Case Name: Thomas H. Garrett
Court: United States Court of Claims
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1977-11-11
Citations: 215 Ct. Cl. 968
Docket Number: No. 320-77
Parties: Thomas H. Garrett
Judges: 
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Volume: 215
Pages: 968–968

Head Matter:
No. 320-77.
November 11, 1977
Thomas H. Garrett
—On November 11, 1977 the court entered the following order:
Thomas Harold Garrett, pro se.
Alan L. Ferber, with whom was Assistant Attorney General Barbara Allen Babcock, for defendant.
Before Davis, Judge, Presiding, Kunzig and Bennett, Judges.

Opinion:
"In this pro se case plaintiff asserts that in May 1977 he mailed to this court, by certified mail, a notarized 'complaint', but that through the Government's 'neglect and default' the document was misdelivered to and mistakenly accepted by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He asks $500,000 in punitive damages and $499,999.99 in compensatory damages. Although he states that 'the complaint in the original mail packet was of acute value' to him, he does not say how he was injured by the misdelivery.
"Defendant moves to dismiss on the ground that the claim, if any, plainly sounds in tort, and that this court has no original jurisdiction of tort suits. That proposition is, of course, beyond dispute. See, e.g., Vincin v. United States, 199 Ct. Cl. 762 (1972); Algonac Mfg. Co. v. United States, 192 Ct. Cl. 649, 663 (1970). We have no power to entertain the claim plaintiff presents. Nor is there any point to transfer of the case to a district court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1506, for processing under the Tort Claims Act since that statute excepts from its coverage 'any claim arising out of the loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter' (28 U.S.C. § 2680(b)).
"It is therefore ordered and concluded that defendant's motion to dismiss is granted and the petition is dismissed."