Viacom, Inc. v. United States

70 Fed. Cl. 649, 38 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2353, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 122, 2006 WL 1388415
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMay 8, 2006
DocketNo. 01-79C
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 70 Fed. Cl. 649 (Viacom, 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
Viacom, Inc. v. United States, 70 Fed. Cl. 649, 38 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2353, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 122, 2006 WL 1388415 (uscfc 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

FIRESTONE, Judge.

Pending before the court are the United States’ (“the government’s”) and Viacom, Inc.’s (“Viacom’s” or “plaintiffs”) Cross Motions for Partial Summary Judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”). For the reasons that follow, the court GRANTS-IN-PART and DENIES-IN-PART the government’s motion and GRANTS-IN-PART and DENIES-IN-PART Viacom’s motion.

BACKGROUND

This case is another in a series of cases involving the scope and application of both the original Cost Accounting Standard (“CAS”) 413.50(c), 48 C.F.R. § 9904.413-50(c)(12) (1994) (“original CAS”), which was promulgated in 1977, and the revised CAS [652]*652413.50(c), 48 C.F.R. § 9904.413-50(c)(12) (2006) (“revised CAS”), which was substantially revised in 1995. This CAS 413 provision governs the adjustment made at the time of a segment closing, whereby the government may be liable for its share of a pension deficit or the government may be able to recoup its share of a pension surplus.

At issue in this case are two segment closings. One of the segment closings involves the original CAS 413, which applies only to cost-reimbursement contracts. The second segment closing involves the revised CAS 413, which applies to subcontracts and fixed-price contracts, as well as cost-reimbursement contracts. The parties’ dispute centers on how the original and revised CAS 413 operate and how the revised CAS 413 affects a pension deficit attributable, in part, to contracts entered into under the original CAS 413.

The court has previously interpreted the provisions of the original and the revised CAS 413 related to issues raised in this ease in General Motors Corp. v. United States, 66 Fed.Cl. 153 (2005), and Teledyne, Inc. v. United States, 50 Fed.Cl. 155 (2001), aff'd, 316 F.3d 1366 (Fed.Cir.2003). On issues related to this ease, in General Motors, the court interpreted provisions of the original CAS 413 and held that: (1) a contractor’s failure to fund the pension costs claimed does not bar its CAS-based claims; (2) various clauses under the FAR do not bar a contractor’s CAS-based claims; (3) a contractor’s claim is not barred by a general release of claims that it previously executed; and (4) a contractor is not entitled to a fee or profit on its CAS 413 segment-closing adjustment.

On issues related to this case, in Teledyne, the court interpreted provisions of the original and revised CAS 413 and held that: (1) a contractor is not entitled to recover either portions of its pension deficit that are attributable to firm-fixed-price contracts under the original CAS 413, or portions of its deficit that arose before the original CAS 413 became applicable to its contracts; and (2) a contractor is entitled to an equitable adjustment to the extent that a segment closing under the revised CAS 413 involves pension costs attributable to contracts entered into under the original CAS 413. The court held that applying the revised CAS 413 provisions to pension costs attributable to contracts entered into under to the original CAS amounts to an accounting change subject to the equitable adjustment provided for under 48 C.F.R. § 52.230—2(a)(4)(i) (1998). This equitable adjustment meant, in Teledyne, that where there is a pension surplus, the government cannot recoup the portion of the surplus that is attributable to fixed-price contracts that were entered into under the original CAS 413.

The following facts are undisputed unless otherwise noted. In May 2000, Viacom and CBS Corporation (“CBS”) merged in a stock transaction, whereby all rights and obligations of the constituent companies became by operation of law, the rights and obligations of the resulting company that began operating under the name Viacom, Inc. CBS, in turn, was the successor of Westinghouse Electric Company (‘Westinghouse”), which changed its name to CBS in December 1997.

Prior to December 1, 1997, Westinghouse did business with the government through its Machinery Technology Division (“MTD”). Westinghouse also did business with the government through its Electronic Systems Group (“ESG”). As discussed below, both of these units eventually closed. These closings triggered the application of CAS 413. The court will examine each of the two segments separately.

A. Machinery Technology Division

Westinghouse established MTD in 1983 for the purpose of providing technical engineering services to the Naval Sea Systems Command. MTD was classified as a segment for purposes of complying with the CAS. MTD was covered under the Westinghouse Qualified Pension Plan, a qualified pension plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461 (2000) (“ERISA”), and the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”).

MTD received two government contracts. On December 29, 1983, the United States Navy (“Navy”) awarded Contract no. N00024-84-D-4312, which was a cost-plus-[653]*653fixed-fee contract. The fixed fee amount equaled 7.5% of the estimated cost of the contract. On September 30, 1986, the Navy-awarded a second contract, Contract no. N00024-86-CM030 (“Contract no. 4030”), which was also a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The fixed fee amount also equaled 7.5% of the estimated cost of the contract.

Both contracts included the version of the CAS clause set forth at Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) § 52.230-3 (1984), which incorporated the original CAS segment closing provision in CAS 413. Under original CAS 413, “If a segment is closed, the contractor shall determine the difference between the actuarial liability for the segment and the market value of the assets allocated to the segment, irrespective of whether or not the pension plan is terminated.... The difference between the market value of the assets and the actuarial liability for the segment represents an adjustment of previously-determined pension costs.” 48 C.F.R. § 9904.413-50(e)(12).1 On November 13, 1995, MTD was notified that a follow-on contract to Contract no. 4030 would not be awarded to MTD. On December 1, 1995, MTD notified its employees that the MTD business segment would cease to exist.

Because the MTD segment never entered into a contract that was subject to the provisions of the revised CAS 413, which became effective on March 30, 1995, both parties agree that the MTD segment closing is covered by the original CAS 413. Viacom contends that the segment closing occurred on February 1,1996. The government contends that the segment did not close until July 31, 1997, when performance finally ended under Contract no. 4030. Because all issues relating to quantum are being held in abeyance pending the outcome of these motions, the dispute over the segment closing date is not relevant to the outcome of this motion.

Although quantum is not relevant at this time, it is nonetheless not disputed that Westinghouse submitted a claim to the government’s contracting officer, Thomas P.

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Bluebook (online)
70 Fed. Cl. 649, 38 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2353, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 122, 2006 WL 1388415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/viacom-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2006.