Martin v. United States

99 Fed. Cl. 627, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1707, 2011 WL 3584315
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided August 15, 2011·No. No. 11-158 C·Published·Cited by 20 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SWEENEY, Judge.

Before the court is defendant’s consolidated motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted (“motion”). In this case, plaintiff, proceeding pro se, claims ownership of two patents he asserts were issued to him by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) and alleges that the United States has utilized the technology he invented for national security purposes. According to plaintiff, the United States has failed to provide him monetary compensation for the purported infringement of his patents. Defendant moves to dismiss, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”), arguing that plaintiff does not hold any issued patents. It also moves to dismiss pursuant to RCFC 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. For the reasons discussed below, the court lacks jurisdiction over the amended complaint and grants defendant’s motion pursuant to RCFC 12(b)(1).

[630]*630I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff asserts that he developed technology in the late 1970s and early 1980s that has been utilized by the United States as part of its national security programs. He alleges receiving from the government “absolutely no monetary compensation for his national security inventive endeavors[ ] and intellectual work product.” Am. Compl. 2. According to plaintiff, the USPTO issued to him two patents for his inventions, No. 60/573,757 on July 28, 2004, and No. 60/995,253 on September 25, 2007. Plaintiff does not allege a right in any intellectual property that has been purportedly infringed. Instead, plaintiff generally claims that “element[s] within the U.S. government” have attempted to “secret[] away ... [his] emerging work product,” may have “secreted-away” items plaintiff believes constitute “promising new technology,” and have systematically disrupted his upward financial mobility through intellectual property theft. Id. at 3. Plaintiff does not explicitly seek money damages stemming from the government’s purported infringement of his patents.

Plaintiff previously filed a similar claim in federal district court against the United States for alleged infringement of his intellectual property rights. See Martin v. Dep’t of Defense, No. 6:06-cv-00113-RAW (E.D.Okla. filed Mar. 22, 2006). Plaintiff characterized his district court case as follows: “[P]rivate citizen inventor forceably [sic] kept under wraps manages to get ‘Pioneer’ naval invention before Pentagon where secrecy determination goes haywire.” Def.’s App. Al. On September 25, 2006, the district court granted the government’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and declined to transfer plaintiff’s claim to the United States Court of Federal Claims (“Court of Federal Claims”).

Plaintiff filed a complaint in the Court of Federal Claims on March 14, 2011. In his original complaint, plaintiff sought money damages for the “wrongful taking of intellectual property.” Compl. 1. After defendant filed the instant motion, plaintiff submitted an amended complaint, which the court filed by its leave on June 10, 2011. In his amended complaint, plaintiff references the two patents enumerated above, claims that the government failed to compensate him for use of his inventions, and alleges that he has been “subjected to intellectual property theft ac-tivity_” Am. Compl. 2. Plaintiff also claims that he has been subjected to “theft activity” and that Arizona law enforcement is in possession of “[n]ewly discovered evidence” suggesting that the United States engaged in the “unauthorized secreting away of [his] emerging work product.” Id. at 3. Defendant filed a response to the amended complaint and renewed its motion. Although the court afforded plaintiff ample time to respond to defendant’s motion, plaintiff did not file any response brief, and there is no need to delay ruling on defendant’s motion.

II. LEGAL STANDARDS

A. Pro Se Plaintiff

The Court of Federal Claims holds pleadings of a pro se plaintiff to less stringent standards than those of litigants represented by counsel. Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972). Courts have “strained [their] proper role in adversary proceedings to the limit, searching ... to see if plaintiff has a cause of action somewhere displayed.” Ruderer v. United States, 412 F.2d 1285, 1292 (Ct.Cl.1969). Although plaintiffs pleadings are held to a less stringent standard, such leniency “with respect to mere formalities does not relieve the burden to meet jurisdictional requirements.” Minehan v. United States, 75 Fed.Cl. 249, 253 (2007); see also Kelley v. Sec’y, U.S. Dep’t of Labor, 812 F.2d 1378, 1380 (Fed.Cir.1987) (“[A] court may not similarly take a liberal view of that jurisdictional requirement and set a different rule for pro se litigants only.”); Bernard v. United States, 59 Fed.Cl. 497, 499 (noting that pro se plaintiffs are not excused from satisfying jurisdictional requirements), aff'd, 98 Fed.Appx. 860 (Fed.Cir.2004). As the Court of Federal Claims stated in Demes v. United States, “[w]hile a court should be receptive to pro se plaintiffs and assist them, justice is ill-served when a jurist crosses the line from finder of fact to advocate.” 52 Fed.Cl. 365, 369 (2002).

[631]*631B. Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Whether the court possesses jurisdiction to decide the merits of a case is a threshold matter. See Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83, 94-95, 118 S.Ct. 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998); see also Matthews v. United States, 72 Fed.Cl. 274, 278 (2006) (stating that subject matter jurisdiction is “an inflexible matter that must be considered before proceeding to evaluate the merits of a case”). “Without jurisdiction the court cannot proceed at all in any cause. Jurisdiction is power to declare the law, and when it ceases to exist, the only function remaining to the court is that of announcing the fact and dismissing the cause.” Ex parte McCardle, 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 506, 514, 19 L.Ed. 264 (1868). The parties or the court sua sponte may challenge the court’s subject matter jurisdiction at any time. Arbatigh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 506, 126 S.Ct. 1235, 163 L.Ed.2d 1097 (2006).

The ability of the Court of Federal Claims to entertain suits against the United States is limited. “The United States, as sovereign, is immune from suit save as it consents to be sued.” United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 586, 61 S.Ct. 767, 85 L.Ed. 1058 (1941). A waiver of immunity “cannot be implied but must be unequivocally expressed.” United States v. King, 395 U.S. 1, 4, 89 S.Ct. 1501, 23 L.Ed.2d 52 (1969).

C. Motion to Dismiss

Defendant moves to dismiss the complaint under RCFC 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6).

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Martin v. United States, 99 Fed. Cl. 627, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1707, 2011 WL 3584315 (uscfc 2011).

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