Halim v. United States

106 Fed. Cl. 677, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1147, 2012 WL 4356211
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedSeptember 24, 2012
DocketNo. 12-5 C
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 106 Fed. Cl. 677 (Halim 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
Halim v. United States, 106 Fed. Cl. 677, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1147, 2012 WL 4356211 (uscfc 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

HEWITT, Chief Judge.

This case involves breach of contract claims by Ahmed Halim, plaintiff, against the United States, defendant, acting through its Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). See generally Third Am. Compl. for Breach of Contract (amended Complaint or Am. Compl.), Docket Number (Dkt. No.) 9. The amended Complaint claims that HUD breached the following four contracts: a housing assistance payment (HAP) contract associated with an apartment complex in Schenectady, New York (Schenectady Property), id. ¶¶ 4-9; a Section 8 HAP sales contract associated with the Nichols Townhouses in Flushing, Ohio (Flushing Property), id. ¶¶ 10-13; a foreclosure sale use agreement associated with the Beacon Light Apartments in Henderson, North Carolina (Henderson Property), id. ¶¶ 14-21; and a HAP contract associated with the Meadow-brook Apartments in Meridian, Mississippi1 (Meadowbrook Property), see id. ¶¶ 28-33. The amended Complaint also makes various requests for declaratory and injunctive relief. See id. ¶¶ 23, 25, 27, C, F.2

Plaintiff originally filed this case in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (District Court) on November 8, 2010. See Compl. for Breach of Contract, Halim v. U.S. Dep’t of Hons. & Urban Dev., No. 10-1916 (D.D.C. Nov. 8, 2010) (District Court Complaint or District Court Compl.), Dkt. No. 1-1, at 5.3 On October 11, 2011 the District Court found that the United States Court of Federal Claims (Court of Federal Claims or this court) had exclusive jurisdiction over plaintiffs claims, District Court Order of Oct. 11, 2011, Dkt. No. 1-1, at 4, and plaintiffs case was transferred to this court on January 4, 2012, see generally Notice, Dkt. No. 1. On February 8, 2012 plaintiff then filed with this court a complaint titled Amended Complaint for Breach of Contract, Dkt. No. 5, which was superseded by plaintiffs May 30, 2012 filing of the Third Amended Complaint for Breach of Contract. Notwithstanding the titles used by plaintiff, the court refers to the Amended Complaint for Breach of Contract as the original Complaint (or Compl.) and the Third Amended Complaint for Breach of Contract as the amended Complaint (or Am. Compl.).

Also before the court — in addition to the original Complaint and the amended Complaint — are Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction (defendant’s Motion or Def.’s Mot.), Dkt. No. 13, and attached [680]*680appendix4 (Def.’s App.), Dkt. No. 13-1, filed June 29, 2012; Plaintiff’s Opposition to Motion to Dismiss (plaintiffs Response or Pl.’s Resp.), Dkt. No. 15, filed July 30, 2012; and Defendant’s Reply in Support of its Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction (defendant’s Reply or Def.’s Reply), Dkt. No. 16, filed August 15, 2012.

Additionally, on March 9, 2012, plaintiff filed with the District Court a pro se complaint, see Def.’s App. All (Compl., Halim v. Donovan, No. 12-384 (D.D.C. Mar. 9, 2012)), which the court refers to as the pro se Complaint (or Pro Se Compl.). The pro se Complaint is addressed in defendant’s Motion, see Def.’s Mot. 7-13, and is discussed below in Parts I.B and III.A.

Defendant contends that plaintiff has claims related to the Schenectady, Meadow-brook and Henderson Properties pending in District Court, and that 28 U.S.C. § 1500 (2006), as interpreted by United States v. Tohono O’Odham Nation (Tohono), — U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 1723, 179 L.Ed.2d 723 (2011), bars this court from exercising jurisdiction over these claims. Def.’s Mot. 7-13. Accordingly, defendant moves to dismiss the claims associated with the Schenectady, Meadowbrook and Henderson Properties under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (RCFC). Id. at 13. Defendant also moves to dismiss plaintiffs requests for declaratory and in-junctive relief, arguing that the limited circumstances under which this court has authority to grant equitable relief are not present in this ease. Id. at 13-16. Finally, as to those claims over which the court finds it possesses jurisdiction, defendant requests that they be “stayed pending the outcome of the district court proceedings.” Def.’s Reply 3; see Def.’s Mot. 13 n. 10.

Plaintiffs Response offers little substantive support for its request that the court deny defendant’s Motion. See Pl.’s Resp. 2 (arguing only that “[wjhile it is true [pjlain-tiff filed a complaint in the United States District Court, the substance of [pjlaintiffs allegations in that matter involve civil rights claims”). Plaintiffs Response also “seeks to have this matter stayed pending the outcome of the matter in [the] District Court,” or, in the alternative, “to have this matter proceed on those counts not involving common[ ] allegations of facts or causes of action as outlined in the United States District Court Complaint.” Id.

For the following reasons, defendant’s Motion is DENIED-IN-PART and GRANTED-IN-PART, and the parties’ request to stay the proceedings is GRANTED.

I. Background

A. Plaintiffs Four Claims5

1. Schenectady Property Claim

The amended Complaint states that plaintiff entered into a HAP contract with HUD involving the Schenectady Property on or about July 25, 2006. Am. Compl. ¶4. The HAP contract required that the apartments for which plaintiff received housing assistance payments meet HUD’s Uniform Physical Condition (UPC) Standards. Id. ¶ 5. The amended Complaint states that plaintiff spent $1.5 million to ensure that the apartments met the UPC Standards, and that, in March of 2008, all forty of the Schenectady Property apartments passed a UPC Standards inspection. Id. ¶ 6. However, “HUD determined that [pjlaintiff failed to maintain the [Schenectady Property] in accordance with the Owner Certification section of the [681]*681HAP contract, and [plaintiffs HAP contract was terminated.” Id. ¶ 7. The amended Complaint claims that “HUD should not have revoked the [plaintiffs contract because the [p]laintiff was not failing to maintain the property at issue, nor was [p]laintiff in violation of the [UPC] Standards.” Id. ¶ 9. The amended Complaint further states that plaintiff “escrowed approximately $405,000[,] of which approximately half was released,” and that “[t]he remaining balance is due and owing.” Id. ¶ 8. It is not clear to the court how the escrowed funds relate to the HAP contract.

The amended Complaint claims that HUD’s termination of the “HAP contract was a breach of contract.” Id. The amended Complaint seeks judgment “in the amount [of] [plaintiffs deposit into escrow for the Schenectady [Property]” plus interest,6 id. ¶ A, and “the full balance due and owing ... on the HAP contraet[ ] for ... Schenectady,” id. ¶ E. The amended Complaint also seeks a declaration from the court that “HUD has failed to comply with its own regulations regarding the termination of [the] HAP contract ] and that the termination was illegal and contrary to law and therefore a nullity.” Id. ¶23.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
106 Fed. Cl. 677, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1147, 2012 WL 4356211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/halim-v-united-states-uscfc-2012.