Calloway v. United States

431 F. Supp. 1111, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16763
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 23, 1977
DocketNo. 76-280-C
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 431 F. Supp. 1111 (Calloway v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Calloway v. United States, 431 F. Supp. 1111, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16763 (E.D. Okla. 1977).

Opinion

ORDER ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS

MORRIS, Chief Judge.

This action is before the court on the motion of the defendant to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. The defendant has submitted a brief in support of its motion and the plaintiffs have responded with a brief.

In this action plaintiffs seek damages for unjust imprisonment. Plaintiffs were arrested in November 1974; indicted by a grand jury January 22, 1975; and found guilty by a jury on March 19, 1975. Plaintiff’s convictions were reversed on appeal and a new trial was held in May 1976. Plaintiffs were acquitted by the jury in the second trial. Plaintiffs were confined from the date of their arrest until the date of the acquittal.

Plaintiffs assert jurisdiction in this court on the basis of 28 U.S.C. §§ 1495, 2513 and 1346. Defendant contends that none of these statutes confers jurisdiction on this court as to plaintiffs’ claim.

28 U.S.C. § 1495 provides:

The Court of Claims shall have jurisdiction to render judgment upon any claim for damages by any person unjustly convicted of an offense against the United States and imprisoned. 28 U.S.C. § 1495.

28 U.S.C. § 2513 sets forth the procedure to be followed in asserting claims arising under § 1495. Section 2513 provides:

(a) Any person suing under section 1495 of this title must allege and prove that:
[1112]*1112(1) His conviction has been reversed or set aside on the ground that he is not guilty of the offense of which he was convicted, or on new trial or rehearing he was found not guilty of such offense, as appears from the record or certificate of the court setting aside or reversing such conviction, or that he has been pardoned upon the stated ground of innocence and unjust conviction and
(2) He did not commit any of the acts charged or his acts, deeds, or omissions in connection with such charge constituted no offense against the United States, or any State, Territory or the District of Columbia, and he did not by misconduct or neglect cause or bring about his own prosecution.
(b) Proof of the requisite facts shall be by a certificate of the court or pardon wherein such facts are alleged to appear, and other evidence thereof shall not be received.
(c) No pardon or certified copy of a pardon shall be considered by the Court of Claims unless it contains recitals that the pardon w;as granted after applicant had exhausted all recourse to the courts and that the time for any court to exercise its jurisdiction had expired.
(d) The Court may permit the plaintiff to prosecute such action in forma pauperis.
(e) The amount of damages awarded shall not exceed the sum of $5,000. 28 U.S.C. § 2513.

28 U.S.C. § 1346 provides, in relevant part:

(a) The district courts shall have original jurisdiction, concurrent with the Court of Claims, of:
(2) Any other civil action or claim against the United States, not exceeding $10,000 in amount, founded either upon the Constitution, or any Act of Congress, or any regulation of an executive department, or upon any express or implied contract with the United States, or for liquidated or unliquidated damages in cases not sounding in tort.

Plaintiffs argue, in effect, that § 1495 is not an exclusive jurisdictional grant and that their claim pursuant to § 1495 is within the jurisdiction granted by that portion of the Tucker Act (§ 1346) which gives the district courts jurisdiction of any “claim against the United States, not exceeding $10,000 in amount, founded . . . upon . [an] Act of Congress. . . .”

Defendant argues that the legislative history of these statutes shows that Congress intended to confer exclusive jurisdiction over such actions on the Court of Claims. Defendant further argues that plaintiffs’ claims are not brought within the district court’s jurisdiction by that portion of the Tucker Act relied upon by plaintiffs. Finally, defendant contends that the cases support the view that the district courts do not have jurisdiction of such cases.

At the outset, the court notes that in none of the cases relied upon by defendant was the jurisdictional question presented to the court and in none of them did a court hold that jurisdiction of such actions lies, exclusively with the Court of Claims. Most of the cases cited by defendant are cases involving the sufficiency of a plaintiff’s certificate of innocence, the certificate required by 28 U.S.C. § 2513(b) as a prerequisite to recovery under § 1495. It is true, however, that, in each of these cases, the court seemed to assume that jurisdiction over the § 1495 damage claim, to be predicated on the certificate, would be in the Court of Claims. United States v. Brunner, 200 F.2d 276 (6th Cir. 1952); Roberson v. United States, 124 F.Supp. 857, 129 Ct.Cl. 581 (1954); Weiss v. United States, 95 F.Supp. 176 (S.D.N.Y.1951); United States v. Keegan, 71 F.Supp. 623 (S.D.N.Y.1947). Defendant also cites Vincih v. United States, 468 F.2d 930, 199 Ct.Cl. 762 (1972), for the proposition that “[t]he unjust conviction statute has always been strictly construed.” Id. at 933. However, the court notes that one of the cases cited for this proposition by the Court of Claims in Vincin is a case in which a federal district court and a federal appeals court in fact exercised jurisdiction over a § 1495 claim. See Os[1113]*1113borne v. United States, 322 F.2d 835 (5th Cir. 1963).

Plaintiffs cite the court to two cases in which the jurisdictional question was in fact squarely presented. In both these cases the court held that the district courts have jurisdiction concurrent with the Court of Claims as to actions brought pursuant to § 1495. Cox v. United States, 112 F.Supp. 494 (N.D.Cal.1953); McLean v. United States, 73 F.Supp. 775 (W.D.S.C.1947). In each of these cases, the court relied on the language of the Tucker Act quoted above in reaching the conclusion that jurisdiction exists in the district court. The court is further aware that in the Osborne

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
431 F. Supp. 1111, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16763, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/calloway-v-united-states-oked-1977.