Court Opinion

ID: 9481779
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:31:36.586219+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:34.405647
License: Public Domain

ENGEL, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the majority’s conclusion that the 1986 amendments to the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-3733, should not have been applied retroactively in this case. I also agree with the majority’s judgment that genuine issues of material fact existed which precluded summary judgment in favor of the government on Count I of the complaint. When we apply the “actual knowledge” standard of United States v. Ekelman & Assoc., 532 F.2d 545, 548 (6th Cir.1976), we cannot say as a matter of law that defendant Murphy knew the details of the bid-rigging scheme which his subordinate Trepte arranged.
However, I believe on the second count of the government’s claim against defendant Murphy — the conspiracy count — the government was entitled to summary judgment, and I dissent from the majority’s conclusion that genuine factual issues remain concerning this question. I believe the district court properly concluded that Murphy did participate in a conspiracy to rig the bids on the Moccasin Bend project. Murphy’s attempts to bury his head in the sand during the bid-rigging process, and his presentation of self-serving affidavits which conflict with the testimony of other participants in the conspiracy, are insufficient in my mind to create genuine issues of material fact on Count II of the government’s claim against him, and I would affirm the granting of summary judgment on the conspiracy count.
Though all inferences must be drawn in favor of the nonmoving party when a court considers a motion for summary judgment, Kochins v. Linden-Alimak, Inc., 799 F.2d 1128, 1133 (6th Cir.1986), “[t]he nonmoving party is not entitled to a trial merely on the basis of allegations; significant probative evidence must be presented to support the [nonmovant’s position].” Gregg v. Allen-Bradley Co., 801 F.2d 859, 861 (6th Cir.1986). Mere “metaphysical doubt as to the material facts” is insufficient to create a genuine issue of fact. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).
While I agree with the majority that we must be hesitant to grant summary judgment against a party when his state of mind or intent is at issue, discredited or incredible testimony is insufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding intent or state of mind. Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union, 466 U.S. 485, 512, 104 S.Ct. 1949, 1966, 80 L.Ed.2d 502 (1984). The district court below found that Murphy’s statements were inconsistent, implausible and sometimes perjurious. A reasonable jury could only conclude that he was a participant in a conspiracy to rig the bids on the Moccasin Bend project.
Fischbach & Moore, Inc., Murphy’s employer, has already been convicted in federal court of entering into a conspiracy to rig bids with its competitor on the Moccasin Bend project. According to Bernard Trepte, a Fischbach district manager and subordinate of Murphy, Murphy authorized the bid rigging which admittedly took place. Though Murphy sent Trepte to handle the details, Murphy was clearly aware of the plan to artificially inflate the cost of the project at the bidding stage. He first testified that he had “vague recollections that Trepte told [him] at the [National Electrical Contractors’ Association] convention in Honolulu, Hawaii in June 1980 that he [Trepte] had reached ‘an accommodation’ ” with the competing electrical contractor on the Moccasin Bend project. Before the meeting at which the bids were inflated, Murphy called Phillip Mahoney, his counterpart at the competing company. Murphy testified that Mahoney suggested the supervisors “stay out of it”, and that their respective subordinates, Trepte and William Kale, “handle any arrangement” on the bids. When asked to explain what kind of “arrangement” he understood that to mean, Murphy explained that since there were only two or three competitors for the job, Trepte had a good chance to rig the bid. Murphy admits that he told Trepte, “whatever you are going to do up there [in Chattanooga], you are doing it on your own, I’m not involved in it.”
*1041Murphy’s defense is that he had no knowledge prior to the submission of the bids that an illegal arrangement had been reached. Yet Count II is a conspiracy count, and as long as Murphy agreed with Trepte’s plan to rig the bid at his meeting with Kale, Murphy is liable even under the pre-1986 version of the False Claims Act applicable to this ease. He need not have known every detail of the arrangement, nor participated in the actual meeting to be liable as a conspirator.
Although the essence of conspiracy is agreement, an express agreement is not necessary to prove a civil conspiracy. Hobson v. Wilson, 787 F.2d 1, 51 (D.C.Cir.1984); Lenard v. Argento, 699 F.2d 874, 882 (7th Cir.1983). Tacit understanding, created and executed over time, is enough to constitute an agreement even absent personal communication. Direct Sales Co. v. United States, 319 U.S. 703, 714, 63 S.Ct. 1265, 1271, 87 L.Ed. 1674 (1943). Once the existence of a conspiracy has been established, slight evidence is needed to connect a particular participant to the conspiracy. United States v. Braasch, 505 F.2d 139, 148 (7th Cir.1974). Each conspirator is liable for the overt acts committed by any member of the conspiracy, even if the defendant did not personally commit the acts. Poliafico v. United States, 237 F.2d 97, 104 (6th Cir.1956). As the majority’s opinion indicates, “[e]ach conspirator need not have known all of the details of the illegal plan or all of the participants involved”. Hooks v. Hooks, 771 F.2d 935, 944 (6th Cir.1985).
I find no genuine issues of material fact remaining on the question of the conspiracy’s existence or Murphy’s actual knowledge of its existence and agreement with its participants. That he tried to insulate himself from liability by delegating responsibility to his subordinate does not make him any less culpable. He told Trepte that he (Murphy) would “help with Commonwealth” (the competitor) if Trepte had any problems with the bid. After this conversation, Trepte went to Chattanooga and rigged the bids on the project, later informing Murphy that “an accommodation” had been reached on the bid. Certainly there was an agreement to commit an unlawful act, Murphy shared in that conspiratorial objective, and other members of the conspiracy committed overt acts in furtherance of the agreement. See Hooks, 771 F.2d at 944. These facts are sufficient to find Murphy liable on the conspiracy count as a matter of law.
“One of the principal purposes of the summary judgment rule is to isolate and dispose of factually unsupported claims or defenses, and we think it should be interpreted in a way that allows it to accomplish this purpose.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323-24, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (footnote omitted). Murphy’s current inability to recall the substance of conversations with Trepte and Mahoney fails to convince me that he was not part of the conspiracy which Trepte and Kale described in earlier legal proceedings. I join in Parts I and II-A and B of the majority’s opinion, but dissent from Part II — C. Murphy clearly conspired to rig the bids on the Moccasin Bend project, and I would affirm the district court’s granting of summary judgment against him on the conspiracy count.