Grayton v. United States

92 Fed. Cl. 327, 2010 U.S. Claims LEXIS 227, 2010 WL 1745128
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedApril 28, 2010
DocketNo. 09-398 C
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 92 Fed. Cl. 327 (Grayton 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
Grayton v. United States, 92 Fed. Cl. 327, 2010 U.S. Claims LEXIS 227, 2010 WL 1745128 (uscfc 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

BUSH, Judge.

The court has before it defendant’s motion to dismiss this suit pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (RCFC). Defendant’s motion was filed August 17, 2009, and has been fully briefed.1 For the reasons set forth below, defendant’s motion is granted.

BACKGROUND2

On April 10, 2006, plaintiff provided a suggestion to the Social Security Administration (SSA), through the SSA website, that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits should be delivered to recipients by debit card transaction rather than by paper check. Compl. at 3, 14. On June 2, 2006, the SSA responded that it would bring Mr. Grayton’s suggestion to the attention of officials who oversee the SSI program and encouraged the submission of new ideas. Id. On June 10, 2006, Mr. Grayton submitted a proposal describing a pilot program offering SSI recipients point of sale access to their SSI benefits through debit cards. Id. n. 1. The SSA currently uses debit card technology in the delivery of benefits to recipients. Id. Ex. 1 at 2.

On August 14, 2008, plaintiff filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, alleging, among other causes of action, that various government officials had misappropriated his debit card proposal and had failed to compensate him for his proposal. Compl. Ex. 1 at 1-2. On April 28, 2009, Mr. Grayton’s lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, primarily because he failed to respond to a motion to dismiss, and secondarily because he had not named the United States, rather than individual federal officials, as the defendant in that action. Id. Ex. 1 at 2-4. Plaintiff filed suit in the instant case on June 17, 2009. Plaintiff asserts that the complaint before this court “cures the past discrepancy [331]*331and serves as a Tort Cause of Action ... against the United States.” Id. at 4.

Defendant timely filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. As Mr. Grayton admits in his opposition brief, the complaint before the court abounded with “various legal theories” which “complicated” the litigation of plaintiffs claims. PL’s Opp. at 2. Plaintiff concedes, for example, that certain of his demands for injunctive and declaratory relief are beyond this court’s jurisdiction. Id. Plaintiff, in his opposition brief, appears to have abandoned most of the legal theories and citations to statutes that were briefly presented in the complaint in favor of an assertion that his suit in this court seeks just compensation for a taking of his property by the federal government. Id. at 1-8, 10. Plaintiff, in his sui-reply brief, attempts to identify the property interest that was taken by the government, Pl.’s Sur-Reply at 2-6, and looks to an Army incentive and awards program as a potential money-mandating source of law for his claim in this court, id. at 7-9.

The primary legal claim that plaintiff continues to advance and defend is a takings claim. In reference to his takings claim, plaintiff asserts that the taking of his debit card proposal occurred in furtherance of the Government Paperwork Elimination Act of 1998, 44 U.S.C. § 3504(a)(l)(B)( [vi]) (2006). Pl.’s Opp. at 7-9. Plaintiff also relies, to some extent, on the concepts of patent rights and copyright infringement, as well as case-law concerning trade secrets. The court will focus this opinion on the legal theories which, despite the arguments raised by defendant, plaintiff apparently believes entitle him to “a remedy in support of the taking[s] allegation.”3 Pl.’s Sur-Reply at 10.

DISCUSSION

I. Standards of Review

The court acknowledges that Mr. Grayton is proceeding pro se, and is “not expected to frame issues with the precision of a common law pleading.” Roche v. United States Postal Serv., 828 F.2d 1555, 1558 (Fed.Cir.1987). Pro se plaintiffs are entitled to a liberal construction of their pleadings. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972) (requiring that allegations contained in a pro se complaint be held to “less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers”). Accordingly, the court has examined the complaint and briefs thoroughly and has attempted to discern all of plaintiffs legal arguments.

In rendering a decision on a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to RCFC 12(b)(1), this court must presume all undisputed factual allegations to be true and construe all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. 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); Reynolds v. Army & Air Force Exch. Serv., 846 F.2d 746, 747 (Fed.Cir.1988). However, plaintiff bears the burden of establishing subject matter jurisdiction, Alder Terrace, Inc. v. United States, 161 F.3d 1372, 1377 (Fed.Cir.1998) (citing McNutt v. Gen. Motors Acceptance Corp. of Ind., 298 U.S. 178, 189, 56 S.Ct. 780, 80 L.Ed. 1135 (1936)), and must do so by a preponderance of the evidence, Reynolds, 846 F.2d at 748 (citations omitted). If jurisdiction is found to be lacking, this court must dismiss the action. RCFC 12(h)(3).

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 under this rule, “the allegations of the complaint should be construed favorably to the pleader.” Scheuer, 416 U.S. at 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683. The court must also inquire whether the complaint meets the “plausibility [332]*332standard” 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, 560-63, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (Twombly).

II. Analysis

A. Plaintiffs Apparently Abandoned Claims Not Within the Court’s Jurisdiction

The Tucker Act delineates this court’s jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 1491 (2006). This statute “confers jurisdiction upon the Court of Federal Claims over the specified categories of actions brought against the United States.... ” Fisher v. United States, 402 F.3d 1167, 1172 (Fed.Cir.2005) (en

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Bluebook (online)
92 Fed. Cl. 327, 2010 U.S. Claims LEXIS 227, 2010 WL 1745128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grayton-v-united-states-uscfc-2010.