Intersport Fashions West, Inc. v. United States

84 Fed. Cl. 454, 102 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6844, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 313, 2008 WL 4763762
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedOctober 29, 2008
DocketNo. 07-739 T
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 84 Fed. Cl. 454 (Intersport Fashions West, Inc. 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
Intersport Fashions West, Inc. v. United States, 84 Fed. Cl. 454, 102 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6844, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 313, 2008 WL 4763762 (uscfc 2008).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

HEWITT, Judge.

Before the court are defendant’s Motion of the United States to Dismiss in Part (defendant’s Motion or Def.’s Mot.), plaintiffs Response to Motion of the United States to Dismiss in Part (plaintiffs Response or Pl.’s Resp.), plaintiffs Memorandum of the Plaintiff in Support of its Motion to Deny United States Motion (plaintiffs Memorandum or Pl.’s Mem.), and defendant’s Reply of the United States in Support of its Motion to Dismiss in Part (defendant’s Reply or Def.’s Reply).

For the following reasons, defendant’s Motion is GRANTED.

I. Background

A. Procedural History

Plaintiff filed a complaint with this court on October 22, 2007, requesting “a judgment against the United States in the amount of $977,346, plus applicable interest, plus other and further relief as the [cjourt deems just and proper.” Complaint (plaintiffs Complaint or Compl.), filed Oct. 22,2007 at 2. The amount of $977,346 is comprised of plaintiffs requested refund of corporate income tax in the amounts of $393,992 “for fiscal year September 30, 2001” (2001 Tax Period), Compl. 1, and $583,354 “for fiscal year September 30, 2002,” id. In defendant’s Motion, defendant moves to dismiss plaintiffs Complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims (RCFC) only “with respect to plaintiffs refund claim for the [2001 Tax Period].” Def.’s Mot. 1.

B. The Parties’ Positions

Defendant argues that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiffs complaint with respect to plaintiffs refund claims for the 2001 Tax Period because plaintiff “failed to pay the full amount of tax assessed with respect to the [2001 Tax Period].” Def.’s Mot. 3. Plaintiff “does not dispute that full tax assessed must be paid to file a refund suit in the [United States] Court of Federal Claims.” Pl.’s Mem. 2. Instead, plaintiff argues that defendant’s Motion should be denied because (1) “the United States has not established that a valid assessment of tax is outstanding for the [2001 Tax Period],” and (2) “the Internal Revenue Service [(IRS)] has ignored all requests made by ... [plaintiff beginning in January 2006 to prove validity of the purported tax liability.” Pl.’s Resp. 1.

II. Standard of Review

RCFC 12(b)(1) governs the dismissal of claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. RCFC 12(b)(1). In deciding a motion to dismiss pursuant to RCFC 12(b)(1), “the court [is] obligated to assume all factual allegations to be true and to draw all reasonable inferences in plaintiffs favor.” Henke v. United States, 60 F.3d 795, 797 (Fed.Cir. 1995). However, the burden of proof of establishing jurisdiction is borne by the plaintiff. McNutt v. Gen. Motors Acceptance Corp., 298 U.S. 178, 189, 56 S.Ct. 780, 80 L.Ed. 1135 (1936); Russell v. United States, 78 Fed.Cl. 281, 285 (2007). If the defendant challenges jurisdictional facts, the plaintiff must support them with “competent proof.” Id. The plaintiff bears the burden to show by a preponderance of the evidence that jurisdiction is proper. Reynolds v. Army & Air Force Exch. Serv. (Reynolds), 846 F.2d 746, 748 (Fed.Cir.1988). Jurisdiction is a threshold matter and a case can proceed no further if the court lacks jurisdiction to hear it. Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83, 94, 118 S.Ct. 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998). If the motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction disputes the truth of the jurisdictional facts alleged in the complaint, a court may consider other relevant evidence to resolve the factual dispute. Moyer v. United States (Moyer), 190 F.3d 1314, 1318 (Fed.Cir.1999) (citing Reynolds, 846 F.2d at 747).

III. Discussion

A. Jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims

The United States Court of Federal Claims (Court of Federal Claims), like all [456]*456federal courts, is a court of limited jurisdiction. See United States v. King, 395 U.S. 1, 3, 89 S.Ct. 1501, 23 L.Ed.2d 52 (1969). The Tucker Act is the primary statute establishing the jurisdiction of the court. 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1) (2006). In relevant part, the statute provides that this court “shall have jurisdiction to render judgment upon any claim against the United States founded either upon the Constitution, or any Act of Congress or any regulation of an executive department, or upon any express or implied contract with the United States.” Id.

However, plaintiff must establish more than the mere existence of a statute or constitutional provision to bring himself within the jurisdiction of this court. The Tucker Act provides the waiver of sovereign immunity necessary to sue the United States for money damages, but the plaintiff must establish an independent substantive right to money damages from the United States, that is, a money-mandating source within a contract, regulation, statute, or constitutional provision itself, in order for the case to proceed. See United States v. Testan, 424 U.S. 392, 398, 96 S.Ct. 948, 47 L.Ed.2d 114 (1976). As stated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit), the alleged source of the substantive right to money damages must “be reasonably amenable to the reading that it mandates a right of recovery in damages. While the premise to a Tucker Act claim will not be ‘lightly inferred,’ ... a fair inference will do.” Fisher v. United States (Fisher), 402 F.3d 1167, 1174 (Fed.Cir.2005) (en banc) (quoting United States v. White Mountain Apache Tribe, 537 U.S. 465, 472-73, 123 S.Ct. 1126, 155 L.Ed.2d 40 (2003)) (emphases and omission in original).

The Federal Circuit recently clarified that in Fisher it considered three grounds on which the government “might file a motion to dismiss in a Tucker Act case: (1) lack of subject matter jurisdiction due to the lack of a money-mandating source; (2) failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted due to lack of a money-mandating source; and (3) failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted because the plaintiff is ultimately not entitled to recover money damages under the statute.” Greenlee County v. United States, 487 F.3d 871, 876 (Fed.Cir.2007) (citing Fisher, 402 F.3d at 1172-73).

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84 Fed. Cl. 454, 102 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6844, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 313, 2008 WL 4763762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/intersport-fashions-west-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2008.