addressing Accardi claim pursuant to allegation that Army Board for Correction of Military Records “acted arbitrarily, capriciously, and contrary to law” in violation of APA § 706(2)(A)
How later courts described this case
- addressing Accardi claim pursuant to allegation that Army Board for Correction of Military Records “acted arbitrarily, capriciously, and contrary to law” in violation of APA § 706(2)(A)
- “A party claiming harm from an agency’s failure to follow its own rules must demonstrate some form of prejudice.”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
Argued April 20, 2010 Decided June 22, 2010
No. 09-5187
MALCOLM G. SCHAEFER,
APPELLANT
v.
JOHN MCHUGH,
SECRETARY OF THE ARMY,
APPELLEE
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Columbia
(No. 1:07-cv-01550-RJL)
Ryan C. Morris argued the cause for appellant. With him
on the briefs was Paul J. Zidlicky.
Kathryn A. Donnelly, Special Assistant United States
Attorney, argued the cause for appellee. With her on the brief
were Channing D. Phillips, Acting United States Attorney, R.
Craig Lawrence, Assistant United States Attorney, and Major
Joshua M. Toman, U.S. Army Litigation Division.
Before: GINSBURG, TATEL, and KAVANAUGH, Circuit
Judges.
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Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge
KAVANAUGH.
KAVANAUGH, Circuit Judge: Malcolm Schaefer pointed
to his bad knees as a reason to get out of his Army service.
But Schaefer was an Army lawyer. Bad knees typically do
not preclude service as a lawyer. The Army therefore rejected
Schaefer’s request for discharge. But because of an
administrative foul-up, Schaefer was able to obtain papers
showing his legal discharge. Shortly afterwards, the Army
informed Schaefer that he had to return to service. Schaefer
did so, and the Army then took disciplinary action against him
for his apparent shenanigans. In this litigation, Schaefer
argues, in essence, that he beat the system by obtaining papers
showing his discharge and that subsequent Army disciplinary
actions against him were invalid. The District Court rejected
Schaefer’s challenge, granting summary judgment to the
Secretary of the Army. We affirm the judgment of the
District Court.
I
The U.S. Army paid for Malcolm Schaefer’s law school
education in return for a six-year commitment to the Army.
As of 2000, Schaefer was in the fourth year of his six-year
active-duty service obligation. He was serving as an officer
in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps at
Fort Benning, Georgia.
Beginning in late 2000, Schaefer sought a medical
discharge from the Army because of injuries to his knees. He
did so without informing anyone in his JAG Corps chain of
command. Based on discharge orders issued in early July
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2001, Schaefer was to be separated from the Army on
September 14, 2001.
In late July 2001, the JAG Corps found out about
Schaefer’s pending separation – not because Schaefer
informed his superiors, but because a JAG Corps employee
happened to come across his discharge orders when updating
records. Surprised to find that Schaefer was scheduled for
medical separation – after all, Schaefer was a lawyer, and not
in combat or in a non-combat position requiring significant
physical activity – the JAG Corps took immediate action.
The chief of the JAG Personnel Office informed the U.S.
Army Physical Disability Agency (the entity within the Army
that coordinates medical discharges) that Schaefer’s medical
problems would not impair his ability to serve as a military
lawyer. On August 14, 2001, the Army therefore revoked the
authorization for Schaefer’s discharge orders. The Army then
issued a new medical determination deeming Schaefer fit for
duty. The Army informed Schaefer of that determination on
September 5, 2001. Schaefer’s superiors also told him that
his September discharge had been placed on hold.
Schaefer nonetheless showed up to obtain a discharge on
Friday, September 14, 2001. Because of a paperwork foul-up,
Schaefer was mistakenly issued a discharge certificate that
day. Schaefer’s chain of command learned of this the
following Monday – September 17, 2001 – when they came
to work to find Schaefer’s office empty.
The Army soon sent Schaefer a letter informing him that
if he did not report back to Fort Benning, the Army would
take steps to return him to military control. After failing to
obtain a court injunction preventing the Army from taking
action against him, Schaefer resumed work as a member of
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the JAG Corps. See Schaefer v. White, 174 F. Supp. 2d 1374,
1384 (M.D. Ga. 2001).
In the months following his return, the Army issued
Schaefer both a highly critical Officer Evaluation and a
Memorandum of Reprimand for wrongfully obtaining his
discharge certificate. The Army also brought charges against
Schaefer for obtaining a fraudulent discharge in violation of
the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Rather than undergo
trial by court-martial, Schaefer submitted a voluntary
Resignation for the Good of the Service. As a result of his
resignation, Schaefer left the Army on October 1, 2002.
Almost two years after his resignation, Schaefer filed a
request with the Army Board for Correction of Military
Records – the body authorized by the Secretary of the Army
to correct Army personnel files – to have certain entries in his
official military personnel file removed. See 10 U.S.C. §
1552(a)(1). As relevant here, Schaefer asked the Correction
Board to (1) validate his September 2001 discharge, (2)
nullify his October 2002 discharge, (3) expunge the adverse
Officer Evaluation, Memorandum of Reprimand, and
resignation from his record, and (4) stop the Army from
recouping the severance pay he received in association with
his 2001 medical discharge.
The Correction Board denied Schaefer’s request. The
Board concluded that Schaefer’s September 14, 2001,
discharge orders lacked legal effect because the authority to
issue those orders had been revoked. The Board also
concluded that Schaefer failed to show that his negative
Officer Evaluation, Memorandum of Reprimand, or
resignation should be removed from his military service
record “to correct an error or remove an injustice.” Id.
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Schaefer then filed suit in U.S. District Court, arguing
primarily that the Correction Board’s decision was arbitrary,
capricious, and contrary to law. The District Court granted
summary judgment to the Secretary of the Army.
This Court reviews the District Court’s grant of summary
judgment de novo. The courts review the Correction Board’s
decision under the Administrative Procedure Act’s arbitrary
and capricious standard. Kidwell v. Department of the Army,
56 F.3d 279, 286 (D.C. Cir. 1995). As a general matter,
judicial review under that standard is deferential. When
assessing a Correction Board decision, courts employ an
“unusually deferential application of the arbitrary or
capricious standard.” Musengo v. White, 286 F.3d 535, 538
(D.C. Cir. 2002) (internal quotation marks omitted); see Cone
v. Caldera, 223 F.3d 789, 793 (D.C. Cir. 2000).
II
Schaefer asserts that he was validly discharged from the
U.S. Army on September 14, 2001, and that the Correction
Board should erase all traces of adverse action the Army took
against him after that date. Relatedly, Schaefer argues that
even if the Army did in fact revoke his September 14, 2001,
discharge, the Army did not follow its own procedures in
doing so. We will consider each argument in turn.
A
The Army Board for Correction of Military Records
rejected Schaefer’s claim that he was validly discharged from
the Army on September 14, 2001. The Board’s decision was
reasonable and reasonably explained.
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After thoroughly considering the facts of Schaefer’s case,
the Correction Board concluded that his September 14, 2001,
discharge was “without legal effect because the authority to
issue it had been revoked well before that date.” J.A. 126.
That finding comports with military court precedent
establishing that “the mistaken delivery of a discharge
certificate” which has “no legal effect” and which has
“previously been revoked” does not “terminate” military
service. United States v. Garvin, 26 M.J. 194, 194-96
(C.M.A. 1988). The issuing authority “must have intended
the discharge to take effect” for that discharge to terminate
service. United States v. Harmon, 63 M.J. 98, 101 (C.A.A.F.
2006).
Schaefer offers no persuasive grounds on which to
second-guess the Correction Board’s conclusion. The Board
reasonably concluded that Schaefer was not lawfully
discharged from the Army on September 14, 2001.
B
The Correction Board also rejected Schaefer’s claim that
Army procedures were not followed in revoking the
authorization for his discharge.
Schaefer contends that the wrong Army entity revoked
the authorization for his discharge – that one entity (the U.S.
Army Physical Disability Agency) issued the order when
another entity (the U.S. Total Army Personnel Command) had
the sole authority to do so. The Correction Board reviewed
the application of the relevant regulations in detail and
concluded that the Army did not commit procedural error
when it revoked the authorization for Schaefer’s discharge.
Moreover, the Board recognized that any de minimis violation
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of regulations when the Army revoked Schaefer’s discharge
did not harm Schaefer.
We agree with the Board’s latter rationale and need not
consider the former. A party claiming harm from an agency’s
failure to follow its own rules must demonstrate some form of
prejudice. See Battle v. FAA, 393 F.3d 1330, 1336 (D.C. Cir.
2005); Steenholdt v. FAA, 314 F.3d 633, 639-40 (D.C. Cir.
2003). Schaefer was well aware that the Army had revoked
the authorization for his discharge. He was also directly
informed by his chain of command that his discharge was on
hold. Schaefer failed to show that he suffered any prejudice
from the Army’s alleged error regarding which entity could
technically revoke the authorization for his discharge.
C
In his brief, Schaefer also suggests that Article 3(b) of the
Uniform Code of Military Justice is unconstitutional as
applied to him. That provision states: “Each person
discharged from the armed forces who is later charged with
having fraudulently obtained his discharge is . . . subject to
trial by court-martial on that charge and is after apprehension
subject to this chapter while in the custody of the armed
forces for that trial.” 10 U.S.C. § 803(b). That provision is
not relevant here. Article 3(b) applies only to individuals who
are actually “discharged from the armed forces” and then
returned to the military to face court-martial. Id. As we have
explained, Schaefer remained in the military until his
voluntary resignation in 2002. Thus we need not consider the
constitutionality of Article 3(b).
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***
We affirm the judgment of the District Court.
So ordered.