ANSTEAD, J. We have for review U.S. Home Corp. v. Seifert, 699 So.2d 787 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997), based upon express conflict with the opinion in Terminix International Co. v. Michaels, 668 So.2d 1013 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996). 1 We have jurisdiction. Art. V, 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. For the reasons expressed, we quash the decision below and approve the decision in Michaels. We hold that an agreement to arbitrate in a purchase and sale agreement does not necessarily mandate arbitration of a...
OPINION AND ORDER CHARLES F. LETTOW, Judge. This takings case concerns land previously held as a right-of-way by Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company ("Burlington Northern") in King County, Washington, and its transformation into a recreational trail under Section 208 of the National Trails System Act Amendments of 1983, Pub. L. No. 98-11, 208, 97 Stat. 42, 48 (codified at 16 U.S.C. 1247(d)) ("Trails Act"). Plaintiffs comprise a class of approximately 522 named and opt-in...
OPINION APPROVING SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT NANCY B. FIRESTONE, Judge. This matter comes before the court on the parties' joint motion for final approval of the settlement agreement between the United States ("the government") and the plaintiffs in this opt-in class action Rails-to-Trails case, arising from the creation of a recreational trail along a 15-mile long former railroad corridor running across plaintiffs' land between the towns of Garden Plain and Wichita in Sedgwick County, Kansas....
OPINION AND ORDER EMILY C. HEWITT, Chief Judge. Jeanette D. Andrews (plaintiff), a Virginia property owner, brings this suit against the United States, acting through the United States Department of Defense, Department of the Navy (Navy or defendant), in which she alleges that flights over and around her property by Navy fighter jets constitute an inverse condemnation and entitle her to just compensation. Compl. for Inverse Condemnation (Complaint or Compl.), Docket Number (Dkt. No.) 1,...
OPINION EMILY C. HEWITT, Chief Judge. The parties dispute whether various assertions of privilege by the United States (the government or defendant) constitute a proper basis for withholding from discovery certain documents requested by Confidential Informant 59-05071 (Pat Doe or plaintiff). See Order of Oct. 19, 2012, Docket Number (Dkt. No.) 38, at 2 (filed under seal). Pursuant to the court's Order of October 19, 2012, the parties have briefed their dispute. See id. (setting schedule...
OPINION ERIC G. BRUGGINK, Judge. Systems Application & Technologies, Inc. ("SA-TECH") is the incumbent contractor for the Army for "Operation and Maintenance of the Multipurpose Ranges and Facilities Services" at the Yakima Training Center ("YTC"), in western Washington state. The YTC is used as a training area for large-scale military maneuvers involving heavy wheeled and tracked vehicles, including tanks and long-range weapons. The Army contracts out the operation and maintenance of the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND FINAL ORDER REGARDING CONTRACT DISPUTES ACT DAMAGES SUSAN G. BRADEN, Judge. I. BACKGROUND. 1 On December 9, 2011, the court issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order determining that Metcalf Construction Company, Inc. ("Metcalf') failed to establish liability for all claims alleged in the November 10, 2009 Amended Complaint, but identified two events that constituted a breach of contract. See Metcalf Const. Co. v. United States, 102 Fed. Cl. 334, 348-55, 369-70 (2011)....
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER VICTOR J. WOLSKI, Judge. Before the Court is Defendant's Motion to Dismiss or, Alternatively, for Summary Judgment ("Mot. to Dismiss"). The government argues that the statute of limitations should not have been tolled for plaintiffs, putative members of a class whose certification was denied when the limitations period had more than two years remaining; or, in the alternative, that laches would preclude plaintiffs' claims. For the reasons that follow, the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ON REMAND REGARDING THE INVENTION SECRECY ACT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT DAMAGES SUSAN G. BRADEN, Judge. This Memorandum Opinion first addresses the issues to be adjudicated on remand under the Invention Secrecy Act, 35 U.S.C. 181-88 ("the Invention Secrecy Act"), and then turns to patent infringement damages to which Honeywell is entitled under 28 U.S.C. 1498(a). To facilitate a review of this Memorandum Opinion and Order, the court has provided the following...
OPINION EDWARD J. DAMICH, Judge. The question before the court is whether the United States Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement ("OSM") improperly assessed reclamation fees on coal, alleged to be lignite coal, produced at the Wyodak Mine near Gillette, Wyoming, at the higher rates applicable to ranks of coal other than lignite coal. The fees were assessed pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act ("SMCRA" or "the Act"), 30 U.S.C. 1201-1328. Although the...
OPINION ERIC G. BRUGGINK, Judge. This is an action for partial breach of contract based on the Department of Energy's ("DOE") failure to pick up and dispose of spent nuclear fuel from plaintiffs' nuclear—fueled electric generation facility beginning on January 31, 1998. A number of related cases have been decided by the court. Liability was established previously and is not at issue. See Me. Yankee Atomic Power Co. v. United States, 225 F.3d 1336 , 1337-40 (Fed. Cir. 2000) ("Maine Yankee"...
OPINION EDWARD J. DAMICH, Judge. The question before the court is whether the United States Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement ("OSM") improperly assessed reclamation fees on coal, alleged to be lignite coal, produced at the Wyodak Mine near Gillette, Wyoming, at the higher rates applicable to ranks of coal other than lignite coal. The fees were assessed pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act ("SMCRA" or "the Act"), 30 U.S.C. 1201-1328. Although the...
OPINION AND ORDER LAWRENCE J. BLOCK, Judge. Justice Sutherland, when faced with the harshness of the predecessor statute of 28 U.S.C. 1500, 1 rejected the enticement of empathy in favor of an interpretation that reflects the meaning of words chosen by Congress: It is urged . . . that . . . the case is not within the spirit of [the law] properly construed. But the words of the statute are plain, with nothing in the context to make their meaning doubtful; no room is left for construction,...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER MARY ELLEN CONSTER WILLIAMS, Judge. Plaintiff, AAA Pharmacy, Inc. ("AAA"), seeks $6,000,000 in damages claiming a taking of its property, a violation of its due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and a breach of an implied-in-fact contract, stemming from the revocation of its Medicare billing privileges. Plaintiff argues that Defendant's revocation of its Medicare billing privileges and its undue delay in adjudicating Plaintiff's...
OPINION ERIC G. BRUGGINK, Judge. This is a class action brought by Utah landowners who assert that the imposition of a recreational trail on their land constitutes an uncompensated taking under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs contend that, but for the Surface Transportation Board's ("STB") issuance of a Notice of Interim Trail Use pursuant to section 8(d) of the National Trails System Act, 16 U.S.C. 1247(d) (2006) (the "Trails Act"), they would have had...
OPINION FRANCIS M. ALLEGRA, Judge. Plaintiffs are landowners in Michigan, who allege that their property was taken as a result of the National Trails System Act (the Trails Act), 16 U.S.C. 1241-51. The court certified a class on March 23, 2011. Pending are cross-motions for partial summary judgment regarding defendant's liability as to one of the parcels at issue. For the reasons that follow, the court holds, as a matter of law, that there was no takings of that parcel, as the prior owner...
Order Approving Settlement EDWARD J. DAMICH, Judge. Pursuant to the court's order of September 14, 2012, in this "rails-to-trails" class action, in which the court gave preliminary approval to the proposed settlement reached by counsel to for the parties, Plaintiffs' class counsel distributed the court-approved Notice of Settlement to Class Members on September 17, 2012. The Notice set October 26, 2012, as the date of a Fairness Hearing, pursuant to Rule 23(e) of the Rules of the Court of...
OPINION ERIC BRUGGINK, Senior District Judge. This is a pre-solicitation protest of the Department of Labor's decision to designate the contract for operation of the Blue Ridge Job Corps Center ("Blue Ridge") as a small business set-aside. Plaintiff, Res-Care Inc., is the incumbent contractor. Because of the small business size limitations placed on this contract, Res-Care is precluded from qualifying for the award. Currently before the court are the parties' cross-motions for judgment on the...
OPINION AND ORDER THOMAS C. WHEELER, Judge. This case is before the Court for review of the decision of the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals ("ASBCA" or "Board") in SUFI Network Services, Inc., ASBCA No. 55306, 09-1 BCA 34,018 (Nov. 21, 2008) ("SUFI VIII"). 1 Our Court normally operates as a trial tribunal, but in this case, involving a non-appropriated fund instrumentality, the Court is performing an appellate function under the review standards of the Wunderlich Act, 41 U.S.C....
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER VICTOR J. WOLSKI, Judge. In this class action lawsuit brought on behalf of current and former employees of the Veterans Health Administration ("VHA") of the Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA"), the Court has before it two unopposed motions filed by the plaintiffs. First, pursuant to Rule 23(e) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims ("RCFC"), the plaintiffs seek final approval of a settlement agreement. Second, pursuant to RCFC 23(h), 52(a),...
