PDR, Inc. v. United States

78 Fed. Cl. 201, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 282, 2007 WL 2484958
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 30, 2007
DocketNo. 03-2047 C
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 78 Fed. Cl. 201 (PDR, 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
PDR, Inc. v. United States, 78 Fed. Cl. 201, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 282, 2007 WL 2484958 (uscfc 2007).

Opinion

[202]*202 OPINION AND ORDER

GEORGE W. MILLER, Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the Government’s motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56(b) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”). The Government filed its motion (“Def.’s Mot.,” docket entry 48) on March 9, 2007. Plaintiff PDR, Inc. filed its opposition (“Pl.’s Opp’n,” docket entry 53) on May 23, 2007. The Government filed its reply (“Def.’s Reply,” docket entry 58) on July 19, 2007.

The Court concludes, for the reasons set forth below, that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the quantum meruit claim set forth in Count IV of plaintiff’s amended complaint. The Court further concludes that, because plaintiff failed to exhaust its administrative remedies as mandated by United States Air Force Cooperative Research and Development Agreement No. 96-RL-07, as amended (“CRADA”), with regard to the breach of contract claims set forth in Counts I and III of plaintiffs amended complaint, the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiffs breach of contract claims. The Court also concludes that the second amendment to the CRADA constituted a settlement and release of plaintiffs Fifth Amendment taldng claim set forth in Count II of the amended complaint. Therefore, the Court grants the Government’s motion for summary judgment with respect to plaintiffs taking claim (Count II) and dismisses plaintiffs remaining claims (Counts I, III, and IV) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

BACKGROUND1

On May 22, 1996, plaintiff and the Government, as represented by the Department of the Air Force, Rome Laboratory (“AFRL”),2 entered into the CRADA. Def.’s PFUF ¶ 1; PL’s PFUF ¶ 1; PL’s App. 1. Pursuant to the CRADA, plaintiff and the AFRL worked together to develop gallium nitride (“GaN”) targets for use in creating GaN semiconductor films. Def.’s PFUF ¶ 1. GaN is a group III nitride; group III nitrides are an important class of wide bandgap semiconductors, which have both military and commercial applications. Def.’s App. 10. Used to develop blue light emitting devices, including diodes and solid state lasers, GaN powder was expensive and its supply limited. Id. GaN cannot be melted at atmospheric pressures, and, at the time the parties entered into the CRADA, GaN powder was generally synthesized in a slow, high-temperature process. Id. Pursuant to the CRADA, plaintiff and the AFRL worked together to develop a commercially-viable process of depositing GaN as a thick target using a plasma spray gun. Id.

The CRADA was amended on May 21, 1997, to extend its term from an original 12 months to 30 months. Def.’s PFUF ¶ 2. Also in May 1997, plaintiff provided the AFRL with a GaN target made using a hot press method. PL’s PFUF ¶¶ 7-8. In August 1997, plaintiff produced a second GaN target, which it provided to the AFRL. Id. ¶ 11. Because of the sometimes contentious relationship between plaintiff and the AFRL, work on the GaN targets and other GaN research being performed under the CRADA effectively terminated prior to the CRADA’s completion date of November 22, 1998. Def.’s PFUF ¶ 3; see also PL’s PFUF ¶¶ 12-29. During this period, plaintiff attempted to ascertain from the Air Force the identity of the CRADA’s “Reviewing Official.”3 PL’s [203]*203PFUF ¶¶ 23, 25. In October 1998, the Air Force informed plaintiff that the CRADA’s Reviewing Official was Mr. Lester McFawn, Director of the Sensors Directorate at AFRL. Id. ¶ 26; Def.’s PFUF ¶7. Mr. McFawn held that position from October 1997 through September 1999, at which time Mr. Donald Hanson succeeded Mr. McFawn as the Director of the Sensors Directorate and the Reviewing Official of the CRADA, positions he held until May 2005. Def.’s PFUF ¶ 7.

In order to resolve the disputes that caused the early termination of the CRADA, plaintiff and the AFRL negotiated and, in September 1999, signed a second amendment to the CRADA. Pl.’s PFUF ¶ 41; Def.’s PFUF ¶ 4; see also Def.’s App. 19. Pursuant to that amendment, “[t]he CRADA [was to] be extended for a six month [sic] period commencing on the signing of this amendment by the reviewing official.” Def.’s App. 18-24. The Government also agreed to grant plaintiff an exclusive license to two GaN-related patent applications belonging to the Air Force, and to return to plaintiff the two GaN targets it had provided the Government. Id.; Pl.’s App. 94-95.

Plaintiff learned in mid-2000 that other commercial companies, including Solid State Scientific Corporation (“SSSC”), had been granted licenses for the pending patents. Pl.’s PFUF ¶ 48. Plaintiffs exclusive licensing period was to begin in September 2000, id. ¶ 53, so the AFRL notified SSSC in July 2000 that it intended to revoke SSSC’s nonexclusive license. PL’s App. 118. In October 2000, the Air Force informed plaintiff that SS SC had refused to accept the notice of termination of SSSC’s licenses. PL’s PFUF ¶54.

In November 2000, plaintiff wrote to the Secretary of the Air Force (“Secretary”), requesting an investigation of certain matters relating to the CRADA. Id. ¶ 57; PL’s App. 122. When plaintiff called the Secretary the next month, it discovered that the Secretary had no record of the letter, and so plaintiff faxed him a copy of the original letter. PL’s PFUF ¶ 58. That copy too was lost, and on January 31, 2001, plaintiff faxed a second copy of its letter to the Secretary. Id. ¶¶ 59-60. On that same day, plaintiff submitted a copy of the letter to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (“Inspector General”) and requested that his office investigate the matter. Id. ¶ 61. On February 11, 2002, the Inspector General notified plaintiff that his investigation was complete, id. ¶ 63, and, pursuant to plaintiffs Freedom of Information Act request, sent plaintiff a redacted copy of the “Memorandum for the File on DoD Case 79613” and redacted copies of the corresponding “Hotline Case Code Sheet.” PL’s App. 126-32. The documents released to plaintiff reach no conclusions relating to plaintiffs complaints. Id.

Also in February 2002, plaintiff called the office of the Secretary and spoke with a Captain Reynolds, who advised plaintiff to submit an invoice, along with information supporting the invoiced amount, to the Secretary. In April 2002, plaintiff followed Captain Reynolds’s advice and submitted an invoice for labor and material in the amount of $2,576 million. Id. ¶ 65; Pl.’s App. 139-45. On May 14, 2002, the Air Force rejected plaintiffs claim. Pl.’s App. 147-49. Plaintiff filed its complaint (docket entry 1) on September 5, 2003, and filed an amended complaint (“Am. Compl.,” docket entry 18) on August 27, 2004, asserting claims for the Government’s breach of the CRADA and the taking of plaintiffs property, as well as a quantum meruit claim asserting that, after plaintiff succeeded in developing a cost-effective method for the development of GaN, the Government “appropriated the Plaintiffs technology and mirrored Plaintiffs patent with patents of its own for the same process of producing the sought after targets.” Am. Compl. ¶¶ 69-84.

On July 5, 2005, the parties informed the Court that plaintiff had filed a voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, and requested that the Court defer further proceedings in this case until plaintiffs Chapter 7 trustee had decided whether to compromise or abandon the claims asserted by plaintiff in this action.

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Bluebook (online)
78 Fed. Cl. 201, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 282, 2007 WL 2484958, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pdr-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2007.