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U.S. Court of Federal Claims - Judicial Business 2014

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has nationwide jurisdiction over a variety of monetary claims against the federal government, including those involving tax refunds, federal taking of private property for public use, pay and dismissal of federal civilian employees, pay and dismissal of military personnel, land claims brought by Native Americans and/or their tribe(s), contract disputes, bid protests, patents and copyright, congressional reference, and the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 791(c), each January the clerk of the court transmits to Congress a report of the business of the court, which notes the names of the claimants, the nature of the claims, and the disposition for all judgments rendered the previous year.

Filings in this court decreased 18 percent to 1,245. Filings had risen 58 percent in 2013, partly because a single contract case had been severed into 356 separate actions. In 2014, contract cases dropped by 359 to 140, and miscellaneous cases fell from 180 to 96.

Vaccine cases grew by 145 to 645. Of these cases, 345 addressed the flu vaccine. Cases involving property taken rose 100 percent to 114 as 38 cases were remanded to the court from the Federal Circuit and 1 complaint was severed into 9 separate cases.

Total case terminations dropped 22 percent to 1,265. Vaccine case terminations decreased 45 percent to 562. As terminations exceeded filings, pending cases fell 3 percent to 2,528.

For data on filings in the Court of Federal claims, see Tables G-2A and G-2B.