Court Opinion

ID: 9489725
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:22:31.452368+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:40.637710
License: Public Domain

PAULINE NEWMAN, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part, dissenting in part.
Although I agree with the court’s reasoning in Part II, I respectfully dissent from the decision to remand as set forth in Part III.
The district court incorrectly held Conoco liable for the working interest overcharges by Getty.Oil and Phillips Petroleum. The court viewed the settlement contracts between the Department of Energy and each of Getty Oil and Phillips Petroleum as leaving open the question of whether there remained “working interests for which restitution has not yet been made,” and then interpreted the agreements so as to impose liability on Cono-co for the Getty and Phillips working interest overcharges in the fields operated by Conoco. This issue is ripe for appellate review, for the double recovery issue, that the majority remands for decision by the district court, was decided by the district court.
Conoco argues that the district court incorrectly interpreted the settlement agreements. I agree, for Getty and Phillips each resolved with the government, by settlement, all issues of liability under the petroleum price control regulations. They settled and ended all of the claims against them, whether the claims derived from activities as operator or as working interest owner. Thus no recovery of Getty and Phillips overcharges can now be obtained from Conoco.
The Phillips consent order states explicitly that it covers Phillips’ activities as working interest owner:
References in this Consent Order to Phillips include, (without limitation) its officers, directors, employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, and successors in interest, and its petroleum-related activities as refiner, producer, operator, working or royalty interest owner, reseller, natural gas processor, or otherwise.
The Phillips consent order also states that “all pending and potential claims” by DOE regarding its compliance are “resolved and extinguished”:
All pending and potential claims, demands, liabilities, causes of action or other proceedings by DOE regarding Phillips’ compliance with federal petroleum price and allocation requirements during the period covered by this Consent Order, whether or not heretofore raised ... are resolved and extinguished by this Consent Order.
The Getty consent order is similarly broad. With the exception of certain itemized issues not here relevant, the Getty settlement provides that:
All claims and demands of every kind, nature and description pertaining to Getty’s compliance with all aspects of the petroleum price regulations and mandatory petroleum allocation regulations during the period covered by this Consent Order, whether or not raised by [DOE] are resolved by this Consent Order.
These agreements do not draw a line that could reasonably exclude settlement of Getty and Phillips’ overcharges for working interest oil. To the contrary, the agreements make explicit that their purpose is to resolve all obligations of Getty and Phillips for petroleum price overcharges. The government could not now, on remand, unilaterally establish that these agreements mean something other than what is clearly stated in then-plain texts. See Beta Systems, Inc. v. United States, 838 F.2d 1179, 1183 (Fed.Cir.1988) (“The general rule is that extrinsic evidence will not be received to change the terms of a contract that is clear on its face.”)
The panel majority appears to believe that the recovery by DOE in its settlements with Getty and Phillips does not mean that restitution was made. However, the action brought by DOE under § 209 of the Economic Stabilization Act was an action in resti*399tution. The large sums that Getty and Phillips paid is not a settlement distinct from restitution; it is restitution. The statute is explicit:
§ 209. Whenever it appears to any person authorized by the President to exercise authority under this title [that this title has been violated] upon a proper showing a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent injunction shall be granted without bond.... In addition to such injunctive relief, the court may also,, order restitution of moneys received in violation of any such order or regulation.
Congress stressed, in enacting the Economic Stabilization Act (“ESA”), that the explicit reference to restitution in § 209 was to remove any doubt that “there was an inherent equitable power in the court to set things right and order restitution.” S.Rep. No. 507, 92nd Cong., 1st Sess. 9, reprinted in, 1971 U.S.C.C.AN. 2283, 2291. Although other provisions of the ESA permit recovery of fines, private actions, or multiplication of damages, see Van Vranken v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 38 F.3d 1200, 1204-04 (Fed.Cir.1994) (discussing differences between actions brought under § 209 and § 210 of the ESA), the actions that were settled against Getty and Phillips included all pending and potential claims under § 209, which relates to injunction and restitution.
Getty and Phillips settled their total liability under § 209 of the ESA for overcharges of working interest oil. This necessarily included oil for which Conoco was the operator. Getty and Phillips resolved all claims, “pending and potential,” and paid DOE the sums agreed upon in restitution. Conoco can not now be charged with restoring, through DOE, that which Getty and Phillips have already restored through DOE. Thus I do hot join my colleagues’ decision to remand for determination of whether the Getty and Phillips settlements included their working interests or only their operating interests. DOE can not contradict ex parte the plain language of the settlements. Thus I would exercise review, and resolve the issue on appeal.