The Court of Federal Claims is a specialized Federal court which has jurisdiction over disputes concerning certain actions of the government including disputes involving government contracts. Mr. Barnes was recently admitted to this specialized Court in connection with an action against the U.S. Postal Service which, as alleged in the Complaint, breached a lease with Mr. Barnes’ client regarding proper maintenance of a postal facility after the client put the Postal Service on notice of certain dangerous conditions in the facility. A fire subsequently burned the facility and an adjacent residence to the ground, resulting in over $1,000,000.00 in damages to Mr. Barnes’ client.

The Court of Federal Claims deals with contract-based claims under what is known as the “Tucker Act”, which is a Federal statute providing for jurisdiction of contract-based claims against the government..

“Tort” claims against the government, such as negligence-based claims, are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts implementing state substantive law,. These types of claims are subject to certain very specific pre-suit procedures including the detailed submission of a claim prior to any suit being initiated, which can only occur upon denial of the initial claim if the denial is made within the specified timeframe (normally 60 days after submission of a claim), or if the government entity fails to respond to the claim within the 60 days after the claim is submitted to the government entity.

Mr. Barnes’ client has submitted negligence-based claims as to the actions and inactions of the postal service in failing to remediate the dangerous conditions which, as alleged, both caused the fire and contributed to the total destruction of the postal facility and the adjacent residence resulting in significant damages to Mr. Barnes’ client. The case law provides that the government entity is liable to the property owner for damages when it negligently maintains a property used by the entity, and also where the government entity has been placed on notice of the dangerous conditions prior to the event which caused injury and damages.

National Law Group, PLLC