Khalil v. United States

133 Fed. Cl. 390, 2017 U.S. Claims LEXIS 909, 2017 WL 3276883
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 2, 2017
Docket17-962
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 133 Fed. Cl. 390 (Khalil v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Khalil v. United States, 133 Fed. Cl. 390, 2017 U.S. Claims LEXIS 909, 2017 WL 3276883 (uscfc 2017).

Opinion

*391 OPINION

PATRICIA CAMPBELL-SMITH, Judge

On July 13, 2017, plaintiff filed a complaint with this court. See ECF No. 1. In his complaint, plaintiff alleges violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil action for deprivation of rights). See id. at 4-5. In addition, he alleges the violation of four criminal statutes: 18 U.S.C. § 242 (Deprivation of rights under color of law), 18 U.S.C. § 241 (Conspiracy against rights), 18 U.S.C, § 245 (Federally protected activities), and 18 U.S.C. § 249 (Hate crime acts). See id. at 5-9. The basis for these alleged violations is a pattern of harassment that plaintiff claims he has suffered at the hands of several federal employees. See id. at 6-7. Along with' the statutory violations, plaintiff also alleges that the government was negligent in its failure to protect him. See id. at 9. 1

I. Legal Standards

This court is one of limited jurisdiction. Specifically, the Tucker Act grants the court the authority to consider, “any claim against the United States 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.” 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1) (2012). If, at any point, the court finds that it lacks jurisdiction over a particular ease, that case must be dismissed. See Rule 12(h)(3), Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (RCFC). The court may properly conduct this analysis on its own. See Folden v. United States, 379 F.3d 1344,1354 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (“Subject matter jurisdiction may be challenged at any time by the parties or by the court sua sponte.”).

II. Analysis

A. Jurisdiction

Pursuant to clear, well-established precedent, the court does not have jurisdiction to consider any of plaintiffs six claims. Plaintiff alleges that defendant violated four *392 criminal statutes: 18 U.S.C. § 242 (Deprivation of rights under color of law), 18 U.S.C. § 241 (Conspiracy against rights), 18 U.S.C. § 245 (Federally protected activities), and 18 U.S.C. § 249 (Hate crime acts). See id. at 4-9. This court, however, “has no jurisdiction to adjudicate any claims whatsoever under the federal criminal code.” See Joshua v. United States, 17 F.3d 378, 379 (Fed. Cir. 1994).

The court also lacks jurisdiction over plaintiffs civil claims. Plaintiff alleges that defendant negligently failed to protect him from harassment. See ECF No. 1 at 9. Although plaintiff does not specifically state the legal authority for this claim as part of the substantive allegations, the court assumes that he means to allege negligence pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act, which he fists on the first page of the complaint. See id. at 1 (stating, as a basis for this court’s jurisdiction, “The Federal Tort Claims Act (June 25, 1946, ch. 646, Title IV, 60 Stat. 812, “28 U.S.C. Pt. VI Ch. 171” and 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b))”).

As the Federal Circuit has explained, the Federal Tort Claims Act expressly states that “United States District Courts have ‘exclusive jurisdiction’ to determine the liability of the United States under the Federal Tori Claims Act,” Robleto v. United States, 634 Fed.Appx. 306, 308 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (citing 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b)(1), 2674). The United States Court of Federal Claims is not a district court. Moreover, “the Tucker Act itself confirms the exclusion [of such actions] by its provision limiting the Court of Federal Claims’ jurisdiction to ‘cases not sounding in tori.’ ” Id. (citing U.S. Marine, Inc. v. United States, 722 F.3d 1860, 1363, 1366 (Fed.Cir.2013)). Thus, the court cannot consider plaintiffs negligence claim,

Finally, plaintiff alleges that defendant violated a number of his constitutional rights, and should be held liable pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See ECF No. 1 at 4. After reciting the standard for liability under section 1983, plaintiff quotes the first, fourth, fifth, eighth, ninth, and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution. See id. at 4-5. In this section of the complaint, he also claims that internet access is a “human right.” Id. at 4. “It is well established, however, that § 1983 does not confer jurisdiction on the Court of Federal Claims over claims against the United States.” Johnson v. United States, 135 F.3d 778 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (citing Blassingame v. United States, 33 Fed. Cl. 504, 505 (“Section 1983 is not a jurisdiction-granting statute.”), aff'd, 73 F.3d 379 (Fed.Cir.1995), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1237, 116 S.Ct. 1885, 135 L.Ed.2d 179 (1996)). See also Doe v. United States, 74 Fed.Cl. 794, 798 (2006) (noting that section 1983 vests exclusive jurisdiction in United States District Courts).

B. Pending Motions

Along with his complaint, plaintiff filed two motion: (1) a motion to proceed in forma pauperis, ECF No. 3, and (2) a motion requesting the transfer of a district court case to this court, ECF No. 4.

In order to be eligible for in forma pauperis status, which allows the case to proceed without prepayment of fees, plaintiff must submit an affidavit demonstrating that “the person is unable to pay such fees or give security therefor,” 28 U.S..C. § 1915(a)(1). Here, the financial information included on plaintiffs affidavit indicates that he does not meet this statutory standard. Plaintiff attests to the facts that he earns approximately $58,000 per year, and has $1500 in savings. See ECF No. 3 at 2. As such, the court finds that in forma pauperis status is not warranted in this case.

Plaintiff also seeks to transfer to this court a case pending before another court, and to consolidate it with the present matter, See ECF No. 4 at 1.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

BROWN v. United States
Federal Claims, 2025
Reyna v. United States
Federal Claims, 2022
Francis v. United States
Federal Claims, 2021
Embrey v. United States
Federal Claims, 2020
Sepehry-Fard v. United States
Federal Claims, 2019
Weeks v. United States
Federal Claims, 2019
Riley v. United States
Federal Claims, 2019
Weir v. United States
Federal Claims, 2018
Augusta v. United States
Federal Claims, 2018
Darling v. United States
Federal Claims, 2018
Hawkins v. United States
Federal Claims, 2018
Brestle v. United States
Federal Claims, 2018
Maldonado v. United States
Federal Claims, 2017
Scranage, Jr. v. United States
Federal Claims, 2017

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
133 Fed. Cl. 390, 2017 U.S. Claims LEXIS 909, 2017 WL 3276883, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/khalil-v-united-states-uscfc-2017.