Opinion ID: 620948
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Renda's Set-Off Claim

Text: Renda argues that even if Count I is not barred by the statute of limitations, the Government's recovery should be reduced by $259,840.85, an amount Renda claims the Corps withheld as a set-off from amounts earned by and owed to Renda. The district court rightly noted that offset is an affirmative defense, Giles v. Gen. Elec. Co., 245 F.3d 474, 494 n. 36 (5th Cir.2001), such that it is Renda's burden to establish beyond peradventure all of the essential elements of the defense, Addicks Serv., Inc. v. GGP-Bridgeland, LP, 596 F.3d 286, 293 (5th Cir.2010) (emphasis original) (quotation marks and citations omitted). According to the district court, the CO's decision letter stated that the $259,840.85 was an amount remaining in retainage, and [n]othing in the contracting officer's decision letter indicates that this amount is intended to offset the amounts claimed in the Corps' $11,860,016.00 counterclaim. Therefore, in order to consider Renda's claim, the district court would have had to revisit the merits of the CO's decision, which it did not have jurisdiction to do. See Kasler, 123 F.3d at 344 (stating that appeal to an agency board or the CFC are the only options for challenging a CO's decision, and the merits of the contracting officer's decision itself were not within the jurisdiction of the district court). We agree with the district court that the CO's decision letter does not expressly state that the $259,840.85 the Government kept in retainage was intended to offset the $11,860,016 that Renda owed the Government. The letter mentions the retainage in the section on liquidated damages. It states that the Government is withholding approximately $259,840.85 in retainage, and in the following sentence says that it is also withholding $236,016.00 in liquidated damages. Those liquidated damages are then calculated into the $11,860,016 total that Renda owes. While the retainage and damages related to the claim are discussed together, the CO never clarifies whether the retainage should be applied to the total owed by Renda. Thus, as the district court held, it is not obvious from the letter whether the retainage was an offset, and any effort to make that determination would require a revisitation of the merits of the CO's decision. Renda did not appeal that decision, and cannot now collaterally attack it through this federal suit. Therefore, because Renda has failed to prove its set-off claim beyond peradventure, we affirm the district court's denial of its motion for partial summary judgment on this claim.