Love v. Federal Reserve Board of Governors, The

Filing 13

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER granting 5 Motion to Dismiss; denying as moot 9 Motion to Stay Case. Signed by District Judge Monti L. Belot on 6/11/2015.Mailed to pro se party Robert W. Love by regular mail. (sz)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS

ROBERT W. LOVE,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD OF GOVERNORS,)
)
Defendant.
)
)

CIVIL ACTION
No.

15-1077-MLB

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This case comes before the court on defendant’s motion to
dismiss. (Doc. 5). The motion has been fully briefed and is ripe for
decision.

(Docs. 6, 7, 11).

Defendant’s motion is granted for the

reasons herein.
Analysis
Plaintiff’s complaint alleges that defendant Federal Reserve
Board of Governors (Board) has violated its obligation set forth in
section 2A of the Federal Reserve Act, 12 U.S.C. §225a (FRA) regarding
maintenance of long run growth of monetary and credit aggregates.
(Doc. 1). Plaintiff seeks damages of $150,000 due to loss of interest
on his savings and inflation. The Board moves to dismiss on the basis
of sovereign immunity.
“Absent

a

waiver,

sovereign

immunity

Government and its agencies from suit.”

shields

the

Federal

FDIC v. Meyer, 510 U.S. 471,

475, 114 S. Ct. 996 (1994); Merida Delgado v. Gonzales, 428 F.3d 916,
919 (10th Cir. 2005)(“In general, federal agencies and officers acting
in

their

immunity.”)

official

capacities

are

also

shielded

by

sovereign

A waiver of the United States' sovereign immunity “must

be unequivocally expressed in statutory text,” “will not be implied,”
and “will be strictly construed, in terms of its scope, in favor of
the sovereign.”

Lane v. Pena, 518 U.S. 187, 192, 116 S. Ct. 2092

(1996).
If the government has not consented to suit against its agency,
“the courts have no jurisdiction to either restrain the government
from acting, or to compel it to act.”

United States v. Murdock Mach.

& Engineering Co., 81 F.3d 922, 930 (10th Cir. 1996).

A waiver of

federal sovereign immunity can be found in one of two places: in the
specific statute governing a governmental entity, or in one of the
broad waivers of immunity made by Congress for certain classes of
federal agencies.
Fed. Reserve Sys.,

Research Triangle Inst. v. Bd. of Governors of the
132 F.3d 985, 988 (4th Cir. 1997).

Plaintiff has failed to establish that Congress has waived
sovereign immunity for the Board. In his response, plaintiff does not
challenge the Board’s sovereign immunity.

Instead, plaintiff has

filed a motion to stay the proceedings so that the court can review
the merits of plaintiff’s claim.

(Docs. 9, 10).

Plaintiff’s motion

to stay fails to address the jurisdictional issue before the court.
As a government agency, the Board has sovereign immunity which
has not been waived. See Research Triangle Inst., 132 F.3d at 988-89;
28 U.S.C.A. § 2680(i).

Therefore, the court finds that the Board

cannot be sued in federal court for the claim brought forth by
plaintiff.
Conclusion
The Board’s motion to dismiss is granted. (Doc. 5). Plaintiff’s
motion to stay is denied as moot.

(Doc. 9).

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A motion for reconsideration of this order is not encouraged.
Any such motion shall not exceed 3 double-spaced pages and shall
strictly comply with the standards enunciated by this court in Comeau
v. Rupp, 810 F. Supp. 1172, 1174 (1992).

The response to any motion

for reconsideration shall not exceed 3 double-spaced pages.

No reply

shall be filed.

IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated this

11th

day of June 2015, at Wichita, Kansas.

s/ Monti Belot
Monti L. Belot
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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