Tucker Act
Encyclopedia
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
has waived its sovereign immunity
Sovereign immunity
Sovereign immunity, or crown immunity, is a legal doctrine by which the sovereign or state cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from civil suit or criminal prosecution....
with respect to certain lawsuits.
The Tucker Act may be divided into the "Big" Tucker Act which applies to claims above $10,000 and gives exclusive jurisdiction to the United States Court of Federal Claims
United States Court of Federal Claims
The United States Court of Federal Claims is a United States federal court that hears monetary claims against the U.S. government. The court is established pursuant to Congress's authority under Article One of the United States Constitution...
and the "Little" Tucker Act which gives concurrent jurisdiction to the Court of Federal Claims and the District Courts for claims below $10,000.
Permitted lawsuits
Suits may arise out of express or implied contractContract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
s to which the government was a party. Damages may be liquidated
Liquidated damages
Liquidated damages are damages whose amount the parties designate during the formation of a contract for the injured party to collect as compensation upon a specific breach ....
or unliquidated. Suits may be brought for Constitutional claims, particularly taking of property by the government to be compensated under the Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
. Parties may bring suit for a refund of taxes paid. Explicitly excluded are suits in which a claim is based on a tort
Tort
A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general...
by the government.
The Tucker Act granted jurisdiction to the Court of Claims
Court of Claims
The Court of Claims in the United Kingdom is a special court established after the accession of a new Sovereign to judge the validity of the claims of persons to perform certain honorary services at the coronation of the new monarch....
over government contract money claims both for breach, and for relief under the contracts in the form of equitable adjustment. Not all government contracts
Government contracts
Government procurement in the United States is based on many of the same principles as commercial contracting, but is subject to special laws and regulation as described below....
are subject to the Tucker Act. For example, the Supreme Court, in Burr v. FHA, has stated that the Congress may organize "sue and be sued" agencies; such agencies may be sued in any court of otherwise competent jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
as if it were a private litigant, as long as the agency is to pay out the judgment from its own budget, not from the U.S. Treasury. Whether the agency or the Treasury is to pay depends on the congressional intent.
The Tucker Act in itself does not create any substantive rights, but must be paired with a "money mandating" statute that allows for the payment of money, per the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Testan.
Wunderlich Act
In United States v. WunderlichUnited States v. Wunderlich
United States v. Wunderlich, was a case decided before the United States Supreme Court.-Dispute:A dispute arose during the course of respondents' performance of a contract to build a dam for petitioner United States...
, (1951), the Supreme Court held that procurement agencies could preclude judicial review of their decisions relating to contract disputes (except as to fraud issues) by exacting the contractor's acquiescence in contract clauses making agency board's decisions final both as to fact and law. This result was not deemed desirable by Congress, which enacted the Wunderlich Act
Wunderlich Act
The Wunderlich Act of 1954 provided that if a contractor should appeal an administrative decision to a court, any administrative determinations of "questions of fact" arrived at under a disputes clause "shall be final and conclusive unless" unless grossly unsupportable.The United States Supreme...
to overturn that decision. Under the terms of this Act, board decisions could be accorded no finality on questions of law, but findings could be made final as to fact issues so far as supported by substantial evidence and not arbitrary or capricious, etc., and thus the statute restored a significant role to the Court of Claims.
Under the Wunderlich Act, the Court of Claims at first received testimony additional to that in the board record, determining whether board findings were supported by substantial evidence by weighing the findings against both record testimony and that newly taken. In United States v. Carlo Bianchi & Co., in 1963, the Supreme Court construed the Wunderlich Act to restrict the Court of Claims to a purely appellate function in disputes clause cases. The court could remand to the board for further testimony, if needed, but could not take any itself, nor make any fact findings.
The Court of Claims at that period, besides the Article III judges, included several persons called "commissioners" in the rules; later they were called "trial judges" and, collectively, the court's "trial division." The Bianchi decision appeared to eliminate any function for these commissioners to perform as to most contract disputes clause cases, for they were primarily takers of testimony and fact finders. However, the judges, having found the commissioners' services of value, were reluctant to dispense with them, and a way to utilize them was found. The rules were amended for Wunderlich cases only, Ct. Cl. Rule 163(b), to provide that in such cases both parties should file motions for summary judgment, which motions were referred to commissioners for advisory or recommended opinions. That there was no fact issue requiring trial was a conclusion forced by Bianchi. The commissioners usually reviewed the records, received briefs, and heard oral arguments. In other than Wunderlich cases, cross-motions for summary judgment went before the Article III judges with no participation by the commissioners. In Wunderlich cases, the recommended opinion of the commissioner was, unless acquiesced in by both parties, considered on exceptions, oral arguments, and new briefs by the Article III judges.
History
The Act was named after Congressman John Randolph TuckerJohn Randolph Tucker (1823-1897)
John Randolph Tucker was an American lawyer, author, and politician from Virginia. He was a member of the Tucker family, which was influential in the legal and political affairs of the state of Virginia and the United States for many years.-Early Life and Family:Tucker was born in Winchester,...
, of Virginia, who introduced it as a substitute for four other competing measures on government claims being considered by the House Judiciary Committee
United States House Committee on the Judiciary
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, administrative agencies and Federal law enforcement...
.