Opinion ID: 406395
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: sufficiency of appellant's waiver

Text: 10 We conclude that the District Court erred in holding that appellant's waiver was inadequate. In the context of a back pay claim, in which civilian earnings and readjustment pay must be deducted from gross back pay to determine the amount to which a plaintiff is entitled, it is sufficient to waive any net recovery in excess of $10,000. Stone's waiver reduced his claim to a claim against the United States, not exceeding $10,000 in amount, within the meaning of the Tucker Act. 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2) (1976). 11 Our determination is based on the nature of a back pay claim brought by a former government employee alleging wrongful discharge. By analogy to the law of contract, he may recover only the amount of his actual monetary loss. Compensation is designed to put him in as good a monetary position as he would have enjoyed if he had not been illegally dismissed from government service. See C. McCormick, Handbook of the Law of Damages § 40 (1935) (remedies for breach of contract); Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 347, comment a (1981). If he had continued in his government job, he would not have been able to earn a salary in another position, because government employees are required to devote their complete services and undivided attention to government service during working hours. Craft v. United States, 589 F.2d 1057, 1068 (Ct.Cl.1978). Therefore, any amounts earned in civilian employment during the period of his illegal separation from government service must be deducted from gross back pay. See 5 A. Corbin, Contracts § 1041 (1964) (gains made possible by defendant's breach); C. McCormick, supra, § 40; Restatement (Second) of Contracts, supra, § 347, comment e, illustration 13. 6 12 Deduction of civilian earnings from gross back pay is not a set-off or counterclaim in the traditional sense. 7 As the Court of Claims explained in a wrongful discharge case brought by a former military officer, Although parties, and occasionally courts, sometimes refer to the deduction of civilian earnings in wrongful discharge pay cases as a setoff, traditionally this kind of deduction has been characterized as more analogous to mitigation of damages used as an offset against contracted-for salary. Motto v. United States, 360 F.2d 643, 645 (Ct.Cl.1966); see Craft v. United States, supra, 589 F.2d at 1068; 1 T. Sedgwick, A Treatise on the Measure of Damages § 63 (9th ed. 1920) (allowance for benefits resulting from defendant's wrongful act is not a recoupment or set-off). Unlike a genuine set-off, deduction of civilian earnings does not arise from an independent cause of action that would be maintainable by the government. Even if appellant's civilian earnings exceeded gross back pay in amount, the government is not entitled to an affirmative recovery. Dilley v. Alexander, 627 F.2d 407, 415 (D.C.Cir.1980); Craft v. United States, supra, 589 F.2d at 1068. 13 The amount of civilian earnings is simply one of the factors that the court must use in calculating appellant's entitlement to monetary compensation. For this reason we hold that, in a back pay case, a plaintiff may remain in District Court under the Tucker Act if he limits his prayer for relief to a net monetary recovery of $10,000 or less after deduction of civilian earnings and other amounts arising directly from the discharge. Consistent with this conclusion, VanderMolen v. Stetson, 571 F.2d 617, 627 (D.C.Cir.1977), a back pay case, applied plaintiff's waiver to the sum remaining after deduction of civilian earnings. Noting that plaintiff had waived all claims in excess of $10,000, id. at 619 n.2, the court instructed the District Court to award plaintiff as damages the back pay to which he is entitled from the date of his separation from the Air Force, less appropriate offsets,    the total not to exceed $9,999.99. Id. at 627. 14 The District Court, reaching the opposite result, relies on Larsen v. Hoffman, 444 F.Supp. 245 (D.D.C.1977). In Larsen plaintiffs contended that they were entitled to remain in District Court even though their gross back pay claims clearly exceeded $10,000, because deduction of civilian earnings and other offsets would reduce their ultimate recovery below $10,000. The District Court specifically noted that plaintiffs had not waived any claims in excess of $10,000. Id. at 253 n.14. The court rejected their position and ordered the case transferred to the Court of Claims, finding that each plaintiff's claim exceeded $10,000. Referring by analogy to the $10,000 jurisdictional minimum in federal question and diversity cases, and examining the language of various provisions of the Tucker Act, the court concluded that the amount of a plaintiff's claim, unaided and undiminished by possible counterclaims, set-offs and other demands of the United States, must be dispositive of the question of jurisdictional amount under the Tucker Act. Id. at 254. This premise may have been correct, but the court erred in characterizing the deduction of civilian earnings and other amounts as a counterclaim or set-off. Rather, these sums are elements entering into the court's calculation of the amount of a plaintiff's claim. 15 Although the Tucker Act authorizes the District Court to award judgment up to $10,000 after deduction of civilian earnings from gross back pay, the plaintiff has the burden of establishing that his case lies within the jurisdiction of the court. A complaint alleging gross back pay claims in excess of $10,000 does not establish an adequate basis for District Court jurisdiction unless the complaint also states the amount of civilian earnings and other deductions and waives any claim to net recovery exceeding $10,000. 8 We find that in the present case the plaintiff's express waiver was sufficient to bring his case within the District Court's jurisdiction.