U.S. Court of Federal Claims — Judicial Business 2018

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 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 nature of the claims, and the disposition for all judgments rendered the previous fiscal year.

Filings in this court increased 16 percent to 2,224. Vaccine compensation cases remained relatively steady at 1,237 cases. Contract/injunction cases grew 30 percent to 171 cases. Cases involving taken property rose 223 percent to 323. Many of the general jurisdiction cases, which rose 46 percent (to 987 cases), were of increased complexity and national significance. For example, 27 percent of general jurisdiction cases filed this fiscal year contained multiple plaintiffs, and 10 percent involved intervening parties.

Total case terminations decreased 21 percent to 1,526. This reduction occurred largely because in 2017, a consolidated case involving more than 350 individual cases had been terminated. Vaccine case terminations in 2018 fell 16 percent to 752. Pending cases rose 24 percent to 3,655.

Filings in 2018 were 79 percent higher than in 2014. Case filings under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act have soared from 645 petitions in 2014 to 1,237 petitions in 2018 (an increase of 92 percent).

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