Extreme Coatings, Inc. v. United States

109 Fed. Cl. 450, 2013 U.S. Claims LEXIS 139, 2013 WL 799853
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedFebruary 26, 2013
DocketNo. 12-516 C
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 109 Fed. Cl. 450 (Extreme Coatings, Inc. 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
Extreme Coatings, Inc. v. United States, 109 Fed. Cl. 450, 2013 U.S. Claims LEXIS 139, 2013 WL 799853 (uscfc 2013).

Opinion

Contract Dispute; RCFC 12(b)(6); Elements of a Differing Site Conditions Claim; “Act of God” Weather Conditions.

OPINION AND ORDER

BUSH, Judge.

The court has before it defendant’s motion for partial dismissal, brought under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Rules of the United States [452]*452Court of Federal Claims (RCFC). The motion challenges Counts I-V, and a portion of Count IX, of the complaint. Def.’s Mot. at 1. Plaintiffs suit is a not atypical contractor claim for monetary relief brought under the Contract Disputes Act of 1978, 41 U.S.C.A. §§ 7101-7109 (West 2011) (CDA). Compl. ¶ 3. Defendant’s motion is not persuasive and must be denied.

BACKGROUND 1

Plaintiff Extreme Coatings, Inc. (ECI) was awarded a contract valued at $705,368.35 on June 3, 2009 to perform “partial recoating of the downstream side of the spillway radial gates at Yellowtail Dam [on Big Horn Lake], located approximately forty-five (45) miles southwest of Hardin, Montana.” Compl. ¶¶ 4, 12, 151. The contracting agency was the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau). The project was to proceed in two phases. Phase I was to take place within 120 days from the issuance of the Notice to Proceed, which, in this case, meant that ECI was to finish Phase I by October 10, 2009. Id. ¶¶ 14, 16-18. Phase II was to take place during a forty-five (45) day window which would be triggered by lower water levels (and this window would likely not occur until 2010). Id. ¶¶ 7-8, 15. Phase II of the project was eventually scheduled for April 14, 2010 through May 29, 2010. Id. ¶ 63.

According to plaintiff, neither Phase I nor Phase II was performed within the schedule set forth in the contract, and government-caused delays were costly to ECI. Compl. at 4-13. The complaint contains numerous allegations of fault attributed to the government, but a lengthy recitation of plaintiffs allegations is not needed here. On May 23, 2011, ECI filed a certified claim with the contracting officer requesting an equitable adjustment of the contract amount. Id. ¶ 97. This claim was apparently denied in large part, although an adjustment of $28,500 was provided through a unilateral modification to the contract. Id. ¶¶ 99-100.

On August 15, 2012, ECI filed its CDA claims in this court. The complaint is divided into Counts I-IX. The court adopts plaintiffs shorthand list which provides the nature and subject of the claim presented in each count:

Count I — Type I Differing Site Conditions
(Design & Configuration of the Vertical Side Seal Assembly)
Count II — Type II Differing Site Conditions
(Hardness or Rigidity of the Existing Rubber Seal Side Seals)
Count III — Type II Differing Site Conditions
(Excessive Rust on Side Seal Retainer Bar)
Count IV — Type II Differing Site Conditions
(Rust Encountered Under the Existing Layer of Paint During Sandblasting Operations)
Count V — Type I Differing Site Conditions
[453]*453(Upper Pool Water Elevations)
Count VI — Constructive Changes
(Suspension of Work)
Count VII — Constructive Changes
(Reinstall Temporary Water Impediment Measures)
Count VIII — Defective Designs and Specifications
Count IX — Delays for which the Government is Responsible.

PL’s Opp. at 6-7 (formatting altered). The court reserves its discussion of defendant’s challenges to Counts I-V, and to a portion of Count IX, for the analysis section of this opinion.

DISCUSSION

1. Standard of Review for a Motion Filed under RCFC 12(b)(6)

It is well-settled that a complaint should be dismissed under RCFC 12(b)(6) “when the facts asserted by the claimant do not entitle him to a legal remedy.” Lindsay v. United States, 295 F.3d 1252, 1257 (Fed.Cir.2002). When considering a motion to dismiss brought under RCFC 12(b)(6), “the allegations of the complaint should be construed favorably to the pleader.” Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974), abrogated on other grounds by Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 814-15, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). The court must inquire, however, whether the complaint meets the “plausibility” standard described by the United States Supreme Court, i.e., whether it adequately states a claim and provides a “showing [of] any set of facts consistent with the allegations in the complaint.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 560, 563, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (Twombly). “To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (Iqbal) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has not specifically addressed the magnitude of the changes wrought by Twombly and Iqbal. There are, however, enough references by the Federal Circuit to the post-Twombly Rule 12(b)(6) standard to provide adequate guidance to this court in the circumstances of this ease.2 Here is a brief passage touching on the standard which should be applied here:

We must presume that the facts are as alleged in the complaint, and make all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. To state a claim, the complaint must allege facts “plausibly suggesting (not merely consistent with)” a showing of entitlement to relief. The factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level. This does not require the plaintiff to set out in detail the facts upon which the claim is based, but enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.

Cary v. United States, 552 F.3d 1373, 1376 (Fed.Cir.2009) (quoting and citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555-57, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955 and citing Gould, Inc. v. United States, 935 F.2d 1271, 1274 (Fed.Cir.1991)). Similar brief renditions of the standard may be found in a handful of precedential decisions of the Federal Circuit deciding appeals arising from this court. See, e.g., Indian Harbor Ins. Co. v. United States, 704 F.3d 949, 954 (Fed.Cir.2013) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955; Acceptance Ins. Cos. v. United States,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
109 Fed. Cl. 450, 2013 U.S. Claims LEXIS 139, 2013 WL 799853, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/extreme-coatings-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2013.