Roth v. United States

73 Fed. Cl. 144, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 287, 2006 WL 2821534
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided September 27, 2006·No. Nos. 05-367 L, 05-484 L, 05-537 L, 05-1082 L, 05-1083 L, 05-1173 L, 05-1175 L·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

OPINION

HEWITT, Judge.

Before the court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Rules of the Court of Federal Claims (RCFC) 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) and Memorandum in Support Thereof (Def.’s Mot.), Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Motion to Dismiss (Pis.’ Opp.) and Defendant’s Reply Memorandum in Support of Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (Def.’s Reply). For the following reasons, defendant’s motion under RCFC 12(b)(1) is GRANTED.

I. Background

Plaintiff Gerald E. Roth alleges that the United States effected a taking of his property by the Military Lands Withdrawal Act of 1999 (MLWA) for which he was not justly compensated. Roth Complaint (Roth Compl.) ¶¶ 3-6. Similar allegations arising under the MLWA were made by eight other individuals, Catherine Paulsen, Janet C. Ross, George D. Duffy, Renwick P. Russel, Relf L. Hudleston, Thomas E. Hoey, Jimmy Hicks and Edward Sexton, and consolidated into the above-captioned case. See Order of Dec. 15, 2005; Order of Dec. 30, 2005; Def.’s Mot. I.1 The parties refer to the claims filed by plaintiffs Hoey, Hicks, and Sexton as “Comvets” because those individuals conducted business together as Comvets Mining. Def.’s Mot. 1. The court sometimes refers collectively to the complaints filed by the parties (with the exception of Ms. Ross’s complaint) as the Complaints.

Plaintiffs assert ownership over patented mining claims in the Fairview Mining District of Churchill County, Nevada. Pls.’ Opp. 8; Def.’s Mot. 3. They claim that defendant’s permanent denial of access to their patented mining lands constitutes a taking under the Fifth Amendment. Roth. Compl. ¶ 6; see also Def.’s Mot. 5. With the exception of Ms. Ross, all of the plaintiffs claim ownership of lands that fall under the MLWA’s jurisdiction. Pis.’ Opp. 6. Ms. Ross, on the other hand, claims that the MLWA took away “all reasonable access to her patented mining claim.”2 Id. at 7.

In 1989, pursuant to a request made by the United States Navy (Navy), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a division of the United States Department of Interior (Interior), “closed the public lands surrounding all of the patented lands at issue, except the [147] patented land over which Ross asserts ownership.” Def.’s Mot. 3. The Federal Register on December 14, 1989, 54 Fed.Reg. 51,326, and February 1, 1991, 56 Fed.Reg. 4,074, published notice of the closure, stating that public lands adjacent to bombing ranges of Naval Air Station Fallon were “closed to the public until further notice.” Defendant presented evidence that “warning signs were erected regarding the closure” at that time. See Def.’s Mot. 43 (citing a letter from the Secretary of the Navy to Senator Harry Reid). Two years later, in 1991, “the Navy contracted for the creation and installation of 800 warning signs regarding the closure of public lands.” Id. (citing Declaration of Larry Jones ¶ 2.)

Congress passed the MLWA on October 5, 1999. Def.’s Mot. 4. The legislation “replaced the closure orders and notices published in the Federal Register.” Id. at 5 (citing Pub.L. No. 106-65, §§ 3011-3018, 113 Stat. 512). Section 3011 of the MLWA specified that “ ‘approximately 204,953 acres of land in Churchill County, Nevada’ ... were withdrawn from public lands and reserved ‘for use by the Secretary of the Navy’ for training and testing.” Def.’s Mot. 5 (citing §§ 3011(a)(1)-(2), 3011(a)(1)(c)). The MLWA also provided that the withdrawal of lands to be used “for military purposes by section 3011” were to become effective on date of the MLWA’s enactment. § 3015(b).

Defendant has moved to dismiss each plaintiffs complaint in this consolidated action. See RCFC 12(b)(1). Defendant argues that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear plaintiffs’ claims because the claims are time-barred. Def.’s Mot. 1. In the alternative, defendant moves to dismiss the claims of plaintiffs Hoey, Hicks, Sexton, Paulsen, and Ross under RCFC 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Id. at 2; see also RCFC 12(b)(6).

II. Discussion

A. Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction

1. Jurisdiction

The Court of Federal Claims derives its jurisdiction from 28 U.S.C. § 1491, which

states that “[t]he United States Court of Federal Claims shall have jurisdiction to render judgment upon any claim against the United States founded either upon the Constitution, or any Act of Congress or any regulation of an executive department, or upon any express or implied contract with the United States, or for liquidated or unliquidated damages in cases not sounding in tort.” 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1) (2000). Section 2501 of title 28 of the United States Code limits the court’s jurisdiction of claims to those arising no longer than six years before the complaint is filed: “Every claim of which the United States Court of Federal Claims has jurisdiction shall be barred unless the petition thereon is filed within six years after such claim first accrues.” 28 U.S.C. § 2501 (2000). “Section 2501 imposes a limitation on the jurisdiction of the Court such that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear time-barred claims.” Kemp v. United States, 65 Fed.Cl. 818, 820 (2005) (citing Alder Terrace, Inc. v. United States, 161 F.3d 1372, 1377 (Fed.Cir. 1998)). That limitation was “attached by Congress as a condition of the government’s waiver of sovereign immunity.” Hopland Band of Pomo Indians v. United States, 855 F.2d 1573, 1576-77 (Fed.Cir.1988). The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has directed that the six-year limitation “must be strictly construed.” Id. at 1577.

2. Standard of Review

a. Rule 12(b)(1)

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Roth v. United States, 73 Fed. Cl. 144, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 287, 2006 WL 2821534 (uscfc 2006).

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