Background
The United States Court of Federal Claims entered judgment dismissing Antonio Letrell Brown’s complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on August twenty-fifth, two thousand and twenty-five. Mr. Brown’s notice of appeal was received by the Court of Federal Claims on November fourteenth, two thousand and twenty-five. The Federal Circuit directed the parties to show cause whether the appeal should be dismissed as untimely. The United States urged dismissal, and Mr. Brown did not respond to the court’s show cause order.
The court’s reasoning
To be timely, a notice of appeal must typically be received by the Court of Federal Claims within sixty days of the entry of the final judgment. This statutory deadline is mandatory and jurisdictional, such that the court may not excuse a late notice. Because the notice of appeal was not received within that time, the court lacks jurisdiction and must dismiss. Although it appears Mr. Brown was incarcerated at the time he filed his notice, he did not submit any declaration or evidence establishing that he deposited his notice of appeal in the institution’s mail system with first-class postage prepaid on or before the last day for filing.
What it means going forward
The dismissal reinforces that the sixty-day filing deadline for appeals from the Court of Federal Claims is strictly enforced and cannot be waived for untimely filings, even for incarcerated litigants who fail to provide proof of timely mailing.
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