Innovair Aviation, Ltd. v. United States

83 Fed. Cl. 498, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 247, 2008 WL 4053223
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided August 22, 2008·No. No. 96-408C·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

OPINION and ORDER

SMITH, Senior Judge.

As this case nears its end, the Court must determine what just compensation is due to Plaintiff for the taking of their property, specifically the Technology License Agreement (TLA).

I. BACKGROUND

This case has had a long history through the Federal Courts. The facts are well described in this Court’s liability opinion. Innovair Aviation Ltd. v. United States, 72 Fed.Cl. 415, 416 (2006).

Innovair filed its complaint in this Court on July 10, 1996, alleging that the Government had taken the TLA and not paid just compensation. This Court stayed this action in 1998 pending the outcome of the second appeal to the Ninth Circuit. Following the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in 2002, this Court lifted the stay and denied the Government’s motion to dismiss. After the stay was lifted, this Court, in “an abundance of caution” ordered the parties to address whether the Federal Circuit’s decision in Vereda v. United States, 271 F.3d 1367 (Fed.Cir.2001) foreclosed this action. In Vereda, the Federal Circuit determined that the Court of Federal Claims lacks jurisdiction over a substantive challenge to a seizure under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). This Court noted [500] that this case does not present that issue because the Ninth Circuit, the court with jurisdiction to review the merits of the forfeiture, has clearly held that Innovair was an innocent owner of the TLA and therefore the TLA was not subject to forfeit. This Court’s opinion then directed the parties to address the taking issue.

In 2004, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Summary Judgment and the Government filed an opposition and Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. In evaluating the cross motions for summary judgment on the matter of liability for the alleged taking of Plaintiffs property without just compensation, this Court applied the three-step analysis set forth in Osprey Pacific Corp. v. United States, 41 Fed.Cl. 150 (1998). First, the Court found that Plaintiff had a property interest in the TLA at the time of the seizure and maintained it until the forfeiture, holding that neither BTC’s termination letter nor the settlement of the Wisconsin case1 extinguished Innovair’s property interest.2 Second, the Court held that the Government’s action constituted a per se taking for the purposes of the Fifth Amendment. Third, this Court addressed the issue of whether Innovair received just compensation for the taking. Construing the facts in the light most favorable to the non-movant and making all reasonable inferences in the non-movant’s favor, as the standard for summary judgment requires, this Court found that Innovair had not received just compensation for the TLA in the substitute res bond.

On August 31, 2006, this Court Granted in part Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment and denied the Government’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment and denied as moot the Government’s Motion to Dismiss. The Court found that Innovair retained its ownership in the TLA at the time of the forfeiture. Further, the Court found that the Government’s actions amounted to a compensable taking. The Government argued that Innovair had received just compensation through the substitute res bond. The Court, noting that the District Court had already stated that the TLA had value above the substitute res bond, held that the issue of just compensation must be determined during the damages phase of the litigation. Thereafter, a two-week trial for damages was held in Washington D.C.

Defendant then filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the Court’s liability opinion based on the Federal Circuit’s decision in AmeriSource Corp. v. United States, 525 F.3d 1149 (2008). Defendant argued that under AmeriSource, when the Government seizes property pursuant to its police power, there is no taking under the Fifth Amendment. Further, Defendant argued that under AmeriSource, the Government may seize and retain property pursuant to its police powers irrespective of the owner’s innocence. The Court denied Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, holding there was no tenable connection between the crime and that AmeriSource is further distinguishable from this case because the planes were not seized to be used as evidence. Innovair Aviation Ltd. v. United States, 83 Fed.Cl. 105 (2008).

II. Discussion

A. Legal Standard

Where a taking has occurred, a plaintiff is entitled to just compensation. The fundamental principle of just compensation is reimbursement to the owner, so that he is put in as good a position pecuniarily as if his property had not been taken. Coast Indian Community v. United States, 213 Ct.Cl. 129, 550 F.2d 639, 647 (1977). In most cases, courts use the fair market value of the property at the time of the taking. United States v. Miller, 317 U.S. 369, 373, 63 S.Ct. 276, 87 L.Ed. 336 (1943). This is the amount that a willing and informed buyer would pay a willing and informed seller in an arm’s length transaction. Shelden v. United [501] States, 7 F.3d 1022 (Fed.Cir.1993), remanded to 34 Fed.Cl. 355, 365 (1995) (holding that market prices are fair when the transaction is not affected by “undue stimulus”). Further, the proper measure is what the owner has lost and not what the taker has gained. Leesona Corp. v. United States, 220 Ct.Cl. 234, 599 F.2d 958, 969 (1979); see also United States v. Virginia Elec. & Power Co., 365 U.S. 624, 635, 81 S.Ct. 784, 5 L.Ed.2d 838 (1961) (“[t]he question is, What has the owner lost? not, What has the taker gained?”) (citation omitted).

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Innovair Aviation, Ltd. v. United States, 83 Fed. Cl. 498, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 247, 2008 WL 4053223 (uscfc 2008).

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