Laplant v. United States

872 F.2d 881 57 USLW 2624 , 57 USLW 2676 Francis A. LAPLANT, and Clara J. LaPlant, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America and its Department of Agriculture, Farmers Home Administration; John R. Block, Secretary of Agriculture; Charles W. Shuman, FmHA Administrator; Arthur R. Lund, FmHA State Director; Theodore L. Hebnes, FmHA Acting State Director; Dale Gilbert, FmHA District Director; Charles Green, FmHA employee; and Claude Hargrove, FmHA County Director, Defendants-Appellees. No. 87-4046. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Oct. 6, 1988. Decided April 13, 1989. Order Staying Mandate May 4, 1989. Kenneth R. Olson, Baiz & Olson, Great Falls, Mont., for plaintiffs-appellants. Carl E. Rostad, Asst. U.S. Atty., Great Falls, Mont., for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Montana. Before SCHROEDER, ALARCON and NORRIS, Circuit Judges. WILLIAM A. NORRIS, Circuit Judge: 1 Appellants Francis and Clara LaPlant appeal the district court's dismissal of their action for want of subject matter jurisdiction. The district court held that appellants' suit is a contract action, which under the Tucker…