Considering matters outside the pleadings, the court treated the government’s motion to dismiss as a motion for summary judgment, in accordance with Rule 12(b) of the Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”)____We hold that there was no privity of contract between HUD and the Owners with respect to prepayment of the deed of trust notes____The court should have granted summary judgment in favor of the government on the breach of contract claims.

Cienega Gardens v. United States, 194 F.3d 1231, 1236, 1246 (Fed.Cir.1998), cert. denied sub nom. Sherman Park Apartments v. United States, 528 U.S. 820, 120 S.Ct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 Fed. Cl. 780, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 342, 2002 WL 31875069, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/demontiney-v-united-states-uscfc-2002.