Hood v. United States

127 Fed. Cl. 192, 2016 U.S. Claims LEXIS 684, 2016 WL 3086739
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided May 27, 2016·No. 15-1200; 15-1501 15-1501·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Pro Se Plaintiff; In Forma Pauperis; Motion to Dismiss; 28 U.S.C. § 1500; RCFC 11 Sanctions; 28 U.S.C. § 2501.

OPINION

HORN, J.

FINDINGS OF FACT

This case addresses Case Number 15-1501 and Case Number 15-1200 filed by pro se . plaintiff Julian R. Hood in the United States Court of Federal Claims. Mr. Hood filed his complaint in Case Number 15-1200 on October 15, 2015. Less than two months later, on December 11, 2015, Mr. Hood filed a second, similar complaint in Case Number 15-1501, which appears to arise from the same set of facts as Case Number 15-1200. In fact, Mr. Hood has filed multiple, often defective,' complaints 1 in this court and in other federal courts.

*198 According to plaintiffs complaints, he appears to have been hired by the Upited States Postal Service (USPS) as a mail processing clerk on October 23, 1999. Plaintiff alleges that, during his employment with the USPS, he suffered from numerous medical disabilities, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety, which, according to plaintiff, required occupational accommodations in the form of time off, hours restrictions, and work-site preferences. Plaintiff and the USPS struggled to reach a consensus employment arrangement that would accommodate plaintiffs alleged conditions. Ultimately the USPS issued Mr. Hood a notice of removal in August 2003 for attendance-related issues. On April 21, 2004, the USPS removed Mr. Hood from employment.

According to the filings before the court, on November 18, 2005, plaintiff entered into a Settlement Agreement with the USPS in which Mr. Hood waived his rights to all claims, including employment discrimination claims, against the USPS, with the exception of Mr. Hood’s then-pending claim under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 8101-8193 (2012). In return, the USPS agreed to change the description of Mr. Hood’s discontinuation of employment from “termination” to “resignation” on the Standard Form 50 (SF-50) Notification of Personnel Action contained in Mr. Hood’s personnel file. The USPS also agreed to pay Mr. Hood compensatory damages and attorney’s fees. The USPS claims to have fulfilled its obligations under the Settlement Agreement by making all necessary payments to Mr. Hood. Defendant asserts that, on December 15, 2005, the defendant changed Mr. Hood’s SF-50 to state that he had “resigned his position effective 04-21-04.” Plaintiffs complaints in Case Number 15-1200 and Case Number 15-1501 allege that defendant committed various breaches of the Settlement Agreement between Mr. Hood and the USPS.

Case Number 15-1200 2

In Case Number 15-1200, plaintiff makes several, not- always clear, allegations, including; “breach of express contract and implied in fact contract,” breach of “the covenant good faith and fair dealings,” “misrepresentation and fraudulent concealment,” and “conspiracy.” 3 Plaintiff alleges that between 2006 and 2008, the USPS breached the Settlement Agreement on at least three separate occasions by stating that Mr. Hood’s employment ended as the result of termination, rather than as a voluntary resignation. Specifically, *199 plaintiff alleges that on August 28, 2006, USPS Injury Compensation Office employee, Lee Bosch, represented on a Department of Labor Form CA-7, Claim for Compensation (CA-7), that Mr. Hood had been terminated on April 21, 2004. Plaintiff alleges that on September 12, 2006, Mr. Bosch again stated that Mr. Hood had been terminated. Plaintiff further alleges that USPS Health and Resource Management Specialist Theresa Miller sent the Department of Labor Office of Workers’ Compensation Program a Department of Labor CA-7a Time Analysis Form (CA-7a) “stat[ing] that I was terminated from employment 173 times on September 8, 2008 well after the settlement agreement.”

Plaintiff alleges that defendant breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing contained in the Settlement Agreement. Plaintiff also alleges that by agreeing to withdraw his Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint and any potential, future complaints in exchange for the USPS changing his removal status to resignation, an implied in fact contract was created between himself and the USPS. Plaintiff alleges that the USPS breached the implied-in-faet contract and the covenant of good faith and fair dealing by failing to change his SF-50 reporting his discontinuation of employment status from termination to resignation and by publicly conveying that he had been terminated after the Settlement Agreement was signed.

Plaintiff further alleges that the USPS violated his First Amendment right to freedom of speech by terminating his employment in response to plaintiff filing a complaint with the EEOC “protesting discrimination and abuse in regards to my employment.” Plaintiff also alleges that the USPS denied him equal protection and due process when his employment was terminated, because the decision was “arbitrary, capricious, without factual support and contrary to law.” According to plaintiff, when the USPS terminated his employment, plaintiff suffered “great physical and mental pain and anguish” and “severe permanent economic injury.”

Moreover, plaintiff alleges that, between 2001 and 2004, the USPS fraudulently concealed relevant information pertaining to plaintiffs qualification for protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) and deliberately mislead an FMLA investigator, resulting in denial of FMLA coverage to plaintiff. Plaintiff alleges that, as a result of his being denied FMLA benefits, the Settlement Agreement was entered into as “the result of duress, undue influence, and bad faith on the part of the agency.” Similarly, plaintiff alleges that the USPS fraudulently concealed his FECA claim by negligently processing his United States Department of Labor Office of Workers’ Compensation Program (OWCP) documents and improperly representing plaintiffs removal status as terminated on the OWCP documents.

In addition, plaintiff alleges that “[t]he agency entered into a conspiracy with the Union and my attorney, who was a US Postal Service attorney, the year prior to accepting my ease.” Plaintiff alleges that the Union intentionally provided inadequate legal representation and that his attorney’s social relationship with the USPS attorney was improper.

In his complaint in Case Number 15-1200, plaintiff alleges that in this court jurisdiction is proper pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1491 because the “action is within the Tucker Act jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims,” and because the amount in controversy exceeds $10,000.

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