New Scholarship Supporting Reform of 25 U.S.C. § 1500

Emily S. Bremer & Jonathan R. Siegel have published Clearing the Path to Justice: The Need to Reform 28 U.S.C. § 1500, in the Alabama Law Review.

An excerpt:

Plaintiffs suing the United States face a little-known obstacle to justice: 28 U.S.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.

This article is based on a report they co-authored for the United States Administrative Conference.

US Administrative Conference Recommends Repeal/Reform of 28 U.S.C. § 1500

Here. PDF of report.

Here are background materials.

Department of Justice opposes, which is unfortunate, given that the Department specifically asked for tribal comments on the proposal to repeal or reform the statute.

Updated Materials on Proposal to Amend/Repeal Section 1500

Here:

NCAI letter on 28 U S C § 1500 to DOJ

Section 1500 Letter w_Attachments 11_9_12

Nez Perce Tribe Comments to DOJ 11_09_12

Defs Post-Hearing Brief inSuuport of Sec 1500 Dismissal CFC 02_28_08

1500 Filing Facts 11_01_12

Prior posts here and here.

Administrative Conference Recommends Repeal and Replacement of Section 1500

Tribal support needed. Here are the materials:

S 1500_ Revised draft recommendation _ 09202012

ACUS 1500 Tribal Views Letter

DOJ Statement Re Section 1500 Proposal

From DOJ:

The Department of Justice is seeking input from tribal leaders to assist the Department in formulating the official position it will take on a proposal that will be considered in early December 2012 by the Administrative Conference of the United States, of which the Department is a member. The proposal, which did not originate at the Department of Justice, would recommend to Congress that it repeal and replace 28 U.S.C. 1500, a Federal statute that prohibits consideration by the United States Court of Federal Claims of otherwise cognizable claims if the plaintiff also has pending litigation against the United States in any other court based on substantially the same operative facts, regardless of the type of relief sought. Additional information regarding the statute and the proposal are included in the attached letter and enclosures.