Northbridge Electronics, Inc. v. The United States

444 F.2d 1124, 195 Ct. Cl. 453, 1971 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 55
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJuly 14, 1971
Docket42-64
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 444 F.2d 1124 (Northbridge Electronics, Inc. v. The United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Northbridge Electronics, Inc. v. The United States, 444 F.2d 1124, 195 Ct. Cl. 453, 1971 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 55 (cc 1971).

Opinions

ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION AND DEFENDANT’S CROSS-MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

PER CURIAM:

This case was referred to Trial Commissioner David Schwartz with directions to prepare and file his opinion on the issues of plaintiff’s motion and defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment under the order of reference [1126]*1126and Rule 166(c). The commissioner has done so in an opinion and report filed on December 18, 1970, wherein such facts as are necessary to the opinion are set forth. Plaintiff filed a request for review by the court of the commissioner’s opinion and report. Defendant requested that the court adopt the commissioner’s recommendation and enter judgment in accordance with his report. The case has been submitted to the court on oral argument of counsel and the briefs of the parties.

With respect to the claim for “Overhead”, the court does not find the written stipulation before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals to be as clear on its face as the Trial Commissioner indicates, but it accepts the reading given that document by the Board and the Trial Commissioner as the more appropriate and more equitable one in the circumstances.

Since the court otherwise agrees with the opinion, report and recommended conclusion of the Trial Commissioner, it hereby adopts the same, together with the foregoing statement, as the basis for its judgment in this case as hereinafter set forth.1 Therefore, it is concluded that plaintiff is entitled to recover only to the extent of the $1,215.50 in direct costs agreed upon before the Board and the additional $6,530 allowed by the Board, a total of $7,745.50, not contested by defendant. Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment is granted only to the extent of this $7,745.50, defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment is granted except to the extent of the said $7,745.50 and judgment is entered for plaintiff in the sum of $7,745.50 with plaintiff’s petition otherwise dismissed.

OPINION OF COMMISSIONER

SCHWARTZ, Commissioner: After plaintiff’s claim under a Government contract was dismissed by the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, on the ground of nonliability of the Government, plaintiff brought suit here for breach of contract, rather than for an equitable adjustment, on the theory that the claim was one for damages for delay which might not have been recoverable administratively even had plaintiff prevailed before the Board. The Government did not object to the theory of the suit. On cross-motions based upon the record before the Board, the court held that the Board had erred — that the Government was liable. Northbridge Electronics, Inc. v. United States, 175 Ct.Cl. 426 (1966). Judgment was entered for plaintiff, with a direction remanding the case to the commissioner for trial of the issue of damages.

Shortly thereafter, the Supreme Court decided United States v. Anthony Grace & Sons, Inc., 384 U.S. 424, 86 S.Ct. 1539, 16 L.Ed.2d 662 (1966), in. which it was held that where the court in a Disputes clause proceeding determines that an agency has erred in dismissing a claim on the ground of nonliability of the Government, the proper course is to remand the case to the administrative authorities for a determination of the amount of the equitable adjustment. Thereupon the Government moved in the instant case for such a remand, and without objection by the plaintiff the court granted the motion.

The amount of the equitable adjustment due to plaintiff has now been determined by the Board, and plaintiff returns to this court with a suit in two alternative counts, one for breach of contract and one for review of the administrative decision. The parties have cross-moved for summary judgment.

Plaintiff is of course entitled to challenge the Board’s decision as based upon errors of law and as lacking supporting substantial evidence. Such a challenge entails a judicial review of the administrative decision, on the record before the Board, in which the decision is examined, to the extent permitted by the Wunderlich Act, 41 U.S.C. §§ 321, [1127]*1127322 (1964), to determine whether it is based upon substantial evidence and is free from errors of law, fraud, bad faith and arbitrary action. United States v. Carlo Bianchi & Co., 373 U.S. 709, 83 S.Ct. 1409, 10 L.Ed.2d 652 (1963); Koppers Co. v. United States, 405 F.2d 554, 558-559, 186 Ct.Cl. 142, 147-151 (1968).

A claimant does not avoid the limitations on judicial review by bringing a suit for breach of contract, for which the remedy would consist of de novo trial of the issues of fact. Where all the claims were redressable before the administrative body by an award of an equitable adjustment, the redescription of the claim as one for breach of contract is a transparent and ineffectual device for escaping the administrative jurisdiction for the fresh forum of a judicial retrial of the issues. United States v. Utah Constr. Co., 384 U.S. 394, 419-420, 86 S.Ct. 1545, 16 L.Ed.2d 642 (1966); Marley v. United States, 423 F.2d 324, 328-329, 191 Ct.Cl. 205, 213-214 (1970). The record before the Board here shows plaintiff to be engaging in such relabeling.

The Board, rightly considering plaintiff’s claims to be within its competence, entertained them all and made such awards as it deemed warranted by the evidence. Since the only obstacle to the recovery of all that plaintiff wanted was the Board’s disagreement with plaintiff on the weight of the evidence, the “administratively redressable” rule applies with full force, and petitioner is limited to such review of the Board decision as may be had under the Wunderlich Act. The language in this court’s earlier opinion upon which plaintiff relies as approving a breach-of-contract theory was written prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Anthony Grace & Sons, Inc., supra. To the extent the opinion seems to condone a breach-of-contract theory, it was withdrawn, after the decision in Grace, by the grant of the Government’s motion, without objection by plaintiff, to amend the court’s judgment sending the case to a commissioner for trial, and to remand the case to the Board for determination of an equitable adjustment;

Accordingly, that portion of the petition which seeks common law breach-of-contract relief states a claim beyond the jurisdiction of the court, and the Government’s motion to dismiss should be granted. There remains the count directed to the amount of the equitable adjustment determined by the Board.

The awards were intended to compensate plaintiff for increased costs during a Government-caused delay in the performance of a contract for the manufacture of 230 electronic devices, called interrogator sets, used to distinguish friendly from unfriendly aircraft.

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Northbridge Electronics, Inc. v. The United States
444 F.2d 1124 (Court of Claims, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
444 F.2d 1124, 195 Ct. Cl. 453, 1971 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 55, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northbridge-electronics-inc-v-the-united-states-cc-1971.