North Star Alaska, North Star Borough, Intervenor-Appellee v. United States
Opinion
Opinion
Beezer, J.
The November 23, 1993 opinion of the court, sitting en banc, concluded:
North Star Alaska v. United States, 9 F.3d 1430, 1433 (9th Cir.1993) (en banc). Accordingly, we must determine whether North Star’s claim is contractually or statutorily based. Because we conclude that North Star’s claim for reformation is concerned solely with contractual rights, we affirm.
I
If a plaintiff’s claim is “concerned solely with rights created within the contractual relationship and has nothing to do with duties arising independently of the contract ... [the] claim is ‘founded ... upon [a] ... contract with the United States’ and is therefore within the Tucker Act and subject to its restrictions on relief.” North Side Lumber v. Block, 753 F.2d 1482 , 1486 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 931 , 106 S.Ct. 265 , 88 L.Ed.2d 271 (1985) (citing Megapulse, Inc. v. Lewis, 672 F.2d 959, 967-68 (D.C.Cir.1982)). See also Megapulse, 672 F.2d at 968 (“The classification of a particular action as one which is or is not ‘at its essence’ a contract action depends both on the source of the rights upon which the plaintiff bases its claims, and upon the type of relief sought (or appropriate).”).