Wetsel-Oviatt Lumber Co. v. United States

41 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,178, 38 Fed. Cl. 563, 1997 U.S. Claims LEXIS 167, 1997 WL 459733
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 12, 1997
DocketNo. 96-323C
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 41 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,178 (Wetsel-Oviatt Lumber Co. 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
Wetsel-Oviatt Lumber Co. v. United States, 41 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,178, 38 Fed. Cl. 563, 1997 U.S. Claims LEXIS 167, 1997 WL 459733 (uscfc 1997).

Opinion

OPINION

MARGOLIS, Judge.

In this government contract action, currently before the Court on plaintiffs motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability, plaintiff challenges as a breach of contract the Forest Service’s refusal to compensate plaintiff for timber deleted from two timber sale contracts, where the two contracts explicitly provide for compensation in the event of United States Forest Service modification or cancellation of the contracts. These two contracts are the Leek timber sale contract (“Leek contract”) and the Barney timber sale contract (“Barney contract”).

FACTS

When the United States government, through the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, determines to sell timber located on federal land, it usually does so by soliciting and receiving competitive bids for the right to cut and remove the timber. The plaintiff Wetsel-Oviatt Lumber Company, Inc. (“Wetsel”), as the high bidder, was awarded at least four of these contracts: (1) the Leek timber sale contract, Contract No. 054751 (“the Leek contract”); (2) the Barney timber sale contract, Contract No. 056855 (“the Barney contract”); (3) the Lyons timber sale contract, Contract No. 056806 (“the Lyons contract”); and (4) the Sawpit Cable timber sale contract, Contract No. 055550 (“the Sawpit contract”).1 These contracts (collectively “the four contracts”) were awarded on September 16, 1987, August 25, 1992, November 16, 1989 and August 10, 1992, respectively.

Each of the four contracts obligate the Forest Service to sell, and Wetsel to cut and remove, specified amounts of timber. For the Leek and Barney contracts, the amount of timber was 9,310 thousand board feet (“MBF”) and 5,350 MBF, respectively. Additionally, each of the four contracts contains a clause “C8.2-Termination. ” There are, however, two versions of the clause. While the Sawpit and Leek contracts contain a May [565]*5651984 version of the clause; the Lyons and Barney contracts contain a December 1989 version of the clause. Both versions, though not identical, are similar in substance and provide that, in certain circumstances, the Chief of the Forest Service may terminate the contracts for environmental reasons. In this regard, all four contracts contain an October 1977 version of clause “C9.5-Settlement,” which limits the liability of the United States in the event of a termination under clause C8.2. The Barney, Sawpit, and Lyons contracts also contain clause “C9.52-Settlementwhich further limits the United States’ liability in the event of a modification or termination of the contract and provides for permissible modifications to the contract.

All four contracts originally stipulated a termination date that has since been extended. The Leek contract originally had a termination date of December 31, 1990, but contract modifications have extended that termination date until October 15,1997. The Barney contract originally referenced a termination date of December 31, 1993, but contract modifications have likewise extended that contract termination date until October 15, 1997. Originally set to be terminated on December 31, 1993, contract modifications have extended the Lyons contract until October 17, 1997. Finally, the Sawpit contract originally had a termination date of December 31,1992, but that date has been extended by modification until October 31,1997.

By letter dated May 14, 1993, the Forest Service Contracting Officer (“Contracting Officer”) communicated to Wetsel that the Barney, Leek, Lyons, and Sawpit Cable timber contracts were suspended pending Forest Service review of the sales in light of new environmental assessments being completed, and until notification by the Contracting Officer to Wetsel that operations could proceed. Environmental review of the Sawpit sale concluded on May 3,1995 when Supervisor John Phipps of the Eldorado National Forest issued a Decision Notice deleting, for environmental reasons, portions of several units from the timber sale and imposing additional harvesting restrictions on the remainder. In an Environmental Assessment accompanying the Decision Notice, Phipps estimated that the Notice deleted the timber available for harvest under the Sawpit contract by 706 MBF, or 18 percent.2

Environmental review of the Leek sale concluded on May 15, 1995, when Phipps issued a Decision Notice deleting, for environmental reasons, units 1-4, 6-8, 11-14, 16, 18-25, and 30-31 from the sale and imposing additional harvesting restrictions for environmental reasons. In an Environmental Assessment accompanying the Decision Notice, Phipps estimated that the Notice deleted the timber available for harvest under the Leek contract by 7,897 MBF, or 96 percent.

Environmental review of the Lyons sale also concluded on May 15, 1995, and Phipps likewise issued a Decision Notice deleting timber from the sale and imposing additional harvesting restrictions for environmental reasons. An Environmental Assessment accompanying the Decision Notice estimated reduction of the Lyons harvest by 1,328 MBF, or 53 percent.

Finally, review of the Barney sale concluded on May 22, 1995 when Phipps issued a Decision Notice deleting, for environmental reasons, units 1-3, 3a, 4-9, 11-12, 14-19, 20, 22, 30, and 36 from the sale and imposing additional harvesting restrictions on the sale for environmental reasons. An Environmental Assessment accompanying the Decision Notice estimated a resulting reduction in the timber available for harvest under the Barney contract of 4,223 MBF, or 79 percent.

By letters to the Contracting Officer, dated June 5, 1995, Wetsel requested that the Forest Service prepare, as soon as possible, proposed modifications to the four contracts reflecting the changes that would be made to the sales as the result of Phipps’ Decision Notices. Thereafter, in a series of letters addressed to Regional Forester G. Lynn Sprague between June 21 and July 10, 1995, Wetsel appealed, pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 215, Phipps’ Decision Notices as they pertained to the four contracts.

[566]*566Part 215 of title 86 of the Code of Federal Regulations provides for “prompt administrative review of project and activities implementing forest service plans and establishes who may appeal decisions on planned actions, the kinds of decisions that may be appealed, the responsibilities of the participants in an appeal, and the procedures that apply.” See 36 C.F.R. § 215.1. With regard to each appeal, Wetsel informed Sprague that Wetsel did not seek a stay of implementation of Phipps’ decision pending resolution of Wetsel’s appeal. By letter to Martha Zoe Tyler of the U.S. Forest Service, dated July 24, 1995, Wetsel reiterated its position stating: “Wetsel-Oviatt does not seek a stay of implementation and voluntarily waives all rights to a stay of implementation with respect to each of [its] appeals.” The Forest Service acknowledged receipt of Wetsel’s July 24 letter by letter dated July 28,1995.

Subsequently, the Forest Service, through Appeal Deciding Officer James A. Lawrence, issued a series of decisions between August 7, 1995 and August 24, 1995 regarding Wetsel’s appeal of Phipps’ May 1995 decisions. With regard to the Sawpit, Leek, and Lyons sales, the Forest Service affirmed Phipps’ decisions in their entirety.

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Bluebook (online)
41 Cont. Cas. Fed. 77,178, 38 Fed. Cl. 563, 1997 U.S. Claims LEXIS 167, 1997 WL 459733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wetsel-oviatt-lumber-co-v-united-states-uscfc-1997.