United States v. United Technologies Corp.

190 F. Supp. 3d 752, 2016 WL 3141569
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedJune 3, 2016
DocketCase No. 3:99-cv-093
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 190 F. Supp. 3d 752 (United States v. United Technologies Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. United Technologies Corp., 190 F. Supp. 3d 752, 2016 WL 3141569 (S.D. Ohio 2016).

Opinion

ENTRY AND ORDER GRANTING-IN-PART UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION’S MOTION FOR ENTRY OF FINAL JUDGMENT, DOC. 457, AND DENYING-IN-PART THE UNITED STATES’ CROSS-MOTION FOR ENTRY OF FINAL JUDGMENT. DOC. 464.

THOMAS M. ROSE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Pending before the Court are Defendant United Technologies Corporation’s Motion for Entry of Final Judgment, Doc. 457, and Plaintiff United States’ Cross-Motion for Entry of Final Judgment. Doc. 464. The case is currently before the Court on a second remand from the United States Court of Appeals for the' Sixth Circuit.

I. INTRODUCTION

The United States brought an ■ action against United Technologies Corporation’s predecessor, Pratt & Whitney (“Pratt”), asserting claims for alleged violations of the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(l)&(2), and for relief under the common law theories of breach of contract, payment by mistake, and unjust enrichment.' A bench trial proved United Technologies’ assertion of a statute of limitations defense inapplicable and proved United Technologies liable on the United States’ claims arising under the False Claims Act. This Court found the United States’ common law claims barred by claim preclusion. United States v. United Techs. Corp., 2008 WL 3007997, at *11 (S.D.Ohio Aug. 1, 2008), affd in part, rev’d in part, 626 F.3d 313 (6th Cir.2010), as amended (Jan. 24, 2011).

In its- findings of fact, the Court noted that Pratt’s false statements caused a false claim to be paid during the first year of the contract, “FEC I,” but that FEC I, was not part of the Government’s False Claims Act charge. Id., at *11. The Court further noted that the Government suffered substantial damage over the course of FEC I. Id., at *12.

Most particularly, the Court found that Pratt fraudulently asserted that its ceiling price quotes were decremented in Pratt’s Best and Final Offer (“BAFO”) Exhibit 3.8.1 on all sole-sourced vendors in an amount within the range established by [756]*756Pratt’s Procurement Cost Accounting Group (“PCAG”) recommendations for each .supplier and Pratt’s past experience in achieving PCAG recommendations. The Court also found that Pratt fraudulently asserted that the prices it submitted were substantiated by the most recent data, and fraudulently asserted that it applied the predicted domestic rate of inflation. While the Court found a False Claims Act violation', .the Court also found that the Government suffered no actual damages in the years under review (FEC III-FEC VI), primarily due to price reductions in some years of the contract, including crediting an Air Force negotiating officer’s statement that a switch from full warranties to capped warranties made no difference, reducing the amount of damage suffered in other years, and that prior litigation before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals precluded the Government from pursuing common law claims. Id. This opinion awarded $7,090,000 in statutory penalties to the government. Both parties appealed this Court’s decision.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the finding of fraud and the statute of limitations ruling, but found that the government’s common law claims were not precluded by prior litigation before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals. The Sixth Circuit affirmed the liability determination, reversed the damages calculation, and remanded for a determination of liability on the common law claims and a recalculation of damages. United States v. United Techs. Corp., 626 F.3d 313, 325 (6th Cir.2010), as amended (Jan. 24, 2011). The Sixth Circuit particularly disagreed with this Court’s valuation of warranties, disallowed year-to-year offsets to damages and ordered that the fair market value of the engines the Air Force received be accounted for when determining damages.

On remand this ■ Court found United Technologies liable on the United States’ claims for payment by mistake and unjust enrichment. The Court concluded that Pratt’s BAFO prices plus 15% profit during FEC III, IV, V and VI represented the fair market value of the fighter- jet engine contract, that the: warranties generated zero off-set as they were worth the price negotiated, and that the government was thus entitled to damages totaling $657 million. United States v. United Techs. Corp., 950 F.Supp.2d 949, 955 (S.D.Ohio 2013), rev’d, 782 F.3d 718 (6th Cir.2015). United Technologies appealed.

The second appeal concerned whether issue preclusion barred the government from obtaining additional damages under the False Claims Act and common law restitution given an Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals finding about the role of competition in determining the prices the government paid for the jet engines and whether, even if issue preclusion did not apply, the district court’s $657 million damages award was supported by the evidence. United States v. United Techs. Corp., 782 F.3d 718, 721 (6th Cir.2015). First, the Court of Appeals affirmed the determination that issue preclusion does not bar the government’s damages claims under the False Claims Act and common law restitution. Id. at 729-30. Next, it rejected the unclothed conclusion that GE engines were not a comparable price comparison due to costs related to beginning production of an engine it had never produced based on the “assertion [that] GE Aircraft’s market entry costs at any rate may reveal less than one might expect, [as] GE Aircraft Engines was not a start-up making a debut in constructing jet engines, but rather had been producing engines (albeit different models) for years” Id. at 735. It concluded that the comparable sales valuation method should have been applied; and the district court had to [757]*757decide in the first instance on second remand whether the government should have another opportunity to prove that it suffered damages. 7d

Now, United Technologies has moved the Court for entry of final judgment reflecting the $7,090,000 penalty, arguing that the Court should not reopen, the record to allow the government to further attempt to prove damages. Doc. 458. The government somewhat agrees, agreeing that it is entitled to $7,090,000 in statutory damages, but instead of requesting that the Court reopen the record, urges the Court to allow it to seek disgorgement of wrongful profits from FEC I, the first year of the contract, an amount of damages the government asserts Would total $85,565,572, representing disgorgement of unjust enrichment of $23,762,721, prejudgment interest through August 31, 2015 on that proposed award of $54,712,851, and the previously awarded False Claim Act penalties of $7,090,000 for contracts in later years. United Technologies responds that profit disgorgement is barred by the mandate rule, that the government waived profit disgorgement, and that disgorgement fails on the record. The Court will consider United Technologies’ positions in order.

A. Barred by the Mandate Rule

“[R]emands... can be either general or limited in scope.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
190 F. Supp. 3d 752, 2016 WL 3141569, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-united-technologies-corp-ohsd-2016.