Stroughter v. United States

89 Fed. Cl. 755, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 340, 2009 WL 3492019
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedOctober 26, 2009
DocketNos. 09-404C, 09-413C
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 89 Fed. Cl. 755 (Stroughter 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
Stroughter v. United States, 89 Fed. Cl. 755, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 340, 2009 WL 3492019 (uscfc 2009).

Opinion

[758]*758 MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MILLER, Judge.

This consolidated action is before the court on defendant’s motion to dismiss. Plaintiffs La Tretha E. Stroughter and Jerome W. Smith (“plaintiffs”), proceeding pro se, claim to have invented 1) a system for televisual/satellite mass production and communication, and 2) a compact machine able to copy, duplicate, transfer, record, and convert data (the “inventions”). Each invention has a corresponding patent application pending with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO”). Plaintiffs propound patent infringement claims against the USP-TO for using and disclosing the inventions during the patent applications’ pendency while acting in complicity with various private parties. Defendant moves to dismiss based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction, RCFC 12(b)(1), or for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, RCFC 12(b)(6). Argument is deemed unnecessary.

BACKGROUND

On June 22, 2009, and June 24, 2009, respectively, Ms. Stroughter and Mr. Smith filed their complaints (the “complaints”).1 Following notification by defendant that the cases were directly related, the court entered an order consolidating the complaints on July 13, 2009. See RCFC 42(a)(2). Defendant filed its motion to dismiss on July 14, 2009.

On July 28, 2009, the court received from Ms. Stroughter a duplicate Application To Proceed In Forma Pauperis (the original filed with her complaint was granted on June 29, 2009) and a proposed amended complaint. The court entered a scheduling order on July 30, 2009, noting multiple deficiencies in Ms. Stroughter’s July 28, 2009 submissions due to failure to comply with the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims.2 The court’s July 30, 2009 order 1) denied Ms. Stroughter’s application as moot and 2) returned unfiled Ms. Stroughter’s proposed amended complaint. The July 30, 2009 order also required that “[bjoth plaintiffs ... file separate responses or one joint response to defendant’s motion to dismiss by August 14, 2009.” Order filed July 30, 2009, ¶ 2.

On August 12, 2009, Ms. Stroughter filed a separate response to the motion to dismiss. On August 14, 2009, Mr. Smith attempted to file a proposed amended complaint instead of a response to the motion to dismiss. Consequently, on August 20, 2009, the court ordered Mr. Smith’s proposed amended complaint to be returned unfiled, allowing Mr. Smith until August 28, 2009, to file a response to the motion to dismiss and to distinguish his proposed amended complaint from his original complaint. On September 10, 2009, Mr. Smith filed a second proposed amended complaint. Although this submission was untimely and failed to respond to the motion to dismiss, the court ordered it “filed by leave and ... treated as [Mr. Smith’s] response pursuant to ... the order entered on August 20, 2009.” Order filed Sept. 10, 2009, ¶ 1. Briefing concluded on September 29, 2009.

FACTS

Each complaint is captioned as a “MANDATE FOR PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION FOR THE USE BY AND FOR THE GOVERNMENT, BACK PAY AND ROYALTIES, INFRINGEMENT DAMAGES AND BUYOUT OF THE ACTUAL PATENT RIGHTS.” Compl. filed June 24, 2009 (“Smith Compl.”), at 1; Compl. filed June 22, 2009 (“Stroughter Compl.”), at 1. Both name [759]*759as defendants “DOE[’]S 1 THROUGH INFINITY WORLD WIDE USAGE OF BOTH PATENTS.”3 Smith Compl. at 1; Stroughter Compl. at 1. Both describe the invention of technology underlying the following pending patent applications (the “applications”): 1) “U.S. Patent Application Number 11/502,337, filed on August 10, 2006[,] and published as U.S. Patent Application Publication Number U.S.2007/0136763 Al on June 14, 2007,” Def.’s Br. filed July 14, 2009, at 1-2; and 2) “U.S. Patent Application Number 11/410,423, filed on April 22, 2006[,] and published as U.S. Patent Application Publication Number U.S.2006/0238503 Al on October 26, 2006,” id. at 2. The applications remain pendent.

Plaintiffs allege that the during the applications’ pendency, the USPTO “realized that these two patents were triple platinum makers[,] went after the manufacturers to retrieve patent infringement monies, then collected the back pay royalties[,] ... put all of that money into CLIENT TRUST BANK ACCOUNT TO COLLECT THE INTEREST then turned around and made license agreements with the manufacturers.” Smith Compl. at 6-7; Stroughter Compl. at 7. Further, plaintiffs “also know that the government has made extra patents off of [plaintiffs’] individual claims from [plaintiffs’] two patents.” Smith Compl. at 7; Stroughter Compl. at 7. They request “back pay royalties in addition to infringement damages, back pay compensation from the governments [sic] use and the buyout of the actual patent [sic] themselves.” Smith Compl. at 8; Stroughter Compl. at 8. Plaintiffs describe themselves as business partners and co-inventors, and, after calculating infringement damages of $1.25 trillion, each claims entitlement to half ($625 billion).4 Smith Compl. at 5-6; Stroughter Compl. at 5-6; see also PI. Stroughter’s Resp. to Notice of Directly Related Cases filed July 15, 2009, at 2 (“We are ... business partners and co-inventors on each other’s patent applications.”).

Although the complaints did not allege a basis for the court’s jurisdiction, plaintiffs’ patent infringement claims suggest 28 U.S.C. § 1498 (2006). Mr. Smith’s response to the motion to dismiss repeatedly alleges an unlawful taking, which would invoke this court’s jurisdiction under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Ms. Stroughter’s subsequent filings allege that jurisdiction also exists on account of 1) diversity of citizenship; and 2) the USPTO’s violation of “Appendix L Patent Law 35 U.S.C. [§ ] 154(B) [sic].”5 PI. Stroughter’s Br. filed Aug. 12, 2009, at 3. According to Ms. Stroughter, the Administrative Procedure Act (the “APA”), 5 U.S.C. §§ 551-59, 701-06 (2006), authorizes a lawsuit “against USPTO [sic] for violating 35 U.S.C. § 154(B) [sic] the GUARANTEE OF NO MORE THAN 3 YEAR APPLICATION PENDENCY.” PI. Stroughter’s Br. filed Aug 12, 2009, at 3 (referencing 35 U.S.C. § 154(b)(1)(B) (2006), see supra note 5). Were jurisdiction found to be lacking, Ms. Stroughter requests that the court transfer her action to a court of suitable jurisdiction.

DISCUSSION

Defendant moves the court to dismiss the consolidated action based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction, RCFC 12(b)(1), or for failure to state a claim upon which relief can [760]*760be granted, RCFC 12(b)(6). Defendant also moves the court to strike Ms. Stroughter’s August 12, 2009 response.

1. Standard of review

Documents filed pro se are “to be liberally construed ... and a pro se complaint, however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
89 Fed. Cl. 755, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 340, 2009 WL 3492019, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stroughter-v-united-states-uscfc-2009.