Gant v. United States

131 F. App'x 292
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedMay 11, 2005
DocketNo. 05-5045
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 131 F. App'x 292 (Gant v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gant v. United States, 131 F. App'x 292 (Fed. Cir. 2005).

Opinion

DECISION

PER CURIAM.

Eric L. Gant appeals from a decision of the United States Court of Federal Claims dismissing most of his claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and granting summary judgment for the government on the remaining claim. Gant v. United States, 63 Fed.Cl. 311 (2004). We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Mr. Gant began his military career in 1984 when he enlisted in the United States Navy after graduating from high school. He was later selected to receive an NROTC scholarship that allowed him to complete a college degree program and be commissioned as a Naval officer in 1993.

While on duty in July 1994, Mr. Gant began to experience medical problems that resulted in his becoming increasingly fatigued and unable to perform his duties. Between July 1994 and June 1997, Mr. Gant made numerous visits to medical clinics in an effort to resolve his condition. He was eventually diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and sleep apnea, and he was placed on limited duty status. During that period, Mr. Gant received three unfavorable fitness reports.

On April 8, 1997, the Navy convened an informal Physical Evaluation Board (“PEB”) to review Mr. Gant’s medical condition in order to determine if he was fit for duty. The informal PEB found that Mr. Gant was not fit for further military duty, and it awarded him a preliminary disability rating of 10 percent. Based on those findings, the informal PEB recommended that he be discharged with severance pay.

Mr. Gant initially sought to contest the preliminary findings in a formal PEB proceeding, but before the formal hearing was held he changed his mind and waived his right to a hearing. In the document in which he waived his right to a hearing, he stated that he accepted the findings of the preliminary PEB. Before making that decision, Mr. Gant was counseled by a disability evaluation counselor. In September 1997, Mr. Gant was honorably discharged and was given approximately $62,000 in severance pay.

In August 2003, Mr. Gant filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims claiming that he had been wrongfully discharged from the Navy. In addition, he made a number of claims regarding his alleged mistreatment by the Navy during his service and following his discharge, including claims that the Navy (1) had violated the Military Whistleblower Protection Act and a Department of Defense directive; (2) had violated his due process rights; (3) had been grossly negligent in actions that injured him; (4) had committed fraud; and (5) had conspired against him in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985. The government moved to dismiss the first claim for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted on the ground that Mr. Gant had waived his right to further review of the informal PEB findings. The government moved to dismiss the remaining claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The trial court granted the motion to dismiss the claims other than the wrongful discharge claim for lack of jurisdiction. With respect to the wrongful discharge claim, the trial court treated the government’s motion to dismiss as a summary judgment motion. The court then concluded that Mr. Gant had voluntarily waived his right to a formal PEB hearing and that in so doing, he had waived his right to contest the finding that he was unfit for [294]*294duty and the 10 percent disability rating. By failing to challenge the finding of unfitness and the disability rating, the court explained, Mr. Gant waived his right to raise those issues in subsequent administrative and judicial proceedings. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

Mr. Gant’s first claim of error is that the trial court should have ruled in his favor on the merits of his wrongful discharge claim because the government did not challenge the court’s jurisdiction over that claim. He appears to argue that the government’s failure to challenge the jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims should be taken as an admission that he was wrongfully discharged. That argument is clearly incorrect. The Court of Federal Claims has jurisdiction over a military discharge case if the plaintiff alleges “that, because of the unlawful discharge, the plaintiff is entitled to money in the form of the pay that the plaintiff would have received but for the unlawful discharge.” Martinez v. United States, 333 F.3d 1295, 1303 (Fed.Cir.2003) (en banc). Mr. Gant alleged that he was wrongfully discharged and that he was owed military back pay and allowances as a result of his wrongful discharge. The court therefore had jurisdiction to decide if Mr. Gant was wrongfully discharged. The existence of jurisdiction, however, does not establish a right to relief. Accordingly, the government’s failure to challenge the court’s jurisdiction on the wrongful discharge issue did not constitute an admission of liability.

Mr. Gant next argues that the court erred in granting judgment against him on the wrongful discharge claim, because his waiver of a formal PEB hearing did not preclude judicial review of that claim. The trial court, however, ruled that Mr. Gant’s waiver of his right to a formal PEB hearing included a knowing and voluntary acceptance of the informal PEB’s conclusions that he was unfit for military service and that his disability rating was 10 percent. Accordingly, the court concluded, Mr. Gant “waived his right, if he had one, to proceed in court by failing to alert the military to his objections and to take advantage of the opportunity of a formal hearing.” Gant v. United States, 63 Fed. Cl. at 318.

During the pendency of this appeal, this court issued an opinion in Van Cleave v. United States, 402 F.3d 1341 (Fed.Cir. 2005), in which the court addressed the effect of a similar waiver of a formal PEB hearing on a service member’s right to pursue an unlawful discharge claim in court. Pursuant to our invitation, the parties in this case filed supplemental briefs discussing the effect of the Van Cleave decision on this appeal. After reviewing the parties’ submissions and the decision in Van Cleave, we conclude that the decision in that case does not require that we reverse or remand in this case for further analysis of the waiver issue.

In Van Cleave, which was also a military disability retirement case, the trial court dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint for failure to state a claim on the ground that the plaintiffs waiver of a right to a formal PEB hearing constituted a waiver of any right to subsequent judicial review of the plaintiff’s discharge. 402 F.3d at 1342. This court disagreed, holding that the trial court’s conclusion that the plaintiff had waived a formal PEB hearing did not necessarily establish that the plaintiff had waived all rights to judicial review. This court therefore remanded the case to the trial court to determine the scope and voluntariness of the plaintiff’s waiver. Id. at 1344.

In this case, unlike in Van Cleave, the trial court specifically addressed the scope [295]*295and voluntariness of Mr. Gant’s waiver, which was precisely the question the Van Cleave court directed the trial court to address on remand. Focusing on the facts relating to Mr. Gant’s waiver, the trial court first concluded that Mr.

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Related

Rominger v. United States
72 Fed. Cl. 268 (Federal Claims, 2006)
Van Cleave v. United States
66 Fed. Cl. 133 (Federal Claims, 2005)

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131 F. App'x 292, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gant-v-united-states-cafc-2005.