Court Opinion

ID: 9479669
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:25:04.788526+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:11.603773
License: Public Domain

MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judge
dissenting:
I agree with the majority that the district court had jurisdiction to entertain LTC. Ul-met’s claim. I disagree, however, that con*1032cerns over comity justify the district court’s refusal to exercise that jurisdiction to award interlocutory relief in a case where it is so sorely wanting. Therefore, I must respectfully dissent.
The Federal Circuit succinctly stated the factual background of Ulmet’s original claim:
On June 6, 1958, Oliver Donovan Ul-met joined the United States Army as an enlisted soldier, and in 1966 was appointed a Reserve commissioned officer of the Army. On September 12, 1973, after serving in Vietnam, as part of a reduction in the number of military personnel following the cessation of hostilities in Southeast Asia, he was involuntarily released from active duty. He had attained the rank of Captain, and had accrued 15 years, 3 months, and 7 days of active service. In order to facilitate his transition to civilian life, he received $15,-000 of readjustment pay pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 687 (1970) (repealed 1981).
From 1973 to 1985, Ulmet continued to serve in the Army Reserve, and participated in 15 periods of what was classified by the Army as active duty for training. During these periods, which ranged in duration from 2 days to over 1 year, he became skilled as a Training Requirements Analysis System manager. He attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and amassed over 18 years of active service.
On September 7, 1983, contending that he had completed over 18 years of active service, LTC. Ulmet requested that he be retained on active duty, and allowed to complete 20 years of service necessary for retirement. The Army denied LTC. Ulmet’s request and released him from active duty on September 31, 1983 [sic]. Subsequently, while on another active duty tour in April 1985, LTC. Ulmet requested assignment to various extended tours. These requests were also denied.
In this action in the United States Claims Court, LTC. Ulmet sought back pay, reinstatement to active duty status, and active duty credit for retirement from September 31, 1983 [sic]. Holding that a reservist was not entitled to include periods served on active duty for training for the time required for the sanctuary provision, 10 U.S.C. § 1163(d), the Claims Court granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Ulmet v. United States, 10 Cl.Ct. 522, 525 (1986).
Ulmet v. United States, 822 F.2d 1079, 1081-82 (Fed.Cir.1987).
A panel of the Federal Circuit reversed the Claims Court, finding the plain language of the statute included within the time requirement any period of active duty for training. Id. at 1087.
Notwithstanding the mandate of the Federal Circuit, litigation has continued in the Claims Court over the nature of the relief to be accorded Ulmet. Furthermore, the Army has mounted another challenge to Ulmet’s entitlement to any relief, claiming that a subsequently enacted change to the governing statute, exempting periods of active duty for training from the time requirement for the sanctuary provision of 10 U.S.C. § 1163(d), “clarifies” the statute and dictates an opposite result to that reached by the Federal Circuit.
Meanwhile, Ulmet has been left adrift. Pending a final resolution of his claim, he continues to suffer economic hardship, denied the pay or benefits that would accrue in either active duty or retirement status. The one concession granted Ulmet by the Army is a letter entitling him to some medical benefits.
Ulmet, alleging the absence of equity powers on the part of the Claims Court, see Claims Court Rule 65; Bowen v. Massachusetts, — U.S. -, 108 S.Ct. 2722, 2737, 101 L.Ed.2d 749 (1988), brought this action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Bryan, J.), seeking interim equitable relief pending a final disposition of his case. The district court, though acknowledging it had jurisdiction to consider Ulmet’s complaint, declined to do so, observing that taking that sort of action could result in a deluge of Claims Court litigants seeking equitable relief. The Court dismissed the action and Ulmet appealed.
*1033Considering the normal criteria of competing equities and legal merits, Ulmet is clearly qualified for interlocutory relief. He is suffering irreparable harm. Quite apart from the deprivation of pay (representing not only a lump financial amount, which, of course, could be reimbursed at a later date,1 but also the financial security of regular payments which can be critical to an older and less employable member of the workforce, and to which one who has spent the majority of his adult life in the service of his country should be entitled), there are the tangible and intangible benefits of military retirement. Despite the Army’s attempt to denigrate those benefits,2 they are valuable and, indeed, accepted “rights” of the military retiree which may have importance beyond the undisputed financial benefit.
Perhaps the most important benefit, medical and dental treatment, has been compensated to some extent on an interim basis by the Army. But Ulmet correctly observes that this does not equal the quality or quantity of care available to a regular retiree. Indeed, if nothing else, seeking treatment under the arrangements provided by the Army is undoubtedly a bureaucratic nightmare.
Other benefits include free air travel, PX and commissary privileges, access to base facilities, etc. The financial advantage alone is considerable, perhaps in retrospect incalculable, and thus the damage is irreparable.3
More could be said on the subject. Equity clearly demands interim relief. The question is whether such relief is legally available from the district court.4
As the majority correctly determines, the district court has jurisdiction over Ulmet’s claims under the rationale of Bowen v. Massachusetts, — U.S. -, 108 S.Ct. 2722, 101 L.Ed.2d 749 (1988). The majority’s perceived bar to the exercise of that jurisdiction, however, is illusory.
Much depends on a proper characterization of Ulmet’s claim. Ulmet charges the Army, through its extended proceedings in the Claims Court, has failed to comply with the mandate of the Federal Circuit. That is not the case. The Federal Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment by the Claims Court. Further litigation, e.g., considering the nature and amount of appropriate relief, is not precluded.
While the letter of the Federal Circuit mandate may not be violated, the spirit is certainly contravened. The Federal Circuit has adjudicated, for all practical purposes, Ulmet’s right to take advantage of the reserve officer sanctuary provisions. The facts underlying the basic entitlement are not in dispute.5 Ulmet now seeks to retire at the date least advantageous to him financially under an application of the Ulmet *1034decision, a course for which the financial consequences have already been calculated by the Army. Consequently, given the possibility of irreparable harm, equity appears to demand Ulmet be accorded some interim relief pending final resolution of his claims.
The nature of that relief is the key to the district court’s jurisdiction. Certainly an award of back pay and retroactive compensation for benefits properly falls within the category of money awards, clearly within the Claims Court’s jurisdiction, however imperfect. An order to the Army granting Ulmet intervening retirement status, however, while necessarily implicating the monthly pay entitlement due a retiree, more neatly fits within the equitable powers of the court, particularly if predicated on the traditional basis of an extraordinary writ. Despite the Army’s protestations, such relief would not involve extensive calculation, debate or deliberation.
Implementing such relief is also not barred by any concern of justiciability. Admittedly, “traditional judicial trepidation over interfering with the military establishment has been strongly manifested in an unwillingness to second-guess judgments requiring military expertise and in a reluctance to substitute court orders for discretionary military decisions.” Williams v. Wilson, 762 F.2d 357, 359 (4th Cir.1985) (quoting Mindes v. Seaman, 453 F.2d 197, 199 (5th Cir.1971)). Here, however, there is no peculiar expertise to second-guess nor any interference with military discretion. The Army is compelled to follow the statutory provisions of § 1163, whose meaning has been adjudicated by the Federal Circuit.6 See Wilson, at 359 (citing Mindes at 201) (court may review internal military affairs where military has violated applicable statutes). The fact that initiation of many justified claims may be encouraged is hardly a grounds for declining to exercise jurisdiction.
The difficulties posed by the Army — the series of preliminary “decisions” that such relief would require, the interference with the discretionary actions of the Secretary of the Army,7 etc., are in actuality immaterial.8 The exercise of no specialized expertise — either military or Claims Court — is required. The computation of interim benefits, a matter only of arithmetic, in any event has already been accomplished. It requires no massive upheaval of federal bureaucracy for a clerk to issue Ulmet a retired military ID card (entitling him to all benefits) and push the computer button sending Ulmet a certain rate of pay per week. Alternatively, if the Secretary’s discretion is sacrosanct, he has the option of ordering Ulmet to active duty, where similar benefits will accrue, pending the outcome of the suit.9
Such interlocutory ministerial acts, even if implicating specific monies, are, under the Bowen rubric, well within the jurisdiction of the district court. Because of their interlocutory status, they are just as clearly outside the purview of the Claims Court.
The majority ignores the fact that Ul-met’s reason for seeking district court relief is not that the Claims Court is acting with insufficient dispatch — it is that the Claims Court cannot act in an interlocutory fashion at all.
Ulmet does not seek back pay and benefits — he seeks present pay and benefits on an interim basis at the minimum level to *1035which he is entitled under the mandate of the Federal Circuit. The issues being litigated in the Claims Court involve the exact amount of back pay present under various formulae. Ulmet here seeks relief under the least advantageous mode of computation.
If relief cannot be granted it must be on a jurisdictional basis, which the court denied, or by another principle of law. The avowed reason of the court was a concern that a stream of Claims Court litigants would darken the courthouse clamoring for interim relief. Congested dockets may evoke sympathy; they may not excuse a refusal to exercise judicial authority where jurisdiction and venue properly lie. See Thermtron Products, Inc. v. Hermansdorfer, 423 U.S. 336, 344, 96 S.Ct. 584, 589, 46 L.Ed.2d 542 (1976); Microsoftware Computer Systems, Inc. v. Ontel Corp., 686 F.2d 531, 534, 537 (7th Cir.1982).
Construing the district court’s reasoning as a broad concern over comity does not alter the result. Admittedly, principles of judicial comity and efficiency are implicated to a large extent when one court is asked to provide interim relief in an ongoing action in another court, see Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 817, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 1246, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976), particularly where both courts are federal. See id. at 817-18, 96 S.Ct. at 1246-47; Landis v. North American Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254, 57 S.Ct. 163, 165, 81 L.Ed. 153 (1976). But a generalized concern over comity does not waive “the virtually unflagging obligation of the federal courts to exercise the jurisdiction given them.” Colorado River, 424 U.S. at 817, 96 S.Ct. at 1246.
Although no rule delineates the precise criterion to be applied on those rare occasions when concurrent federal proceedings may excuse mandating judicial action, “the general principle is to avoid duplicative litigation.” Id. Ulmet, however, does not seek to retry his case, or to gain identical relief through alternate channels. Ulmet seeks interlocutory equitable relief, available only in the district court, and requiring no duplicative adjudication as to nature or amount. Indeed, “concurrent” jurisdiction may be a misnomer; for the purposes of this action, Ulmet’s sole remedy, and consequently sole jurisdiction, lies in the district court.
As Judge Bryan noted, Ulmet cites no case where a district court awarded equitable relief in a pending Claims Court action.10 But, even before Bowen, courts have recognized that purely equitable district court proceedings may extend into the province of the Claims Court. See, e.g., Minnesota v. Heckler, 718 F.2d 852, 857-60 (8th Cir.1983); Rowe v. United States, 633 F.2d 799, 801-02 (9th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 970, 101 S.Ct. 2047, 68 L.Ed.2d 349 (1981), including tandem equitable and damages proceedings. See, e.g., Giordano v. Roudebush, 617 F.2d 511 (8th Cir.1980) (upholding district court’s exercise of equitable jurisdiction and transfer of monetary claims to the Claims Court); Parkview Corp. v. Dept. of the Army, 490 F.Supp. 1278, 1281-82 (E.D.Wisc.1980); Bruzzone v. Hampton, 433 F.Supp. 92, 95-96 (S.D.N.Y.1977). Indeed, “[sjuch bifurcation is unavoidable when the Claims Court lacks the power to grant the type of declaratory or injunctive relief sought.” State of Minnesota v. Heckler, 718 F.2d at 857. The complicated intertwining of judicial jurisdiction and comity may require a delicate balancing; it does not require an absolute bar.11
The district court performed no balancing here. In any event, the proper result of such a weighing is evident. The equities of the circumstances at bar, certainly rather unique, co-joining a federal *1036appellate mandate and apparent equitable rights with the lack of equivalent Claims Court powers and the lack of any effect on final judgment in the Claims Court, contravene no principle of comity or efficiency.
There is no barrier, jurisdictional or legal, to the exercise of the district court’s powers. Arbitrarily to refuse to do so is an abuse of whatever discretion the judge may possess.
The majority’s perceived threat to further Claims Court proceedings is also illusory. The Army’s arguments as to the effect of the amended statute are highly unpersuasive. Statutes are presumed to be prospective. A legislator’s remarks that a change brings a statute closer in line with original intent does not mandate the original effect of the statute; indeed, it acknowledges the original version’s “effect” may very well have been different than the amended version.12
Even a meritorious argument as to statutory construction is irrelevant. The mandate of the Federal Circuit has issued. Given the factual scenario, Ulmet’s rights to some final relief have in a sense “vested” for purposes of equity, however subject to defeasance. Given the arguably irreparable nature of his injury, the right of Ulmet to interim relief is relatively unaffected by the Army’s newest statutory theory, or quibbling as to the precise monetary award.
If the majority is correct, the absence of such interim relief entails the existence of a wrong without a right, a situation abhorred by the law, and a situation whose remedy is apparent, and well within the power of the district court.

. Of course, interim payments to Ulmet based on his present pay entitlement could also be recouped by the government at a later date, whether from his reserve retirement pay or other, similar sources. In general, the offsetting hardship to the Army from the interim relief sought by Ulmet is minimal.

. Ulmet correctly notes that the military quantifies those benefits in extremely attractive financial terms in an attempt to induce individuals to join or stay in the service.

. The Army maintains that any interim equitable relief is inappropriate because "[s]uch extraordinary remedies are intended to protect a party from imminent irreparable harm by maintaining the status quo until a full hearing can be held on the merits. Rule 65, Fed.R. Civ.P. See Granny Goose, Inc. v. Teamsters, 415 U.S. 423, 432-33 [, 94 S.Ct. 1113, 1121-22, 39 L.Ed.2d 435] (1973) [1974]; Blackwelder Furniture Co. v. Seilig Manufacturing Co., 550 F.2d 189 (4th Cir.1977); Maryland Undercoating Co., Inc. v. Payne, 603 F.2d 477 (4th Cir.1979)." What the Army ignores is that, given the legal and factual realities of Ulmet’s situation, and the mandate of the Federal Circuit, Ulmet’s entitlement to the minimum interim retirement benefits herein requested is the status quo.

. The majority finds fault with Ulmet’s attempt to fashion a colloquy with the Claims Court judge into an “invitation" to seek equitable relief in the district court. The conflict, however, is irrelevant. If merited, Ulmet needs no invitation to seek interlocutory relief in the only forum where it is available.

. Of course, the Army now argues the Federal Circuit’s result is invalidated by a later statutory change, a dubious proposition, discussed further below, that does not affect the initial adjudication.

.In Wilson, supra, we enumerated four policy considerations vital to any evaluation of justici-ability in a case involving internal military affairs:
(1) the nature and strength of the plaintiffs challenge to the military determination;
(2) the potential injury to the plaintiff if review is refused;
(3) the type and degree of anticipated interference with the military functions;
(4) the extent to which the exercise of military expertise or discretion is involved.
As demonstrated above, Ulmet satisfies all four concerns.

. Military retirement at twenty years is not automatic; it requires the permission of the Secretary of the Army. Such permission is, however, the ordinary course.

. Such preliminary decisions may arguably be material for the Claims Court, whose limited equitable power is predicated upon a final judgment.

. Of course, this option will have the ironic effect of permitting Ulmet to accumulate additional undisputed "good time” for retirement purposes.

. A situation not remedied on appeal.

. As the majority stated, quoting from Gregory-Portland Independent School Dist. v. Texas Education Agency, 576 F.2d 81 (5th Cir.1978), "considerations of comity and orderly administration of justice demand that the nonrendering court decline jurisdiction ... and remand the parties for their relief to the rendering court so long as it is apparent that a remedy is available there." 576 F.2d at 82-83 (quoting Lapin v. Shulton, 333 F.2d 169, 172 (9th Cir.1964)). (Emphasis added). If no apparent remedy lies, however, it is justice, not comity, that is offended.

. After preparation of this opinion, a judgment of the Claims Court issued, complying with the mandate of the Federal Circuit. The court decided in Ulmet’s favor on the Army's statutory claims and affixed a constructive retirement date, coincidental with that requested by Ulmet in this action. Unfortunately for Ulmet, further proceedings appear necessary to determine the precise award, not rendering moot his request for interim equitable relief.