Erwin v. United States

36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,766, 19 Cl. Ct. 47, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 267, 1989 WL 150355
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedDecember 13, 1989
DocketNo. 475-87C
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,766 (Erwin v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Erwin v. United States, 36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,766, 19 Cl. Ct. 47, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 267, 1989 WL 150355 (cc 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

LYDON, Senior Judge:

This service contract case1 comes before the court on defendant’s motion for summary judgment, or in the alternative, [48]*48for partial summary judgment.2 Plaintiff opposes defendant’s summary judgment motion on the ground that genuine issues of material fact are in dispute. Upon consideration of the submissions of the parties and oral argument, the court concludes that defendant’s motion for summary judgment must be granted in part and denied in part.

Facts

Plaintiff Anita (Brady) Erwin is sole owner of the court reporting firm Brady & Brady, having succeeded to the interest of her partner and husband, Don Brady, now deceased. The relevant events leading up to the commencement of the three contracts in dispute are as follows.

On February 3, 1984, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, by and through its Clerk Maurine D. Neel (Neel), sent a letter to Paul R. Tuell (Tuell), Chief of Procurement and Properly, Management Branch, Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO), requesting authorization to purchase electronic sound recording (ESR) equipment for bankruptcy court proceedings. In her letter, Neel provided two reasons for the requested purchase. First, she cited the unsatisfactory contract court reporting system currently in use, noting in particular the problem of acquiring court reporters who meet the quality standards set forth in the contracts. Second, she cited the superior cost effectiveness of the ESR equipment over the present contract system. Neel stated at the end of the letter that the court “would like to have the equipment installed at the latest by June 5, 1984, when the present court reporter contracts expire.” The contracts to which Neel referred were then held by Brady & Brady. These contracts, which were procured annually, are not the subject of the present dispute.

Neel received a response to her letter on March 7, 1984 from Rick McBride (McBride), Special Projects Director for the Office of Court Reporting and Interpreting Services of the AO. The letter informed Neel that at present there were no funds available for the purchase of ESR equipment for use in the bankruptcy courts. However, funds had been requested for fiscal year 1985, and therefore might become available on October 1, 1984, subject to Congressional approval.

In May 1984, in contemplation of submitting a bid, plaintiff (or her husband) asked Neel about the meaning of the “Scope of Agreement” provision contained in paragraph 2(b) of Government Form AO-358, the court reporting services contract. This provision provides that “[a]ny proceedings which the Government determines to record on electronic sound recording equipment, such as meetings of creditors conducted pursuant to provisions of the Bankruptcy Code, title 11, United States Code, or not to report are outside the scope of this Agreement.” Plaintiff contends that in order to induce Brady & Brady to bid upon the defendant’s solicitation of offers, Neel represented that the above provision was limited solely to non-judicial proceedings. Plaintiff contends that Brady & Brady would not have made an offer on the solicitation in 1984 were it not for Neel's representation. Plaintiff’s offer led to the award of court reporting and transcription services contracts which began on or about June 5, 1984 and ended on or about June 4, 1985. There is no dispute that these contracts were fully performed and these contracts are not at issue in this case. It is also reasonable to assume that funds for ESR equipment were not available for fiscal year 1985.

[49]*49Since plaintiff’s one year contracts to furnish court reporting and transcription services were due to expire on or about June 5, 1985, on April 22, 1985, defendant again issued a solicitation of offers to furnish court reporting and transcription services for bankruptcy courts at three Tennessee locations: Columbia, Cookeville, and Nashville. Brady & Brady again submitted offers, dated April 24, 1985, to furnish court reporting and transcription services at all three locations. On April 26, 1985, Neel submitted a written request for the services of two ESR operators for bankruptcy judges for fiscal year 1986, which was to commence on October 1,1985. On May 1, 1985, Neel also submitted a written request to procure the court reporting services of Brady & Brady from June 13, 1985 to June 12, 1986 at the three locations, listed above, as provided in the contracts.

On May 1, 1985, defendant issued a “Court Reporting Services Evaluation and Recommendation Record.” This Record recommended that Brady & Brady be awarded the three contracts, discussed above, for the following reasons: theirs was the only bid submitted, the qualifications of the reporters “are as required,” and “the court has been well satisfied with these reporters.” On May 29, 1985, plaintiff’s husband Don Brady received three letters from Tuell stating that Brady & Brady had been awarded the three court reporting services contracts for Columbia, Cookeville and Nashville, and that the effective contract period was June 13, 1985 through June 12,1986. The contracts were numbered USCA 50619, 50621, and 50622 (1985 contracts). These 1985 contracts also contained the ESR scope of agreement exception which was part of the 1984 contracts. It would appear that the AO was optimistic about obtaining funds for ESR equipment for fiscal year 1986, which would commence on October 1, 1985.

There is little question that these contracts are in the nature of requirements contracts. Government Form AO-351, entitled “Preparation Instructions — Offers to Furnish Court Reporting Services” provides in paragraph 13 that “[t]he resulting Agreement will constitute a requirements contract, and the Government agrees to obtain all services within the scope of the resulting Agreement from the successful offeror.” Moreover, in Government Form AO-357, entitled “Offer to Furnish Court Reporting Services,” plaintiff agreed to “provide services to satisfy — all of the needs of presiding officials within the scope of this Solicitation.” “Under a requirements contract, the Government promises to purchase all of its requirements for the services or materials specified in the contract.” Biener GmbH v. United States, 17 CI.Ct. 802, 809 (1989).

Each of these contracts also contained a “termination for convenience” clause, which provides in pertinent part:

The Contracting Officer, by written notice, may terminate this agreement, in whole or in part, when it is in the best interest of the Government. The Government shall be liable only for payment in accordance with the payment provisions of this agreement for performance which the contractor renders prior to the effective date of termination.

Plaintiff contends that, as a result of prior dealings, defendant, through its agent Neel, knew or should have known, prior to the award of the 1985 contracts, that Don Brady had been experiencing serious health problems since the winter of 1984, and had been diagnosed as having cancer no later than April 1985. Plaintiff submitted the affidavit of James D. Lane, II (Lane) in support of this contention. Lane was the Courtroom Deputy for Chief Judge Paine in the Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee until September 30, 1985.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,766, 19 Cl. Ct. 47, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 267, 1989 WL 150355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/erwin-v-united-states-cc-1989.