COFC order dismissing contractor’s breach claim for lack of jurisdiction and granting summary judgment to the government on contractor’s wrongful termination claim is affirmed. The Federal Circuit found that the COFC properly dismissed the breach claim because the contractor never submitted a certified breach claim to the contracting officer. Summary judgment on the termination was also appropriate. The contractor had not submitted documents required by the contract and made multiple false statements to the government about his conviction for reckless driving.
The United States Postal Service awarded a contract to deliver mail to Philip Emiabata. Under the contract, Emiabata was required to (1) maintain liability insurance and submit a copy of the policy to USPS, (2) submit a driving record for the last five years, and (3) be reliable and trustworthy.
The USPS determined that Emiabata had failed to satisfy these requirements. The insurance documents he submitted did not identify him as the insured driver. He did not submit his driving record for the last five years. Moreover, Emiabata made false statement to the USPS about a conviction for reckless driving. The USPS terminated the contract for cause.
Following the termination, Emiabata filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims, alleging that the government breached and wrongfully terminated his contract. The COFC dismissed Emiabata’s contract claim because he did not submit a certified contract-based claim to the contracting officer before filing suit. The COFC then granted the government summary judgment on Emiabata’s termination claim, finding that the termination was justified. Emiabata appealed to the Federal Circuit.
The Federal Circuit affirmed dismissal of the contract-based claim. The Contract Disputes Act requires that contractor claims must be submitted to a contracting officer for a decision. Submission of a claim to the contracting officer is a prerequisite to COFC’s jurisdiction. It was undisputed that Emiabata had failed to submit a certified claim before filing suit. He filed a belated claim, but that could not cure the defect. The COFC, therefore, lacked jurisdiction over Emiabata’s contract claim.
The Federal Circuit also found that the COFC had properly granted summary judgment to the government on the termination claim. The contract required Emiabata, who would be driving a vehicle to deliver mail, to submit an automobile liability policy that covered him. Emiabata submitted a policy that covered someone else, not himself.
The contract also required Emiabata to submit a driving record for the last five years. Nothing in the record demonstrated that he submitted the required driving records.
Finally, the contract required Emiabata to be reliable and trustworthy. Emiabata had been convicted of reckless driving in connection with a traffic accident that killed two people. Initially, he failed to disclose the conviction to the USPS. He then disclosed it, but stated that he had only been charged with reckless driving. This, however was still false; he had been convicted of reckless driving. He thus twice made false and misleading statements to the USPS, demonstrating himself to be unreliable and untrustworthy.
Philip Emiabata represented himself pro se. The government is represented by Kara Westercamp, Joseph H. Hunt, Tara K. Hogan, and Robert Edward Kirschman, Jr. of the U.S. Department of Justice.
