Mora v. United States

59 Fed. Cl. 234, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 390, 2003 WL 23111366
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedDecember 23, 2003
DocketNo. 03-684 C
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 59 Fed. Cl. 234 (Mora 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
Mora v. United States, 59 Fed. Cl. 234, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 390, 2003 WL 23111366 (uscfc 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

MEROW, Senior Judge.

In this case, Robert P. Mora seeks judgment for the amount of retired military pay withheld from him and paid to his ex-wife since December 1, 1993. The case is before the court on plaintiffs motion for summary judgment and defendant’s motion to dismiss. For the reasons asserted below, plaintiffs motion is DENIED and defendant’s motion to dismiss is GRANTED.

Facts

Mr. Mora is a retired member of the United States Air Force entitled to receive retired pay pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 8929.1 On August 10, 1993, plaintiff signed a Stipulated Decree of Dissolution of Marriage and Money Judgement (“divorce decree”). The divorce decree was signed by plaintiffs wife, Monica Mora, on August 2, 1993 and approved by the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for Jackson County on August 11, 2003. On September 11, 2003, after 44 years of marriage, the divorce decree went into effect. The divorce decree provided:

Retirement: Respondent shall receive 37.25% of Petitioner’s military retirement to begin the month following the escrow on the sale of the real property. A Qualified Domestic Relations order, if necessary, will be entered as a supplemental order to effect the division of Petitioner’s retirement. If such an order is necessary and is not effective at the time Respondent is to begin receiving her share of the military retirement, and if Petitioner continues to receive the full military retirement benefit, then he shall pay to Respondent her portion of the military retirement until such time as payments are made directly to Respondent. The Court shall retain continuing jurisdiction to enter any orders necessary to award Respondent her share of Petitioner’s retirement.

Administrative Record (“AR”) 7.

On October 24, 1993, Mrs. Mora filed DD Form 2293, “Application for Former Spouse [235]*235Payments from Retired Pay,” with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (“DFAS”), requesting direct payment from plaintiffs retired pay in the amount specified in the divorce decree. In the application, Mrs. Mora stated that a certified copy of .the divorce decree had been sent to DFAS on September 22, 1993. In a letter dated November 12, 1993, DFAS informed plaintiff that it had received the application for a portion of his retired military pay and that it was required by law to pay the appropriate amount. The letter went on to explain:

While the application appears to be valid, the Air Force has no way of knowing whether the court order may have been changed, superseded, or set aside. After reviewing enclosed documentation, if there are conflicting court orders, please provide an authenticated or certified copy of them. If such documents are not submitted within 30 days of the date of this letter, we expect to begin deducting the amounts due under this order beginning: December 1993 pay.
In accordance with the court decree and the FSPA, payments will be 37.25 percent not to exceed 50 percent of monthly disposable pay.

Pl.’s Proposed Findings of Uncontroverted Fact (“PPFUP”), App. A.

The record contains no evidence that plaintiff contested the court order within the required 30 day period. Subsequently, DFAS began paying Mrs. Mora the amount withheld from plaintiffs retired military pay effective December 1993. The payment of plaintiffs retired military pay to his ex-wife was authorized by the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (“USFSPA” or “Act”), 10 U.S.C. § 1408. The USFSPA allows a state court to “treat disposable retired pay payable to a member for pay periods beginning after June 25, 1981, either as property solely of the member or as property of the member and his spouse in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction of such court.” 10 U.S.C. § 1408(c)(1). The Act also directs the government, subject to certain limitations, to withhold and make direct payments to the former spouse in the amount specified in the court order.2 Specifically, the USFSPA provides:

After effective service on the Secretary concerned of a court order providing for the payment of child support or alimony or, with respect to a division of property, specifically providing for the payment of an amount of the disposable retired pay from a member to the spouse or former spouse of the member, the Secretary shall make payments (subject to the limitations of this section) from the disposable retired pay of the member to the spouse or former spouse ____

10 U.S.C. § 1408(d)(1). The Act also requires that notice be given to the affected member.3

The USFSPA was enacted in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in McCarty v. McCarty, 453 U.S. 210, 101 S.Ct. 2728, 69 L.Ed.2d 589 (1981). In McCarty, the Supreme Court held that the Supremacy Clause precluded states from dividing a member’s retired military pay pursuant to state community property laws. See U.S. Const., Art. VI, Cl. 2. At the time, Congress had “neither authorized nor required the community property division of military retired pay.” McCarty, 453 U.S. at 232, 101 S.Ct. 2728. Therefore, state laws allocating a member’s retirement benefits conflicted with federal law that military pay actually reach the beneficiary. Nevertheless, the Court noted that [236]*236“the plight of an ex-spouse of a retired service member is often a serious one.” Id. at 235, 101 S.Ct. 2728. It also explained that “the questions of whether the retirement system should be amended so as better to accomplish its personnel management goals, and whether those goals should be subordinated to the protection of the service member’s ex-spouse, are policy issues for Congress to decide.” Id. at 235, n. 26, 101 S.Ct. 2728. As the Supreme Court stated, “Congress could overcome the McCarty decision only by enacting an affirmative grant of authority giving the States the power to treat military retirement pay as community property.” Mansell v. Mansell, 490 U.S. 581, 588, 109 S.Ct. 2023, 104 L.Ed.2d 675 (1989). The USFSPA was such an instance where, in response to the Court’s invitation, Congress made a policy decision that a member’s ex-spouse should be entitled to a member’s retired military pay if allowed under state law.

Discussion

I. Summary Judgment

A. Standard of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Rules of the Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”) 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 Fed. Cl. 234, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 390, 2003 WL 23111366, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mora-v-united-states-uscfc-2003.