[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2769 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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.

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

SECTION 1. JURISDICTION OF UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS.

    (a) Amendments to Title 28, United States Code.--
            (1) In general.--Section 1500 of title 28, United States 
        Code, is amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 1500. Presumption of stay
    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `court' means any of the courts described in 
        section 610; and
            ``(2) the term `Court of Federal Claims' means the United 
        States Court of Federal Claims.
    ``(b) Presumption of Stay.--Except as provided in subsection (d), 
if a civil action is pending in, or on appeal from, the Court of 
Federal Claims, and the plaintiff or assignee of the plaintiff also has 
pending in any other court a civil action that includes a claim against 
the United States or an agency or officer of the United States arising 
from substantially the same set of operative facts, the court presiding 
over the action that was filed later shall stay the action, in whole or 
in part, until the action that was filed first is no longer pending.
    ``(c) Determining First-Filed Action.--
            ``(1) Appeals.--For purposes of subsection (b), the date of 
        filing for a civil action that is pending on appeal from the 
        Court of Federal Claims is the date on which the action was 
        filed in the Court of Federal Claims.
            ``(2) Actions or appeals filed on same day.--For purposes 
        of subsection (b), if the actions described in subsection (b) 
        were filed on the same day, without regard to the time of day, 
        the action that is pending in, or on appeal from, the Court of 
        Federal Claims shall be treated as having been filed first.
    ``(d) Exceptions.--The requirement to stay an action under 
subsection (b) shall not apply if--
            ``(1) the parties in each of the actions that include a 
        claim based on substantially the same set of operative facts 
        otherwise agree; or
            ``(2) the required stay is not, or ceases to be, in the 
        interests of justice.''.
            (2) Technical and conforming amendment.--The table of 
        sections for chapter 91 of title 28, United States Code, is 
        amended by striking the item relating to section 1500 and 
        inserting the following:

``1500. Presumption of stay.''.
    (b) Applicability.--
            (1) In general.--Section 1500 of title 28, United States 
        Code, as amended by subsection (a), shall apply to any action 
        pending on or after the date of enactment of this Act, unless 
        the action filed later (as determined in accordance with such 
        section) is pending in a court of appeals of the United States 
        or the Supreme Court of the United States.
            (2) Previous jurisdictional bar.--No claim in an action 
        pending in which appellate rights have not been exhausted on or 
        after the date of enactment of this Act shall be subject to the 
        jurisdictional bar under section 1500 of title 28, United 
        States Code, as in effect on the day before the date of 
        enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>