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1 Emily S. Bremer & Jonathan R. Siegel, Clearing the Path to Justice: The Need to Reform 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1500 1 (2013)

handle is hein.usfed/clrjruf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CLEARING THE PATH TO JUSTICE: THE NEED TO REFORM 28 U.S.C. § 1500 Emily S. Bremer* and Jonathan R. Siegel** ABSTRACT Plaintiffs suing the United States face a little-known obstacle to justice: 28 US.C. § 1500. This statute prohibits the United States Court of Federal Claims from exercising jurisdiction over a claim if the plaintiff has the same claim pending in another court. This apparently sensible rule causes considerable trouble because a claim is understood to include all claims based on the same operative facts, and Congress has required that certain types of claims against the United States must go to different courts. Therefore, a plaintiff with multiple claims against the United States may neither be able to bring the claims together in one case nor split them into separate cases. Section 1500 may effectively compel such a plaintiff to pursue only one claim and abandon the others. This unjust result is contrary to fundamental principles of modern civil procedure, which allow a plaintiff to pursue multiple claims against a defendant. Worse, it serves no good purpose. This Article argues that Congress should repeal § 1500 to provide justice to plaintiffs with multiple claims against the United States. * Attorney Advisor, Administrative Conference of the United States. ** Professor of Law and Davis Research Professor, George Washington University Law School; former Director of Research & Policy, Administrative Conference of the United States. This Article draws extensively from a report the authors prepared for the Administrative Conference of the United States. Based on the report, the Administrative Conference adopted Recommendation 2012- 6, Reform of 28 U.S.C. Section 1500. See 78 Fed. Reg. 2939 (Jan. 15, 2013), reprinted in Appendix A. The American Bar Association House of Delegates has adopted a resolution calling upon Congress to implement the recommendation. The views expressed in this Article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the members of the Conference or its committees. The authors wish to thank the Administrative Conference and its many members who made helpful comments on drafts of the report, particularly Conference Chairman Paul Verkuil and Committee Chairs Lisa Bressman and Ron Levin.

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