Hall v. United States

99 Fed. Cl. 223, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1151, 2011 WL 2473481
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJune 21, 2011
DocketNo. 09-239C
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 99 Fed. Cl. 223 (Hall 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
Hall v. United States, 99 Fed. Cl. 223, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1151, 2011 WL 2473481 (uscfc 2011).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

FUTEY, Judge.

Before the Court is a dispute over the extent of court leave to which certain federal employees are entitled. Under the federal court leave statute, qualifying employees who are “summoned ... by a court ... to serve” as jurors are entitled to paid leave for the duration of their service. 5 U.S.C. § 6322(a) (2006). Plaintiff, Dawn Hall, claims entitlement to such leave for service on a year-long panel of the Ventura County Grand Jury (“the Grand Jury”) as a juror, a position for which she had applied and been selected. The government asserts that section 6322(a) only covers compulsory jury service.

On March 14, 2011, Hall filed a Motion For Summary Judgment (“PL’s Mot.”), and on the same day the government filed a Motion For Summary Judgment And Motion To Dismiss In Part (“Def.’s Mot.”). The government filed an Opposition To Plaintiffs Motion For Summary Judgment on April 8, 2011 (“Def.’s Opp’n”), and Hall filed a Memorandum Of Points And Authorities In Opposition To Defendant’s Motion For Summary Judgment And Motion To Dismiss In Part (“PL’s Opp’n”) on April 11, 2011. On April 25, 2011, Hall filed a Reply Memorandum In Support Of Plaintiffs Motion For Summary Judgment (“PL’s Reply”), and the government filed a Reply Brief In Support Of Its Motion For Summary Judgment (“Def.’s Reply”) on the same day. At Hall’s request, oral argument was held in Washington, D.C., on May 25, 2011.

I. Background

Prior to her removal, Hall worked for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (“NCIS”) as a Computer Engineer in Ventu-ra County, California. In June 2002, she agreed to transfer to Washington, D.C., effective December 2002. Her supervisor, Claude Baldwin, allowed her to delay the transfer until July 2003 due to her mother’s poor health. Baldwin reminded Hall in a May 28, 2003 email that she would need “to report for work on Monday, 14JUL03, to the Code 20 Department at NCISHQ Washington Naval Yard” and asked her to notify him immediately if she had any “questions regarding ... the date of your permanent transfer/arrival to Washington, DC.” Def.’s App. in Supp. Mot. Summ. J. & Mot. Dismiss (“Def.’s MotApp.”) 41. In a June 4, 2003 email, Hall responded to Baldwin, “I am planning on best, optimistic case to start my move the first week of July[.]” Def.’s Mot. App. 45.

Earlier that spring, in March 2003, Hall had applied to serve on a yearlong panel of the Ventura County Grand Jury. The application process began when she filled out a Prospective Grand Jury Nominee Questionnaire and submitted it to the Superior Court of California, County of Ventura. Since she had applied, the court sent her a Summons To Attend Court As Part Of A Grand Jury Panel on June 20, 2003. The summons was signed by the court’s Jury Commissioner, and read:

YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED BY THE COURT to appear at Superior Court of California, County of Ventura [on] Tuesday, July 1, 2003 at 3:00 p.m. to attend the Superior Court as part of the Grand Jury [226]*226Panel, from which 19 names will be drawn to serve as grand jurors on the 2003-2004 Ventura County Grand Jury. Failure to appear in response to this Summons willfully or without reasonable cause, may subject you to a fine not exceeding Fifty Dollars ($50.00), or to personal attachments compelling your attendance.

Pl.’s Resp. Def.’s Mot. Dismiss Ex. 1 A. The actual panel of a Grand Jury is composed both of those who are randomly selected from the pool of applicants, as well as a number of holdovers from the prior year. These 19 jurors do not, like trial juries, decide guilt or innocence, but instead perform primarily investigative functions. At the end of its year-long term, the Grand Jury compiles a report of its activities. See Cal.Penal Code § 933 (West 2003) (requiring each grand jury to submit a final report). The panels that Hall served on prepared reports on health care, elder abuse, jail closures, and more. See Reports For Fiscal Year 2003-2004., County of Ventura Grand Jury, available at http://portal.eountyofventura.org/ portal/page/portal/GrancLJury/Reports/ Archived_Reports_2000-2005/TAB4579515 (last visited June 15, 2011); Reports for Fiscal Year 2004-2005, County of Ventura Grand Jury, available at http://portal.county ofventura.org/portal/page/portal/Grand_Jury/ Reports/Archived_Reports_2000-2005/TAB 4579509 (last visited June 15, 2011).

After she received the summons, Hall informed NCIS that she would need court leave. On June 27, 2003, Hall wrote Baldwin to request leave for “Jury Duty” on Tuesday, July 1, 2003. After appearing at court on that day and being selected to serve, Hall wrote Baldwin, “I was selected and sworn in for the Ventura County Grand Jury today. Starting today, 01JUL03, I will be on court leave until 01JUL04. I will provide a confirmation letter from the Grand Jury when it is available.” Def.’s Mot.App. 115.

NCIS quickly let Hall know it was displeased with her decision to serve on the Grand Jury. Baldwin wrote Hall on July 11, 2003 and told her he was “troubled” by her volunteering for a position on the Grand Jury and posed a number of questions about the Grand Jury, to which Hall did not respond. Id. at 120. Later that month, on July 30, Louis Beyer, the Assistant Director for Administration at NCIS, wrote Judge Bruce Clai’k, who presided over the Grand Jury, and requested that Hall be released from service. Judge Clark replied to NCIS that he would not release Hall “against her expressed desire to continue her service,” but he also wrote, “[Sjince Grand Jury service is completely voluntary, please be assured that the court will approve any request by Mrs. Hall to resign from her duties on the Grand Jury.” Id. at 58. Judge Clark also personally told Hall that he would “honor” a resignation request. Id. at 16.

Despite its misgivings over her Grand Jury service, NCIS paid Hall her full salary during the 2003-04 term of the Grand Jury. Near the end of that term, Deputy Assistant Director Joseph Vann, who had replaced Baldwin as Hall’s supervisor, wrote Hall on May 26, 2004 and ordered her to report for duty in Washington, D.C., no later than July 14, 2004. According to the letter, Hall was “directed not to seek or accept extension of [her] grand jury duties.” Id. at 60.

By the time of Vann’s order, however, Hall had already begun plans to serve a second year on the Grand Jury. Hall spoke with the current Grand Jury foreman and Judge Clark in the Spring of 2004 about serving as foreman of the 2004-05 Grand Jury panel. Hall testified at a deposition, “The judge asked me if I would serve as foreman the following year, and I had the opportunity to say no.” Id. at 17. She, however, decided to again volunteer for the Grand Jury, and received another Summons To Attend Court As Part Of A Grand Jury panel on June 21, 2004. After receiving the second summons, Hall contacted Vann on June 28, 2004 to inform him that she would serve “a final year on the Ventura County Grand Jury beginning on July 1, 2004 and ending on June 30, 2005.” Id. at 67.

Since Hall did not report for duty as ordered, NCIS placed her on absent without leave (“AWOL”) status and eventually removed her. Vann informed her on October 18, 2004 that she would be marked as AWOL and not paid as of July 14, 2004. Vann also wrote that he would recommend Hall’s re[227]*227moval, which he did on November 12, 2004.

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Hall v. Merit Systems Protection Board
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677 F.3d 1340 (Federal Circuit, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
99 Fed. Cl. 223, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1151, 2011 WL 2473481, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hall-v-united-states-uscfc-2011.