Court Opinion

ID: 9488098
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:36:26.264147+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:41.709800
License: Public Domain

K.K. HALL, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
As the majority readily acknowledges, ante at 989, an unauthorized act of control over property belonging to another constitutes the tort of conversion. When John Darlington telephoned Alice Martin, the sales contracting officer at DRMO, to tell her that he had discovered the transmissions, Martin told Darlington that J & E should give them back. Within a few days, another DRMO representative called Darlington to repeat Martin’s request. These conversations were followed by a written demand for the transmissions’ return.
If the transmissions belonged to DRMO, then J & E’s failure to return them was a conversion — and thus a tort. Although settling the issue of ownership in this case would necessarily involve examining the contract between J & E and DRMO, such an examination does not transmogrify a tort claim into a contract claim. J & E has now returned the transmissions; the only substantial issues that remain are whether the government owned them, and, if so, the damages to which it is entitled as a result of J & E’s tortious conduct.
The Court of Claims, though proficient in settling contract disputes, is powerless to decide tort cases. See, e.g., Transcountry Packing Co. v. United States, 215 Ct.Cl. 390, 568 F.2d 1333, 1336 (1978) (“This court ... does not have jurisdiction over tort claims.”) (citation omitted). Today, the majority remarkably announces that such cases are likewise outside the reach of the district court. Although Lewis Carroll might have fancied such a result, I do not.
I respectfully dissent.