ORIGINAL 

3Jn tbe Wniteb ~tates QCourt of jf eberal QCiaitns 

No. 18-17C 

(Filed June 29, 2018) 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION 

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MUHAMMAD JALAL-DEEN * 

AKBAR, * 

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Plaintiff, * 

v. * 

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THE UNITED STATES, * 

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Defen dant. * 

* 

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FILED 

JUN 2 9 2018 

U.S. COURT OF 

FEDERAL CLAIMS 

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER 

WOLSKI, Judge. 

On December 29, 2017, Muhammad Jalal-Deen Akbar, filed a complaint in 

this court in which h e appears to allege that an individual has been withholding 

from him disability benefits paid by the Department of Veter ans Affairs. The 

government filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on Febru ary 27, 2018, 

contending that Mr. Akbar has failed to allege a claim within this court's subjectmatter jurisdiction. On May, 22, 2018, Mr. Akbar filed a response to the 

government's motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment. Shortly 

thereafter, on June 5, 2018, the government filed a r eply in support of its motion. 

Finally, on June 15, 2018, plaintiff filed a reply in support of his motion for 

summary judgment. Oral argument is unnecessary. For the reasons stated below, 

the government's motion is GRANTED. 

I. BACKGROUND 

As best as the Court can discern from his rather unconventional submissions, 

Mr. Akbar is a prisoner in federal custody at a facility in Texas. Compl. Ex. 1, at 1. 

The nature of his claim, or claims, is very difficult to discern. The complaint begins 

by asserting that this court has jurisdiction over his claim because it concerns 

breach of a contract, military pay, and the failure to pay Mr. Akbar his veterans' 

7012 3460 0001 7791 7852 
benefits. Compl. at 1. He claims an entitlement to these benefits by virtue of his 

being entirely disabled due to service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder. Id. 

Mister Akbar maintains that a fiduciary has misappropriated and embezzled some 

of his benefits. Id. Attached to the complaint were a series of documents which 

have little to no apparent relevance to a claim for veterans' benefits. For example, 

Mr. Akbar included a copy of a request for a transfer to a different federal prison 

and a motion to compel a public defender to surrender his case file. See Compl. Ex. 

1, at 1-3. A copy of an application to proceed in forma pauperis filed in a district 

court action, which lists veterans' benefits as his only source of income, sheds some 

light on his claim. 1 See id. at 5. It identifies several months for which his fiduciary 

had not deposited Mr. Akbar's disability benefits into his prison account. Id. 

Plaintiff also included a copy of a psychiatric evaluation which discusses his posttraumatic stress disorder. Id. at 12-17. 

Unsurprisingly, the government has moved to dismiss the complaint, 

contending that plaintiff has failed to state a claim within our court's subject-matter 

jurisdiction. Def.'s Mot. at 1-4. The government notes that merely referencing the 

word "contract" or "military pay" does not itself provide this court with jurisdiction. 

Id. Plaintiffs opposition to that motion, which included some pages identified as a 

motion for summary judgment, does little to shed light on the nature of his claims. 

This filing is a compilation of documents, including the first page of defendant's 

motion to dismiss the complaint, excerpts from Mr. Akbar's military records, and 

records of transactions from Mr. Akbar's inmate trust account. Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s 

Mot. & Cross-Mot. for Summ. J. at 1-17. In the part of this submission entitled a 

summary judgment motion, Mr. Akbar appears to contend that one Arthur A. 

Cappilla---who does not appear to be a federal employee---has misappropriated 

funds in his capacity as the fiduciary charged with the management of Mr. Akbar's 

finances. Id. at 24. It appears that Mr. Cappilla is charged with such guardianship 

because Mr. Akbar's mental illness renders him incompetent in such matters. See 

id. at 24-26. Plaintiff seems to question the size of the deposits into his prison 

1 Plaintiff also filed an application to proceed in forma pauperis in this case, which 

the government has not opposed. That application is GRANTED. 

Notwithstanding the waiver, prisoners seeking to proceed in forma pauperis are 

required to pay, over time, the filing fee in full. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b). Thus, Mr. 

Akbar shall be assessed, as a partial payment of the court's filing fee, an initial sum 

of twenty percent of the greater of (1) the average monthly deposits into his account, 

or (2) the average monthly balance in her account for the six-month period 

immediately preceding the filing of his complaint. Id.§ 1915(b)(l). Thereafter, Mr. 

Akbar shall be required to make monthly payments of twenty percent of the 

preceding month's income credited to his account. Id. § 1915(b)(2). The agency 

having custody of Mr. Akbar shall forward payments from his account to the Clerk 

of the Court of Federal Claims each time the account balance exceeds $10 and until 

such time as the filing fee is paid in full. Id. 

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account as well as their frequency, and he has submitted prison account records 

showing that a $200 deposit has not been received on a monthly basis. Id. at 5-17. 

In the reply in support of its motion, the defendant notes that Mr. Akbar's 

response does nothing to indicate that he has a claim within our jurisdiction and 

that, to the extent his response references any cognizable claim at all, those claims 

sound in tort and are not made against the United States government. Def.'s Reply 

at 1-4. The final submission, Mr. Akbar's reply in support of his motion for 

summary judgment, adds little clarity to the nature of his claim. He asserts that he 

was beaten by prison guards; disputes various aspects of his psychiatric evaluation 

report, another copy of which he includes and upon which he wrote comments; 

contends that he was not mentally competent to stand trial when he was convicted 

in the 1980s; and again asserts his entitlement to veterans' benefits. Pl.'s Reply in 

Support of Mot. for Summ. J. at 2, 4, 6, 13. 

II. DISCUSSION 

A. Standard of Review 

Under Rule 12(b)(l) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal 

Claims, claims brought before this court must be dismissed when it is shown that 

the court lacks jurisdiction over their subject matter. When considering a motion to 

dismiss a case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, courts will normally accept as 

true all factual allegations made by the pleader and draw all reasonable inferences 

in the light most favorable to that party. See Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236 

(1974); Pixton v. B&B Plastics, Inc., 291F.3d1324, 1326 (Fed. Cir. 2002); CBY 

Design Builders v. United States, 105 Fed. Cl. 303, 325 (2012). 

While a prose plaintiff's filings are to be liberally construed, see Erickson v. 

Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007), this lenient standard cannot save claims which are 

outside the court's jurisdiction from being dismissed, see Henke v. United States, 60 

F.3d 795, 799 (Fed. Cir. 1995). The party invoking a court's jurisdiction bears the 

burden of establishing it, and must ultimately do so by a preponderance of the 

evidence. See McNutt v. Gen. Motors Acceptance Corp. of Ind., 298 U.S. 178, 189 

(1936); Reynolds v. Army & Air Force Exch. Serv., 846 F.2d 746, 748 (Fed. Cir. 

1998); Rocovich v. United States, 933 F.2d 991, 993 (Fed. Cir. 1991). 

B. Analysis 

The only claim for money Mr. Akbar appears to have against the United 

States is one related to his veterans' benefits. The Court of Federal Claims, 

however, has no jurisdiction to review any claim for veterans' benefits. See 

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Sindram u. United States, 130 F. App'x 456, 458 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (citing 38 U.S.C. §§ 

7251- 98). Such claims fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals 

for Veterans' Claims. Id. The court also lacks jui·isdiction over claims sounding in 

tort. 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(l); Schillinger u. United States, 155 U.S. 163, 169 (1894). 

To the extent plaintiff's claims regarding the theft of his veterans' benefits, or his 

abuse by prison guards, are decipherable, they clearly sound in tort and thus cannot 

be heard in t his court. The same is true for Mr. Akbar's disputes regarding the 

conduct of his criminal trial, or allegations of criminal conduct on t he part of 

government officials, as such matters are reserved for the district courts and the 

appropriate courts of appeal. Joshua u. United States, 17 F.3d 378, 380 (Fed. Cir. 

1994); Stanwych u. United States, 127 Fed. Cl. 308, 313-14 (2016). Even if Mr. 

Cappilla were an authorized agent of the United States government---a matter 

which is not properly alleged and explained in the complaint and other papers---his 

alleged actions are either tortious or criminal and thus not among the things our 

court is empowered to hear. Accordingly, none of Mr. Akbar's claims are within our 

subject-matter jurisdiction.2 

III. CONCLUSION 

For the reasons stated above, the government's motion to dismiss this case is 

GRANTED and plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is DENIED. The Clerk 

shall close t he case. No costs shall be awarded. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

2 As the Court lacks jurisdiction over his claims, plaintiffs motion for summary 

judgment is DENIED as moot. 

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