U.S. Court of Federal Claims - Judicial Business 2017

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 statement of all the judgments rendered, which notes the names of the claimants, the amounts, the dates of entry and the nature of the claims, and the disposition for all judgments rendered the previous fiscal year.

Filings in this court increased 8 percent to 1,922. Vaccine compensation cases climbed 11 percent to 1,247 cases. Contract/injunction cases grew 10 percent to 132 cases. Many of the general jurisdiction cases, which rose 3 percent, were cases of increased complexity. Seventeen percent of cases had multiple plaintiffs, and 12 percent of general jurisdiction cases involved intervening parties.

Total case terminations increased 33 percent to 1,934. Vaccine case terminations rose 1 percent to 899. Pending cases fell 1 percent to 2,943.

Filings in 2017 were 27 percent higher than in 2013. Case filings under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act soared from 500 petitions in 2013 to 1,247 petitions in 2017 (an increase of 149 percent).

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