In James M. Fogg Farms, Inc. v. United States, the Court of Federal Claims held that a contract that failed to incorporate statutory provisions is not breached when the Government fails to comply with the statute. Fogg Farms’s suit alleged that it had entered into a farmland conservation contract with the Department of Agriculture that required Fogg Farms to implement soil conservation actions in return for payments prescribed by statute, and that the Government had paid less than the statute required. Dismissing the case, the Court stated” While the contracts expressly incorporated the regulations, they did not incorporate the statute.” “Thus, Plaintiffs did not have a contractual right to anything provided in the statute.”
In ruling for the Government, the Court relied on two previous decisions involving the same statute and the same type of contracts.
The Court awarded costs, if any, to the Government.
Read about Judge Wheeler’s decision here.
