U.S. Home Corp. v. United States

108 Fed. Cl. 191, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1589, 2012 WL 6582374
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedDecember 14, 2012
DocketNo. 09-63 C
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 108 Fed. Cl. 191 (U.S. Home Corp. 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
U.S. Home Corp. v. United States, 108 Fed. Cl. 191, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1589, 2012 WL 6582374 (uscfc 2012).

Opinion

28 U.S.C. § 1500 (2006); United States v. Tohono O’odham Nation, — U.S.-, 131 S.Ct. 1723, 179 L.Ed.2d 723 (2011); Substantially the Same Operative Facts in Suit Pending Before a District Court.

OPINION

Bush, Judge.

This suit, originally filed February 3, 2009, seeks money damages for hazardous waste contamination of land sold by the United States to plaintiffs. In an earlier opinion, the court dismissed Counts II and III of the eomplaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, because these counts were not founded on a money-mandating statute. U.S. Home Corp. v. United States, 92 Fed.Cl. 401, 412 (2010) (U.S. Home I). Subsequently, upon defendant’s motion for partial summary judgment, the court dismissed part of Count I of the complaint, a claim for breach of an implied-in-fact contract regarding the environmental condition of property sold by the United States. U.S. Home Corp. v. United States, No. 09-63C, 2010 WL 4689883 (Fed.Cl. Nov. 9, 2010) (U.S. Home II). The only remaining claim in this ease is for a breach of deed covenants, found in Count I of the complaint.

On July 6, 2012, the court raised the question of subject matter jurisdiction sua sponte, in light of a recent change in controlling precedent regarding the application of 28 U.S.C. § 1500 (2006). See United States v. Tohono O’odham Nation, — U.S.-, 131 S.Ct. 1723, 179 L.Ed.2d 723 (2011). The jurisdictional issue has been fully briefed by the parties and is ripe for a decision by the court. The parties’ briefs as submitted are: Defendant’s Memorandum Regarding the Application of 28 U.S.C. § 1500 (Def.’s Br.); Plaintiffs’ Tohono O’odham Response Brief (Pis.’ Br.); and, Defendant’s Reply in Support of Its Memorandum Regarding the Application of 28 U.S.C. § 1500 (Def.’s Reply). Dismissal is required because plaintiffs filed a suit in a district court before they filed suit in this court, and the pending district court suit was based on substantially the same operative facts as the subject matter.

BACKGROUND

I. Facts

Plaintiffs U.S. Home Corporation, Beechwood at Edison, LLC and Beechwood Shopping Center, LLC (collectively, the Developers) are or were the owners of approximately 29 acres of real estate (the Property), which was at one time part of the former Raritan Arsenal, a 3200-acre United States Army facility in New Jersey.1 Compl. ¶¶ 1-3, 6.2 [193]*193The United States General Services Administration (GSA) sold one of the two constituent parcels of the Property, approximately 23 acres, to TWO Realty Company (TWC) in 1989. Id. ¶¶ 4,16. TWC then sold this parcel to Beechwood at Edison, LLC in 2002. Id. ¶ 16. GSA sold the second constituent parcel of the Property, approximately 5 acres, to Beechwood at Edison, LLC in 2003. Id. ¶¶ 4, 17. Beechwood at Edison, LLC consolidated and subdivided the Property, conveying part to U.S. Home Corporation in 2005 and 2008, and part to Beechwood Shopping Center, LLC at a later date. Id. ¶ 18. Both residential and commercial development of the Property have commenced.

According to plaintiffs, hazardous waste contamination of the Property was discovered in 2005 and 2006, and state officials compelled plaintiffs to alter their development plans for the Property as a result. Compl. ¶¶ 22-25, 37-40. The Developers have incurred and will incur expenses related to soil capping and venting measures, as well as the installation, monitoring and maintenance of engineering controls. Id. ¶¶ 35, 37, 40. Plaintiffs also assert that the contamination of the Property has reduced the value of the Property and has caused other monetary damages, such as those related to construction delays, financing costs, sale price reductions, lost sales and lost rental income. Id. ¶¶ 48-60. Plaintiffs assert that the United States breached deed covenants as to the environmental condition of the Property, and that the government is liable to plaintiffs as a result of that breach. Id. at 11-12.

II. Procedure

In 2008, two of the plaintiffs in this suit, U.S. Home Corporation and Beechwood at Edison, LLC, filed a complaint against the United States in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. U.S. Home Corp. v. United States, No. 2:08-cv-04144-WJM-MF (D.N.J. filed Aug. 15, 2008) (District Court Complaint or DNJ Compl.). The district court plaintiffs sought relief founded on the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9675 (2006), among other sources of law. In particular, the plaintiffs relied on CERCLA § 107(a)(2)-(3), 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a)(2)-(3), to seek reimbursement from the United States for the monies they had expended to respond to the contamination of the Property. The plaintiffs, relying on CERCLA § 113(g)(2), 42 U.S.C. § 9613(g)(2), also sought a declaratory judgment as to the liability of the United States for past and future response costs incurred by the owners of the Property. A portion of the original district court suit was dismissed without prejudice and was re-filed as a complaint in this court (Compl.) on February 3, 2009. U.S. Home I, 92 Fed.Cl. at 404-05. The district court suit was settled by the parties and was dismissed on July 20, 2010. Def.’s Br. at 4.

In U.S. Home I, this court rejected the government’s jurisdictional challenge to the complaint based on § 1500. 92 Fed.Cl. at 410. The application of § 1500 then dictated by precedent, however, has since been overruled by the United States Supreme Court. See Tohono O’odham, 131 S.Ct. at 1730 (describing § 1500 jurisprudence binding on this court at that time as “wrong [because it] suppressed] the statute’s aims”); Trusted Integration, Inc. v. United States, 659 F.3d 1159, 1164 (Fed.Cir.2011) (noting that Toho-no O’odham “clarified” precedent regarding the application of § 1500). Because this court applied a test for jurisdiction that has now been rejected by the Supreme Court, this court’s prior ruling regarding § 1500 is infirm. In this opinion, the court follows Tohono O’odham to properly apply § 1500 to the procedural circumstances of this ease.

DISCUSSION

1. Standard of Review

“A party, or the court sua sponte, may address a challenge to subject matter jurisdiction at any time_” Booth v. United States, 990 F.2d 617, 620 (Fed.Cir.1993) (citations omitted). When reviewing a eom-[194]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
108 Fed. Cl. 191, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1589, 2012 WL 6582374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/us-home-corp-v-united-states-uscfc-2012.