Right to Withhold Rental Payments on Terminated Lease Creates a Sum Certain and Converts Termination Letter to Claim; COFC No. 17-171 C, Goodsell v. United States

The government’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim is denied, where the government’s notice of early termination of a lease agreement contained all the necessary elements of a claim, as the government asserted its right to withhold the sum certain of the remaining lease payments, and where the lessor had plausibly alleged the government had no right to an early termination of the lease and that disputes that led to the termination were caused by the behavior of government employees.