Court Opinion

ID: 9478970
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:05:04.968497+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:45.244690
License: Public Domain

BALDWIN, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring in the result.
I concur in the result reached in appeals 27860 and 28031. Although I agree that appeal 20409 must be dismissed, I disagree that the government’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction need not be reached. Ante at 1. I therefore write separately.
The government has moved this court to dismiss appeal 20409 for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. On June 3, 1988, the court denied, without prejudice, the government’s initial motion. That motion was renewed in the briefs and at oral argument. The majority seeks to ignore this motion by refusing to “reach” the question. Appeal 20409 is then dismissed without explanation or reason. As Justice Rehnquist (joined by Chief Justice Burger and Justice Powell) remarked when dissenting from the Court’s summary affirmance in Buchanan v. Evans, 423 U.S. 963, 96 S.Ct. 381, 46 L.Ed.2d 293 (1975), “[m]y dissent from that sort of [action] is based on my conviction that it is extraordinarily slipshod judicial procedure as well as my conviction that it is incorrect.” Id. at 975, 96 S.Ct. at 387.
I fail to understand how the court cannot reach the question of subject matter jurisdiction, as it is the first consideration in all cases. See, e.g., Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan Ry Co. v. Swan, 111 U.S. 379, 4 S.Ct. 510, 28 L.Ed. 462 (1884). Unlike the majority, I would grant the government’s motion, and dismiss appeal 20409 for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Section 16 of the CDA permits a contractor to proceed under the Act “with respect to any claim pending ... before the contracting officer or initiated” after the effective date of the statute. 41 U.S.C. § 601, Historical and Statutory Notes. The contracting officer issued a final decision terminating the contract for default on May 16, 1975. Appeal No. 20409 was filed on May 22, 1975. Murdock had no claim pending before the contracting officer on the effective date of the CDA, therefore the CDA does not apply to that decision.
In Monroe M. Tapper & Associates v. United States, 611 F.2d 354, 222 Ct.Cl. 34 *1414(1979), a similar situation was considered by the Court of Claims, which determined that CDA jurisdiction over appeals from contract boards exists only where appellant’s claim was pending before the contracting officer on the effective date of the Act, March 1, 1979. 611 F.2d at 359. That principle was later confirmed by this court in North American Corp. v. United States, 706 F.2d 1212 (Fed.Cir.1983). Therefore, appeal 20409 should be dismissed as outside this court’s subject matter jurisdiction.
Murdock argues that we should exercise jurisdiction over Appeal No. 20409 under a theory of pendent jurisdiction similar to that expressed in Panduit Corp. v. All States Plastic Mfg. Co., 744 F.2d 1564, 223 USPQ 465 (Fed.Cir.1984) because this court may wish to address the ASBCA’s actions in appeal 20409. See also United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966). In the alternative, Murdock requests that we transfer appeal 20409 to the Claims Court, where, under the Wunderlich Act, 41 U.S.C. §§ 321-322, and the Federal Courts Improvement Act, Pub.L. No. 97-164, § 127, 96 Stat. 25, 38 (1982), suit should have been brought pursuant to that court’s Tucker Act jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1491 et seq. At the same time, however, Murdock admits that “the issues [it] will address as the basis for its Appeal to this Court will likely relate only to the Board’s decision in Nos. 27860 and 28031.” Opposition to Motion to Dismiss at 1.
There is no need for this court to address this novel proposition where, as here, Mur-dock has not shown that it will be prejudiced as a result of the dismissal of appeal 20409. Indeed, Murdock could not show any prejudice because it has obtained complete relief as a result of the reversal of the other appeals. For the same reasons, transfer of appeal 20409 to the Claims Court is not in the interest of justice. 28 U.S.C. § 1404.