Jimmy Lee Watson, Plaintiff-appellant, v. the United States, Defendant-appellee, 91 F.3d 166 (Fed. Cir. 1996)

Jimmy Lee Watson appeals the decision of the United States Court of Federal Claims, Watson v. United States, No. 95-741C (November 7, 1995), dismissing his complaint for lack of jurisdiction on the ground (1) that it was filed out of time, and (2) that Watson pled causes of action over which the court had no subject matter jurisdiction. We affirm.

DISCUSSION

Watson served in the United States Army from 1969 to some time in the early 1970s. In October 1995, he brought suit in the Court of Federal Claims, alleging that he had suffered discrimination and humiliation during his recruitment and subsequent service in the Army. He sought to recover damages from the United States in the amount of $1,250,000.

Each of the two grounds upon which the Court of Federal Claims based its dismissal of Watson's suit compels an affirmance. First, under 28 U.S.C. § 2501 (1994), a suit must be brought in the Court of Federal Claims within six years of the date the cause of action accrued. Watson's complaint, filed over twenty years after the discriminatory acts occurred, plainly was out of time. Second, the Court of Federal Claims has no jurisdiction over claims for damages resulting from the denial of civil rights. Sanders v. United States, 34 Fed. Cl. 75, 80 (1995). Even had Watson's suit been timely filed, the court would have had no subject matter jurisdiction over the case.

Each party shall bear its own costs.