II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2769 

To ensure appropriate judicial review of Federal Government actions by 

amending the prohibition on the exercise of jurisdiction by the United 

States Court of Federal Claims of certain claims pending in other courts. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2014 

Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mr. TESTER, and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To ensure appropriate judicial review of Federal Government 

actions by amending the prohibition on the exercise of 

jurisdiction by the United States Court of Federal 

Claims of certain claims pending in other courts. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. JURISDICTION OF UNITED STATES COURT OF 

4 FEDERAL CLAIMS. 

5 (a) AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 28, UNITED STATES

6 CODE.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1500 of title 28, 

8 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1500. Presumption of stay 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

3 ‘‘(1) the term ‘court’ means any of the courts 

4 described in section 610; and 

5 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Court of Federal Claims’ means 

6 the United States Court of Federal Claims. 

7 ‘‘(b) PRESUMPTION OF STAY.—Except as provided in 

8 subsection (d), if a civil action is pending in, or on appeal 

9 from, the Court of Federal Claims, and the plaintiff or 

10 assignee of the plaintiff also has pending in any other 

11 court a civil action that includes a claim against the 

12 United States or an agency or officer of the United States 

13 arising from substantially the same set of operative facts, 

14 the court presiding over the action that was filed later 

15 shall stay the action, in whole or in part, until the action 

16 that was filed first is no longer pending. 

17 ‘‘(c) DETERMINING FIRST-FILED ACTION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) APPEALS.—For purposes of subsection 

19 (b), the date of filing for a civil action that is pend20 ing on appeal from the Court of Federal Claims is 

21 the date on which the action was filed in the Court 

22 of Federal Claims. 

23 ‘‘(2) ACTIONS OR APPEALS FILED ON SAME

24 DAY.—For purposes of subsection (b), if the actions 

25 described in subsection (b) were filed on the same 

26 day, without regard to the time of day, the action 


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1 that is pending in, or on appeal from, the Court of 

2 Federal Claims shall be treated as having been filed 

3 first. 

4 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.—The requirement to stay an ac5 tion under subsection (b) shall not apply if— 

6 ‘‘(1) the parties in each of the actions that in7 clude a claim based on substantially the same set of 

8 operative facts otherwise agree; or 

9 ‘‘(2) the required stay is not, or ceases to be, 

10 in the interests of justice.’’. 

11 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND12 MENT.—The table of sections for chapter 91 of title 

13 28, United States Code, is amended by striking the 

14 item relating to section 1500 and inserting the fol15 lowing: 

‘‘1500. Presumption of stay.’’. 

16 (b) APPLICABILITY.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1500 of title 28, 

18 United States Code, as amended by subsection (a), 

19 shall apply to any action pending on or after the 

20 date of enactment of this Act, unless the action filed 

21 later (as determined in accordance with such sec22 tion) is pending in a court of appeals of the United 

23 States or the Supreme Court of the United States. 

24 (2) PREVIOUS JURISDICTIONAL BAR.—No claim 

25 in an action pending in which appellate rights have 


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1 not been exhausted on or after the date of enact2 ment of this Act shall be subject to the jurisdictional 

3 bar under section 1500 of title 28, United States 

4 Code, as in effect on the day before the date of en5 actment of this Act. 

Æ 


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