Opinion ID: 511014
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Operative Facts versus Theories of Recovery

Text: 15 Statutory construction requires the application of recognized rules. See generally Sutherland Statutory Construction (4th ed.). First,  ' [t]he starting point in every case involving construction of a statute is the language itself. '  Greyhound Corp. v. Mt. Hood Stages, Inc., 437 U.S. 322, 330, 98 S.Ct. 2370, 2375, 27 L.Ed.2d 239 (1978). Second, where a statute states what a term means then all other meanings not stated are excluded. Colautti v. Franklin, 439 U.S. 379, 392 n. 10, 99 S.Ct. 675, 684, n. 10, 58 L.Ed.2d 596 (1979). Third, clear evidence of legislative intent prevails over other principles of statutory construction. National R.R. Passenger Corp. v. National Ass'n of R.R. Passengers, 414 U.S. 453, 458, 94 S.Ct. 690, 693, 38 L.Ed.2d 646 (1974). Fourth, absent a very clear legislative intent, the plain meaning will prevail. Aaron v. SEC, 446 U.S. 680, 697, 100 S.Ct. 1945, 1956, 64 L.Ed.2d 611 (1980). Last, Congress is presumed to be aware of an administrative or judicial interpretation of a statute and to adopt that interpretation when it re-enacts a statute without change. Lorillard v. Pons, 434 U.S. 575, 580, 98 S.Ct. 866, 870, 55 L.Ed.2d 40 (1978); National Lead Co. v. United States, 252 U.S. 140, 146-47, 40 S.Ct. 237, 239, 64 L.Ed. 496 (1920); Farrell Lines, Inc. v. United States, 499 F.2d 587, 605, 204 Ct.Cl. 482 (1974); cf. Pierce v. Underwood, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 2541, 101 L.Ed.2d 490 (1988). 16 Not all of these rules of statutory construction are helpful in construing section 1500. Under the rule expressed in Greyhoundwe must first look to the language of the statute. To reiterate, in its present form this statute states: 17 The United States Claims Court shall not have jurisdiction of any claim for or in respect to which the plaintiff or his assignee has pending in any other court any suit or process against the United States or any person who, at the time when the cause of action alleged in such suit or process arose, was, in respect thereto, acting or professing to act, directly or indirectly under the authority of the United States. 18 The rules expressed in Colautti and Aaron teach us what to look for in considering the language. First, we look for any express definitions within the statute. There are none. Second, we consider whether the language has a plain meaning. We are seeking to construe the phrase any claim for or in respect to. The key word requiring interpretation is claim. However, the word claim has no one meaning in the law. See Black's Law Dictionary 313 (4th ed. rev. 1968); 7 Words & Phrases 445 (1952) (defining claim). Section 1500 states [t]he United States Claims Court shall not have jurisdiction of any claim ... which the plaintiff ... has pending ... against the United States or any person who, ... when the cause of action ... arose.... Thus, claim and cause of action are used interchangeably. However there is also no one meaning in the law for cause of action. See Black's Law Dictionary 279 (4th ed. rev. 1968); 6 Words & Phrases 581 (1966) (defining cause of action). 19 Lacking a plain meaning or an express definition we must look for a clear legislative intent as required by National Railroad. Evidence of legislative intent as to the precise meaning of claim is scarce. What is now 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1500 was originally adopted as follows: 20 Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That no person shall file or prosecute any claim or suit in the [C]ourt of [C]laims, or an appeal therefrom, for or in respect to which he or any assignee of his shall have commenced and has pending any suit or process in any other court against any officer or person who, at the time of the cause of action alleged in such suit or process arose, was in respect thereto acting or professing to act, mediately or immediately, under the authority of the United States, unless such suit or process, if now pending in such other court, shall be withdrawn or dismissed within thirty days after the passage of this act. 21 Act of June 25, 1868, 15 Stat. 77. Senator Edmunds, the author of the bill, explained the section as follows: 22 The object of this amendment is to put to their election that large class of persons having cotton claims particularly, who have sued the Secretary of the Treasury and the other agents of the Government in more than a hundred suits that are now pending, scattered over the country here and there, and who are here at the same time endeavoring to prosecute their claims, and have filed them in the Court of Claims, so that after they put the Government to the expense of beating them once in a court of law they can turn around and try the whole question in the Court of Claims. The object is to put that class of persons to their election either to leave the Court of Claims or to leave the other courts. I am sure everybody will agree to that. 23 81 Cong.Globe, 40th Cong., 2d Sess. 2769 (1868). 24 Neither the original version of section 1500 nor Senator Edmunds' explanation gives an express definition of claim. The intent can be inferred, however, from the subject matter jurisdictions of the Court of Claims and the district courts in 1868 when the original version of section 1500 was enacted. In 1868 the Court of Claims had exclusive jurisdiction over claims against the United States. Act of Mar. 3, 1863, ch. 92, 12 Stat. 765; see infra note 8. Its jurisdiction was limited to claims upon an Act of Congress, upon regulations made pursuant thereto, or upon a contract with the United States, express or implied. Id. The district courts still had jurisdiction over common law claims against officers of the United States. As stated by Senator Edmunds the purpose of the section was to put to their election ... persons having cotton claims ... who have sued the ... agents of the Government in more than a hundred suits ... scattered over the country ... and at the same time endeavoring to prosecute their claims ... in the Court of Claims.... 81 Cong.Globe, 40th Cong., 2d Sess. 2769 (emphasis added). Thus, Senator Edmunds, the author of the bill, inferentially defined claims to include both the actions pending in district courts and the actions filed in the Court of Claims. Due to the then existing subject matter jurisdiction, a plaintiff could not have brought his cotton claims in both courts on the same legal theory. He would have brought his action in the Court of Claims against the United States under an Act of Congress, the Captured and Abandoned Property Act of 1863, 5 and he would have brought his action in a district court against the Secretary of the Treasury or other agent of the United States under a tort theory, e.g., conversion 6 or tortious interference of a contract if the government had taken the property while in the possession of a lessee. Thus, by virtue of Senator Edmunds' explanation of the section to the Senate and the then-existing subject matter jurisdiction of the Court of Claims versus the district courts, the term claims could not have referred to legal theories. 7 25 The remaining legislative history is devoid of any evidence indicating the legislature's intended purpose of section 1500. In 1874 section 8 of the Act of June 25, 1868, was incorporated in the Revised Statutes of 1874, section 1067. Congress made changes in phraseology but Congressman Butler stated: 26 We have not attempted to change the law, in a single word or letter, so as to make a different reading or different sense. All that has been done is to strike out the obsolete parts and to condense and consolidate and bring together statutes in pari materia; so that you have here, except insofar as it is human to err, the laws of the United States under which we now live. 27 Remarks of Representative Butler, 2 Cong.Rec., 43d Cong., 1st Sess. 129 (1873). The version in the Revised Statutes was then adopted without change as section 154 of the Judicial Code of 1911. Act of Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, Sec. 154, 36 Stat. 1138. In 1948 the language was changed to include pending suits against the United States as well as suits pending against agents of the United States. Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 942. Lastly, in 1982 the section was amended to continue coverage in the newly formed Claims Court. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1500 (1982). 28 In summary, as indicated by the author of the original version of section 1500, the intent of Congress was not to define claims to mean legal theories. Such a definition would have rendered the section ineffective since the cotton claims towards which the section was originally aimed could not have been brought on the same theory in 1868 in both the Court of Claims and the district courts. 8 Nothing in the legislative history of the revisions of the original version is to the contrary. Under the rule of statutory construction stated in Lorillard and other cases cited above, and since all changes after the original version were intended as but changes in phraseology, we must presume Congress was aware of and adopted the judicial interpretations of section 1500 and its predecessors.
29 The purpose of section 1500 is to prohibit the filing and prosecution of the same claims against the United States in two courts at the same time. Wessel, Duval & Co. v. United States, 124 F.Supp. 636, 637-38, 129 Ct.Cl. 464 (1954); Frantz Equip. Co. v. United States, 98 F.Supp. 579, 580, 120 Ct.Cl. 312 (1951). The Court of Claims repeatedly applied section 1500 consistently with this purpose. This court is bound by the decisions of the Court of Claims. South Corp. v. United States, 690 F.2d 1368, 1369, 1 Fed.Cir. (T) 1, 1, 215 USPQ 657, 657 (Fed.Cir.1982). The decision in British American Tobacco Co. v. United States, 89 Ct.Cl. 438 (1939), cert. denied, 310 U.S. 627, 60 S.Ct. 974, 84 L.Ed. 1398 (1940), best states the Court of Claims interpretation of the term claim in section 1500. In that case plaintiff sought to recover damages or compensation for gold bullion surrendered to the Federal Reserve Bank pursuant to Executive orders and regulations. The plaintiff had filed both in the district court on a conversion theory and in the Court of Claims on a theory of taking property without just compensation. The Court of Claims dismissed the suit under section 154 of the Judicial Code [now 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1500] and reasoned: 30 The only distinction between the two suits instituted in the District Court and in this court is that the action in the District Court was made to sound in tort and the action in this court was alleged on contract. The facts existing and operating in both cases are the same. A recital of the operative facts relied upon by a claimant does not state two separate and distinct causes of action merely because such facts may set up a liability both in tort and contract.... We think it is clear that the word claim, as used in section 154 [now 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1500], supra, has no reference to the legal theory upon which a claimant seeks to enforce his demand.... The legislative history of section 154 of the Judicial code ... supports these conclusions. 89 Ct.Cl. at 440. 31 The Court of Claims again considered the interpretation of the term claim in section 1500 in Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp. v. United States, 152 F.Supp. 236, 138 Ct.Cl. 648 (1957). There the plaintiff brought two actions for recovery of income and excess profits taxes. The first action was brought in the Southern District of California and the second in the Court of Claims. The district court action claimed a refund was due for the years 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1946. The Court of Claims action claimed a refund for years 1940 and 1941. Los Angeles held section 1500 barred its jurisdiction of the action on the ground that the same claim was pending in the district court. Id. at 237-38. The court reasoned it was not relevant that the district court action was brought under the theory of overpayment of taxes and the Court of Claims action was brought under a theory of account stated. The court stated, [t]he claim involved is for the refund of taxes and that claim is before both courts. The theory advanced to sustain the claim is quite another matter and not determinative of the jurisdiction of this court. Id. at 238 (emphasis in original). 32 Both the decision in British American and the decision in Los Angeles are explicit in their interpretation of the term claim in section 1500. Both reject the argument that claim is based on legal theories. Both hold claim to be defined by the facts. British American specifically applied this interpretation to a case involving tort and contract theories, the same theories raised in the instant appeal. A contrary interpretation would defeat the intent of Congress and would allow a plaintiff to bring duplicative actions on the same operative facts. The possibility of inconsistent judicial resolution of similar legal issues would then exist and the dual proceedings could result in unfair burden to the defendant, and unnecessary crowding of this court's docket and general administrative chaos. City of Santa Clara v. United States, 215 Ct.Cl. 890, 893 (1977). 9 Accordingly, we construe the term claim in 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1500 to be defined by the operative facts alleged, not the legal theories raised. 33 Given this construction of section 1500 we must apply it in the instant appeal. That is, do the same operative facts exist in the Robinson case or the Eastern District of Virginia third-party complaints and the Claims Court case Nos. 465-83C, 688-83C, and 1-84C? Both the complaint in the Robinson case and the complaint in Claims Court No. 465-83C allege the following: (1) the specifications of the United States required asbestos in the insulation products; (2) Johns-Manville was compelled to perform the supply contracts with the United States; (3) the United States controlled the shipyard working conditions; (4) the United States restricted access to the shipyards; (5) the United States implicitly agreed not to hold Johns-Manville liable for damages where the products were made according to the specifications; (6) the United States had a duty to enforce standards for limiting exposure to asbestos; (7) the United States had a duty to disclose its knowledge of the shipyard working conditions; (8) the United States knew of the dangers of asbestos exposure; (9) the United States failed to disclose information regarding shipyard working conditions; and (10) Johns-Manville is not liable for acts or omissions of the United States. Additionally, all the complaints, i.e., the Robinson case, the third-party complaints, and all the Claims Court cases seek recovery for costs and expenses incurred and other damages connected to suits brought by shipyard workers against Johns-Manville, alleging injury from exposure to asbestos. 34 The operative facts which support the several legal theories raised are therefore the same. The fact that Robinson was exposed to asbestos after 1963 rather than in WWII does not negate this. The motion of the United States to dismiss and the Claims Court's order of April 6, 1987, granting that motion, were with regard to Claims Court case Nos. 465-83C, covering exposures during WWII; 688-83C, covering post-1963 exposures; and 1-84C, covering exposures during a mixture of the two time periods. Thus, Nos. 688-83C and 1-84C both cover exposures in the time period of the Robinson case. No. 465-83C also presents the same claim as the Robinson case due to the overlap of operative facts. In both cases the asbestos causing the injuries was sold to the United States under WWII supply contracts. It matters not that in No. 465-83C the exposure resulted from installing the asbestos and in the Robinson case the exposure resulted from removing the asbestos. In both cases Johns-Manville bases legal theories of recovery on the allegations that (1) the United States set a safety standard of limits to asbestos exposure at five million particles per cubic foot, (2) the United States had a duty to enforce this standard, (3) the United States did not enforce this standard, and (4) this breach to enforce the exposure standards was a cause of injuries to shipyard workers. Lastly, Johns-Manville agreed to try case No. 465-83C as a test case and therefore to be bound in certain other cases by the decision in 465-83C. Johns-Manville v. United States, 13 Cl.Ct. 72, 76-77 (1987). 10 Thus, the specific facts alleged by claimants in No. 465-83C were not so significantly different as to warrant separate trials for each indemnification action in the Claims Court. Certain other asbestos manufacturers have likewise agreed to be bound by the decision in No. 465-83C. See Johns-Manville, 13 Cl.Ct. at 76-77; Keene Corp., 12 Cl.Ct. at 211. 35 Johns-Manville argues the claims are not the same since a tort theory will require different elements of proof than a contract theory. There are at least two answers to this. First, elements of proof are only relevant once a legal theory has been chosen. As previously discussed, the term claim in section 1500 has no reference to the legal theory upon which a claimant seeks to enforce his demand.... British American Tobacco Co., 89 Ct.Cl. at 440. Since the legal theory is not relevant, neither are the elements of proof necessary to present a prima facie case under that theory. Second, the Court of Claims in Los Angeles expressly rejected this argument of appellant. See Los Angeles, 152 F.Supp. at 237-38. 36 In the latter case, the plaintiff argued section 1500 was not applicable since the proof required in each court would be different. In the district court, under the theory of overpayment of taxes, the proof would relate to the correctness of the characterization of many items as being or not being income or expenses. In contrast, the proof in the Court of Claims, under the theory of an account stated, would relate to the existence of an agreement resolving conflicts between the plaintiff and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The court rejected plaintiff's argument on the ground the claims were both the same, the refund of taxes, regardless of the different theories or different elements of proof. Accordingly, we also reject this argument.