Podlucky v. United States ( 2022 )


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  • Case: 21-2226   Document: 29     Page: 1   Filed: 06/02/2022
    NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
    United States Court of Appeals
    for the Federal Circuit
    ______________________
    GREGORY JOSEPH PODLUCKY,
    Plaintiff-Appellant
    v.
    UNITED STATES,
    Defendant-Appellee
    ______________________
    2021-2226
    ______________________
    Appeal from the United States Court of Federal Claims
    in No. 1:21-cv-01377-PEC, Judge Patricia E. Campbell-
    Smith.
    ______________________
    Decided: June 2, 2022
    ______________________
    GREGORY JOSEPH PODLUCKY, Colorado Springs, CO,
    pro se.
    CHRISTOPHER L. HARLOW, Commercial Litigation
    Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Jus-
    tice, Washington, DC, for defendant-appellee. Also repre-
    sented by BRIAN M. BOYNTON, MARTIN F. HOCKEY, JR.,
    LOREN MISHA PREHEIM.
    ______________________
    Case: 21-2226     Document: 29     Page: 2    Filed: 06/02/2022
    2                                             PODLUCKY   v. US
    Before MOORE, Chief Judge, NEWMAN and HUGHES,
    Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM.
    Gregory Joseph Podlucky appeals a decision of the
    United States Court of Federal Claims dismissing his com-
    plaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Because
    Mr. Podlucky’s claims fall outside the scope of the Court of
    Federal Claims’ jurisdiction, we affirm.
    I
    In 2009, Mr. Podlucky was charged with various fraud-
    based offenses stemming from his management of LeNa-
    ture’s, Inc., a beverage company. Mem. Op. at 1, United
    States v. Podlucky, No. 2:09-cr-278 (W.D. Pa. Mar. 24,
    2021), ECF No. 151 (W.D. Pa. Decision). During the inves-
    tigation of those matters, the government seized various
    pieces of jewelry. In 2011, Mr. Podlucky entered into a plea
    agreement with the government and pled guilty to several
    charges. He was sentenced by the United States District
    Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Following
    his guilty plea, Mr. Podlucky filed several requests for col-
    lateral relief in his criminal cases, including a claim that
    his plea agreement required the government to return cer-
    tain pieces of jewelry it had seized. The district court disa-
    greed with Mr. Podlucky’s interpretation of the plea
    agreement, ruling that there had been no “meeting of the
    minds between [Mr. Podlucky] and the [g]overnment as to
    the pieces to be returned.” Id. at 10.
    Mr. Podlucky then filed this suit in the Court of Fed-
    eral Claims, again seeking the return of the jewelry. He
    again alleged that, as part of his plea agreement, the gov-
    ernment agreed to return to him some of the seized items.
    Mr. Podlucky requested that the Court of Federal Claims
    direct the government to return the seized items, or alter-
    natively, “[i]f the [items] are not available for said return-
    ing then the cost basis of $4,809,894 of the [items] as stated
    Case: 21-2226       Document: 29   Page: 3    Filed: 06/02/2022
    PODLUCKY   v. US                                           3
    herein be ordered for tendering to [Mr. Podlucky].” Appel-
    lant’s Br. at 47. 1
    The Court of Federal Claims dismissed Mr. Podlucky’s
    complaint, holding that none of his claims were within its
    jurisdiction. Podlucky v. United States, No. 21-1377C, 
    2021 WL 2627130
    , at *3 (Fed. Cl. June 25, 2021). Mr. Podlucky
    appeals. We have jurisdiction under 
    28 U.S.C. § 1295
    (a)(3).
    II
    We review the Court of Federal Claims’ dismissal for
    lack of subject matter jurisdiction de novo. Trusted Integra-
    tion, Inc. v. United States, 
    659 F.3d 1159
    , 1163 (Fed.
    Cir. 2011). As the plaintiff, Mr. Podlucky bears the burden
    of establishing jurisdiction by a preponderance of the evi-
    dence. Brandt v. United States, 
    710 F.3d 1369
    , 1373 (Fed.
    Cir. 2013). Although we give pro se plaintiffs more latitude
    in their pleadings than parties represented by counsel, Es-
    telle v. Gamble, 
    429 U.S. 97
    , 106 (1976), such leniency does
    not relieve them of jurisdictional requirements, Kelley v.
    Sec’y, U.S. Dep’t of Lab., 
    812 F.2d 1378
    , 1380 (Fed. Cir.
    1987).
    The Tucker Act, codified at 
    28 U.S.C. § 1491
    , limits the
    Court of Federal Claims’ jurisdiction to “claims for money
    damages against the United States.” Fisher v. United
    States, 
    402 F.3d 1167
    , 1172 (Fed. Cir. 2005). The Tucker
    Act alone does not supply an independent source of action;
    “a plaintiff must identify a separate source of substantive
    law that creates the right to money damages.” 
    Id.
     “[T]he
    absence of a money-mandating source [is] fatal to the
    court’s jurisdiction under the Tucker Act.” Id. at 1173.
    1   “Appellant’s Br. at __” refers to pages in Mr. Pod-
    lucky’s combined informal brief and appendix, Informal
    Brief of Appellant, Podlucky v. United States, No. 21-2226
    (Fed. Cir. Sept. 30, 2021), ECF No. 8.
    Case: 21-2226     Document: 29     Page: 4    Filed: 06/02/2022
    4                                             PODLUCKY   v. US
    The Court of Federal Claims may hear a claim for an
    “alleged breach of an agreement with a criminal defend-
    ant . . . only if the agreement clearly and unmistakably
    subjects the United States to monetary liability for any
    breach.” Sanders v. United States, 
    252 F.3d 1329
    , 1331
    (Fed. Cir. 2001). While “[i]t [is] possible to make a binding
    contract subject to Tucker Act jurisdiction, creating a lia-
    bility for breach of a plea bargaining agreement[,] . . . such
    liability should not be implied, and could exist only if there
    was an unmistakable promise to subject the United States
    to monetary liability.” 
    Id. at 1336
    . This further requires
    that “the prosecutors had authority to enter into such an
    agreement.” 
    Id.
     Mr. Podlucky’s plea agreement lacks the
    “unmistakable promise” required to subject the United
    States to monetary liability because, as the District Court
    for the Western District of Pennsylvania has already con-
    cluded, there was no “meeting of the minds” between the
    government and Mr. Podlucky as to what jewelry was to be
    returned. W.D. Pa. Decision at 10. Without monetary lia-
    bility, the Court of Federal Claims has no jurisdiction over
    Mr. Podlucky’s claims.
    The appropriate forum for Mr. Podlucky’s claims re-
    garding the alleged breach of his plea agreement was the
    United States District Court for the Western District of
    Pennsylvania, as “the Supreme Court has made clear that
    claims for breach of plea agreements and other agreements
    unique to the criminal justice system should be brought in
    the courts in which they were negotiated and executed.”
    Sanders, 
    252 F.3d at
    1336 (citing Santobello v. New York,
    
    404 U.S. 257
    , 263 (1971)). Mr. Podlucky correctly brought
    these claims before that district court, and the district
    court considered and rejected them, “finding, as a matter
    of law, that the parties had not entered into an enforceable
    agreement as to the return of any jewelry.” W.D. Pa. Deci-
    sion at 10. Mr. Podlucky appealed that decision, and the
    Third Circuit dismissed his appeal. United States v.
    Case: 21-2226        Document: 29    Page: 5   Filed: 06/02/2022
    PODLUCKY    v. US                                           5
    Podlucky, No. 21-2015, 
    2021 WL 5860751
    , at *1 (3d Cir.
    Aug. 24, 2021).
    III
    Because Mr. Podlucky’s claims are outside the jurisdic-
    tion of the Court of Federal Claims, we affirm.
    AFFIRMED
    No costs.