Free Notice (Other) - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

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No. 04-718C (Judge Hewitt) ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ______________________________________________________________________________ CW GOVERNMENT TRAVEL, INC., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant. DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director s/James M. Kinsella JAMES M. KINSELLA Deputy Director s/Lisa B. Donis LISA B. DONIS Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice ATTN: Classification Unit, 8th Floor 1100 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 (202) 305-7561 Attorneys for Defendant JULY 22, 2004

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE(S) QUESTIONS PRESENTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 DEFENDANT'S BRIEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Nature Of The Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Statement of Facts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 ARGUMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 I. This Court Does Not Possess Jurisdiction To Entertain CW's Complaint . . . . . . 8 A. CW Did Not Submit A Valid Claim To Its Contracting Officer . . . . . . . . . . . 8 B. The Contracting Officer Did Not Issue A Final Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 II. CW Is Not Entitled To The Declaratory Judgments It Seeks In This Case . . . . . 15 A. There Is No Live Dispute Between The Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 B. The Declarations Sought By CW In This Case Will Not Likely Resolve Any Dispute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 C. CW Has Adequate Legal Remedies to Protect Its Interests Without Resorting To A Premature Judicial Determination Of Its Contract Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 III. IV. Summary Judgment Is An Appropriate Method For The Disposition Of The Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 CW Is Not Entitled To The Declarations It Seeks In This Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES CASES PAGE(S)

Aldridge v. United States, 59 Fed. Cl. 387 (2004) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Alliant Techsytems, Inc. v. United States, 178 F.3d 1260 (Fed. Cir. 1999) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Passim Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Arizonans For Official English, 520 U.S. 43 (1997) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Buse Timber & Sales, Inc. v. United States, 45 Fed. Cl. 258 (1999) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317 (1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Clearwater Constructors, Inc. v. United States, 56 Fed. Cl. 303 (2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Coast Federal Bank, FSB v. United States, 323 F.3d 1035 (Fed. Cir. 2003), citing Foley Co. v. United States, 11 F.3d 1032, 1034 (Fed. Cir. 1993) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Glass v. United States, 258 F.3d 1349 (Fed. Cir.2001) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 GPA-I, LP v. United States, 46 Fed. Cl. l762 (2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Hamilton Security Advisory Services v. United States, 60 Fed. Cl. 144 (2004) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Id. (citing McAbee Construction Inc. v. United States, 97 F.3d 1431 (Fed. Cir. 1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555 (1992) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Made in the USA Foundation v. United States, 51 Fed. Cl. 252 (2001) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13, 17

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

Metric Constructors, Inc. v. National Aeronautics and Space Admin., 169 F.3d 747 (Fed. Cir. 1999) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Mingus Constructors, Inc. v. United States, 812 F.2d 1387 (Fed. Cir. 1987) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Naplesyacht.com v. United States, 60 Fed. Cl. 459 (2004), quoting Fina Oil & Chemical Co. v. Ewen, 123 F.3d 1466, 1470 (Fed. Cir. 1997) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Omega World Travel, Inc. v. United States, 54 Fed. Cl. 570 (2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Paxson Electric Company, Inc. v. United States, 14 Cl. Ct. 634, 642 (1988) (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247 (1986)) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Sterling Savings v. United States, 57 Fed. Cl. 445 (2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 22 Sweats Fashions, Inc. v. Pannill Knitting Co., 833 F.2d 1560 (Fed. Cir. 1987) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Sweet v. United States, 53 Fed. Cl. 208 (2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Vanalco, Inc. v. United States, 48 Fed. Cl. 68 (2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Veit & Company, Inc. v. United States, 56 Fed. Cl. 30 (2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 STATUTES and REGULATIONS 28 U.S.C. § 1491 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 41 U.S.C. § 601 et seq., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 8 41 U.S.C. § 605(a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 41 U.S.C. § 609(a)(3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 48 C.F.R. § 2.101 (2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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MISCELLANEOUS Omega World Travel, Inc.; SatoTravel, Inc., B-288861.5 et al., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

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