Free Motion for Reconsideration - Rule 59(a) - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:01-cv-00249-CFL

Document 164-2

Filed 08/10/2004

Page 1 of 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE(S) ARGUMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 I. II. III. STANDARD OF REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 THE PORTIONS OF THE COURT'S JUNE 2, 2004 DECISION AT ISSUE . . . 1 THE COURT SHOULD RECONSIDER ITS RULING THAT TVA CAN RECOVER DAMAGES INCURRED PRIOR TO THE PARTIAL BREACH OF CONTRACT UNDER A "MITIGATION" THEORY . . . . . . . . . . 3 A. Because TVA Is Not Claiming Damages Incurred Prior To January 31, 1998, The Court Need Not Rule Upon TVA's Right To Recover Damages Incurred Prior To That Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Because It Seeks Continued Performance Of The Standard Contract, TVA, To The Extent It Seeks Pre-Breach Damages, Would Not Be Able To Recover Damages For Costs That It Incurred Prior To The Department Of Energy's Partial Breach Of The Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1. 2. A Claim For Partial Breach Of Contract Differs From A Claim For A Total Breach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Under A Partial Breach Claim, A Plaintiff Cannot Rely Upon An Anticipatory Partial Repudiation Theory To Recover Damages That Precede The Actual Partial Breach . . . . . 5 TVA Cannot Circumvent The Legal Bar To Recovery Of Its Pre-Breach Damages By Formulating Them As Costs Incurred In The Exercise Of Its Duty Of Mitigation . . . . . . . . . . 12

B.

3.

IV.

THE COURT SHOULD RECONSIDER ITS RULING, ISSUED PRIOR TO DISCOVERY UPON CAUSATION ISSUES, THAT TVA'S CONSTRUCTION OF DRY STORAGE FACILITIES WAS CAUSED BY DOE'S PARTIAL BREACH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

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Case 1:01-cv-00249-CFL

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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES CASES PAGE(S)

Ammex, Inc. v. United States, 52 Fed. Cl. 555 (2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Apex Pool Equipment Corp. v. Lee, 419 F.2d 556 (2d Cir. 1969) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Barron Bancshares, Inc. v. United States, 53 Fed. Cl. 310 (2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Chain Belt Co. v. United States, 127 Ct. Cl. 38, 115 F. Supp. 701 (1953) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 16 Cities Service Helix, Inc. v. United States, 211 Ct. Cl. 222, 543 F.2d 1306 (1976) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 11 City of Fairfax, Va. v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 582 F.2d 1321 (4th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 914 (1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Coconut Grove Entm't, Inc. v. United States, 46 Fed. Cl. 249 (2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Danzig v. AEC Corp., 224 F.3d 1333 (Fed. Cir. 2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Dittmore-Freimuth Corp. v. United States, 390 F.2d 664 (Ct. Cl. 1968) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Dunkin Donuts of America, Inc. v. Minerva, Inc., 956 F.2d 1566 (11th Cir. 1992) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Fawick Corp. v. United States, 149 Ct. Cl. 623 (1960) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Franconia Associates v. United States, 536 U.S. 129 (2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 7, 11 Fru-Con Construction Corp. v. United States, 44 Fed. Cl. 298 (1999) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Hanson Bancorp, Inc. v. United States, 53 Fed. Cl. 92 (2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

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Hess Energy, Inc. v. Lightning Oil Co., 338 F.3d 357 (4th Cir. 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Indiana Michigan Power Co. v. United States, 60 Fed. Cl. 639 (2004), appeal pending, No. 04-5122 (Fed. Cir. docketed July 26, 2004) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 15, 16 Lovink v. Guilford Mills, Inc., 878 F.2d 584 (2d Cir. 1989) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Lucente v. International Bus. Machines Corp., 310 F.3d 243 (2d Cir. 2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 8, 16 Middleton v. United States, 175 Ct. Cl. 786 (1966) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Olin Jones Sand Co. v. United States, 225 Ct. Cl. 741 (1980) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 PVI, Inc. v. Ratiopharm, 253 F.3d 320 (8th Cir. 2001) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Pinewood Realty Ltd. Partnership v. United States, 223 Ct. Cl. 98, 617 F.2d 211 (1980) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 11 Reynolds v. United States, 141 Ct. Cl. 211, 158 F. Supp. 719 (1958) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Robinson v. United States, 305 F.3d 1330 (Fed. Cir. 2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Roboserve, Inc. v. Kato Kagaku Co., 78 F.3d 266 (7th Cir. 1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Roehm v. Horst, 178 U.S. 13 (1900) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (cont'd) CASES PAGE(S)

S&R Corp. v. Jiffy Lube International, Inc., 968 F.2d 371 (3d Cir. 1992) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 San Carlos Irrigation & Drainage District v. United States, 23 Cl. Ct. 276 (1991), aff'd, 111 F.3d 1557 (Fed. Cir. 1997) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Sharma v. Skaarup Ship Management Corp., 916 F.2d 820 (2d Cir. 1990) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Spartan Aircraft Co. v. United States, 120 Ct. Cl. 327, 100 F. Supp. 171 (1951) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Tretchick v. Department of Transportation, 109 F.3d 749 (Fed. Cir. 1997) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 United States v. Dekonty Corp., 109 F.3d 749 (Fed. Cir. 1991) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Wisconsin Power & Light Co. v. Century Indemnity Co., 130 F.3d 787 (7th Cir.1997) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Yuba Natural Resources, Inc. v. United States, 904 F.2d 1577 (Fed. Cir. 1990) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

MISCELLANEOUS 4 A. Corbin, Corbin on Contracts § 972 (1951) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 236 (1981) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 253 (1981) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 8, 15 Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 350 (1981) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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