Hornback v. United States

62 Fed. Cl. 1, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 227, 2004 WL 1941213
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 30, 2004
DocketNo. 03-2063 C
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 62 Fed. Cl. 1 (Hornback 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
Hornback v. United States, 62 Fed. Cl. 1, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 227, 2004 WL 1941213 (uscfc 2004).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

HEWITT, Judge.

This matter is before the court on remand from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. See Hornback v. United States, 98 Fed.Appx. 850 (Fed.Cir.2004). On September 8, 2003, plaintiff Alton B. Hornback filed this action “for just compensation for the reclassification at the level of SECRET of the subject matter in his patent application in violation of national security Executive Order 12356.” Complaint (Compl.) at 1. Approximately two weeks after filing his complaint, plaintiff also filed in this action a document styled, “Petition for Court to Remand Patent No. 6,079,666 to PTO for Reissue to Conform to Patent Application No. 06/859,033.” By Order dated October 3, 2003, this court dismissed plaintiffs petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.1 Order of October 3, 2003 at 2 (Order). Although the Order addressed only the petition and did not include a direction to enter final judgment on the petition under Rule 54(b) of the Court of Federal Claims (RCFC), the Clerk of the Court entered a judgment, pursuant to that Order, dismissing not only the petition but plaintiffs entire complaint. See Order at 2; Hornback, 98 Fed.Appx. at 852. The court could have picked this error up from the copy of the judgment sent to chambers but did not.

Plaintiff appealed the dismissal of his petition for remand and the dismissal of his complaint. Hornback, 98 Fed.Appx. at 852. The result was that an appeal of a case [2]*2unripe for appeal was filed. The Federal Circuit was then required to consider the appeal. This court regrets that it failed to prevent this unnecessary expenditure of judicial resources in this litigation.

Because this court’s Order dismissed only plaintiffs petition for remand of Patent No. 6,079,666 to the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), the Federal Circuit vacated the judgment dismissing plaintiffs complaint and remanded the matter to this court. Id. at 853-54. The Federal Circuit also dismissed plaintiffs appeal of the dismissal of his petition for remand as premature. Id.

Pending the issuance of the mandate from the Federal Circuit, the parties filed the following:2 (1) Motion for Summary Judgment in Favor of Plaintiff (Pl.’s Mot.) and (2) Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim Upon Which Relief Can Be Granted; Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction; and Motion for Sanctions. The mandate issued on May 28, 2004. The court now considers the parties’ motions.

1. Background

In this action, plaintiff seeks “just compensation in the amount of $12 million for the aequisit[i]on by the U.S. Government of a proprietary interest in [his patent] application [for an invention titled the ‘Real-Time Boresight Error Slope Sensor’] as a prerequisite for [the government’s security] classification [of his patent application].” Compl. at 1-2. Plaintiff alleges that “absent compensation, ... reclassification [of his patent application] at the level of SECRET constituted theft and implied use of [his] property.” Id. at 1.

Plaintiff moves for summary judgment in his favor “on the ground that Defendant has failed to controvert a single fact asserted in the C[omplaint].” Pl.’s Mot. at 1. Plaintiff argues that, although “[defendant and this Court have frequently noted, with disdain, the many cases I have filed, all based substantially upon the same set of facts, ... no [asserted] claim ... nor any fact upon which that claim was based, has ever been judicially decided on its merits.” Id. at 7 (emphasis omitted).

Defendant moves to dismiss plaintiffs complaint on the grounds that plaintiffs claim is barred by res judicata and that plaintiffs theories of recovery are not within the court’s jurisdiction. Defendant’s Brief in Support of Its Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim Upon Which Relief Can Be Granted and for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction; in Support of Its Motion for Sanctions; and in Opposition to Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (Def.’s Br. or [defendant's main brief) at 4-5. Defendant also moves the court to enjoin plaintiff from filing another action arising out of the imposition of a secrecy order on his patent application absent leave of court. Id. at 5.3

II. Discussion

A. Standards of Review

Rule 12(b)(1) governs dismissal for “lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter.” RCFC 12(b)(1). Plaintiff bears the burden of establishing that subject matter jurisdiction exists. See McNutt v. Gen. Motors Acceptance Corp. of Ind., 298 U.S. 178, 189, 56 S.Ct. 780, 80 L.Ed. 1135 (1936) (“[T]he party who seeks the exercise of jurisdiction in his favor ... must carry throughout the litigation the burden of showing that he is properly in court.”); Alder Terrace, Inc. v. United States, 161 F.3d 1372, 1377 (Fed.Cir.1998) (“[T]he burden of establishing jurisdiction ... must be carried by [the plaintiff in the underlying suit].”).

Rule 12(b)(6) governs dismissal of a claim for “ failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” RCFC 12(b)(6). Under RCFC 12(b)(6), the court must accept as true [3]*3the facts alleged in the complaint, Davis v. Monroe County Bd. of Educ., 526 U.S. 629, 633, 119 S.Ct. 1661, 143 L.Ed.2d 839 (1999), and must construe all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-movant, Sommers Oil Co. v. United States, 241 F.3d 1375, 1378 (Fed.Cir.2001). A court must grant the motion “when the facts asserted by the plaintiff do not entitle him to a legal remedy.” Boyle v. United States, 200 F.3d 1369, 1372 (Fed.Cir.2000). RCFC 12(b)(6) specifically instructs that where such a motion is filed and “matters outside the pleading are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment and disposed of as provided by RCFC 56.” RCFC 12(b); see also Rotec Indus., Inc. v. Mitsubishi Corp., 215 F.3d 1246, 1250 (Fed.Cir.2000).

Rule 56 provides that summary judgment is warranted when there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. RCFC 56(c); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

B. Plaintiffs Claim

It is undisputed that “[t]his suit arises out of a security classification of [plaintiffs] patent application, Serial No. 859,033, and [the] imposition of a secrecy order on that application.” Def.’s Br. at 3. See Compl. at 1, 3; Pl.’s Mot. at 6. It is also undisputed that plaintiff has filed numerous suits arising out of this same set of operative facts. See

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Bluebook (online)
62 Fed. Cl. 1, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 227, 2004 WL 1941213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hornback-v-united-states-uscfc-2004.