Morgan v. United States

84 Fed. Cl. 391, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 305, 2008 WL 4636179
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedOctober 15, 2008
DocketNo. 07-205C
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 84 Fed. Cl. 391 (Morgan 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
Morgan v. United States, 84 Fed. Cl. 391, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 305, 2008 WL 4636179 (uscfc 2008).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

GEORGE W. MILLER, Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”) (Def.’s Mot., docket entry 17), filed June 30, 2006, seeking dismissal of plaintiffs claim for compensation for “time solely spent driving a government vehicle between home and work.” On July 31, 2008, plaintiff filed a response to the motion (PL’s Response, docket entry 19), to which defendant filed a reply on August 14, 2008 (Def.’s Reply, docket entry 20). For the reasons discussed below, defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings is GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff is employed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) as a diversion investigator. In this action, plaintiff alleges he is due compensation, including back pay, liquidated damages, interest, and attorneys’ fees and costs, by reason of defendant’s having inappropriately treated him as an employee exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219 (2000) (“FLSA”). This case is one of many similar cases brought in this court, some of which have been consolidated, in which employees of the DEA and various other government agencies assert similar claims contesting their designation as exempt from the FLSA. See Notice of Indirectly Related Cases (docket entry 4, March 28,2007).

Pursuant to Rule 16 and Appendix A of the RCFC, the parties filed a joint preliminary status report (docket entry 7, July 18, 2007) in which they stated there was “a reasonable likelihood” they would be able to settle all issues except whether plaintiff is “entitled to be compensated for driving a government-owned vehicle from home to work and work [392]*392to home.” One of the related cases that was further along in the litigation process than this case involved a similar issue—claims of government employees for compensation for “time spent driving to and from work in government-issued vehicles.” Adams v. United States, 65 Fed.Cl. 217, 219 (2005) (“Adams I”), aff'd, 471 F.3d 1321 (Fed.Cir. 2006) (“Adams II”), reh’g and reh’g en banc denied, 219 Fed.Appx. 993 (Fed.Cir.2007), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 128 S.Ct. 866, 169 L.Ed.2d 723 (2008). The parties therefore proposed deferring litigation of this case pending the outcome of plaintiffs petition for writ of certiorari in Adams II. The Court stayed this case while the petition was pending. See Order Staying Case (docket entry 8, July 25, 2007). On January 7, 2008, the petition for writ of certiorari was denied and the stay expired by its terms. In monthly status reports thereafter the parties described their efforts to settle all claims other than that seeking compensation for time solely spent driving between home and work in government-owned vehicles. They also stated that, with respect to that claim, “[plaintiff is] considering what action to take at this time,” and “[defendant believes the driving claims should be dismissed based upon the Federal Circuit decision in [Adams 11).” See Joint Status Reports filed February 7, 2008, March 10, 2008, May 14, 2008, and June 30, 2008 (docket entries 12-16).

In Adams II, the Federal Circuit affirmed the trial court’s holding that time spent by law enforcement officers driving to and from work in government-owned police vehicles was not compensable under the FLSA. Adams II, 471 F.3d at 1323. The Adams II plaintiffs were required as a condition of their employment to commute from home to work in government-owned police vehicles in order to be available for emergency calls. During the commute they were required to monitor their vehicles’ radios and have access to their weapons and other law-enforcement-related equipment. Id. The Federal Circuit explained that the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 clarified that the FLSA does not provide compensation to employees merely for commuting in a government-owned vehicle. Adams II, 471 F.3d at 1325; Pub.L. No. 80-49, 61 Stat. 84 (codified at 29 U.S.C. §§ 251-262). That is, “the plaintiffs must perform additional legally cognizable work while driving to their workplace in order to compel compensation for the time spent driving.” Adams II, 471 F.3d at 1325. In addition, the amount of this additional work must be more than de minimis to be compensable. Id. at 1327 (citing Bobo v. United States, 136 F.3d 1465 (Fed.Cir.1998)). The Federal Circuit found that the additional requirements placed upon the Adams II plaintiffs beyond “the mere act of driving” were de minimis and therefore plaintiffs’ claims for compensation were properly denied. Id. at 1328.

During the time the parties were preparing and submitting briefs in this action, Judge Emily Hewitt issued a decision in a related case dismissing substantially identical FLSA claims involving time solely spent driving a government vehicle between home and work.1 Easter v. United States, 83 Fed.Cl. 236 (2008). The plaintiffs in Easter, as in Adams II, were government employees required to drive government-owned vehicles containing government equipment to and from work every day while monitoring the vehicle’s radio and without making any personal stops. Id. at 242. Judge Hewitt found that plaintiffs’ situation in Easter was substantively identical to that of the Adams II plaintiffs and, after considering virtually the same arguments as those offered by plaintiff in this case, she held that Adams II remains controlling law governing claims for compensation under the FLSA for time solely spent driving a government-owned vehicle between home and work. Id. at 250. Judge Hewitt found there were no genuine issues of material fact in dispute and held that defendant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law under the rule of Adams II: “commuting done for the employer’s benefit, under the employer’s rules, is noneompensable if the labor beyond the mere act of driving the vehicle is de minimis.” Id. (quoting Adams II, 471 F.3d at 1328). Subsequently, Judge [393]*393Christine Miller decided a case with facts virtually identical to those in this case. Redd v. United States, 83 Fed.Cl. 589 (2008). Judge Miller held that plaintiffs who were, like plaintiff in this case, diversion investigators employed by DEA were not entitled to compensation for time solely spent driving to and from work and granted defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. Id. at 593.

In support of its motion, defendant argues that Adams II is binding precedent requiring that plaintiffs legally and factually identical claim be dismissed as a matter of law. Plaintiff opposes the motion, arguing both that plaintiffs claim is based on facts different from those involved in prior cases and that Adams II is, for various reasons, not binding legal precedent on this Court.

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review on Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and on Motion for Summary Judgment

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Bluebook (online)
84 Fed. Cl. 391, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 305, 2008 WL 4636179, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morgan-v-united-states-uscfc-2008.