28 U.S.C. § 2517
Section 2517 · Payment of judgments
Amended 6 times on record
Applied in 104 court decisions — leading case Glidden Company v. Zdanok Lurk (1962)
Most recently applied in Moda Health Plan, Inc. v. United States (June 2018)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 28 U.S.C. § 1491 · 31 U.S.C. § 1304 · 28 U.S.C. § 2412
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Except as provided by chapter 71 of title 41, every final judgment rendered by the United States Court of Federal Claims against the United States shall be paid out of any general appropriation therefor, on presentation to the Secretary of the Treasury of a certification of the judgment by the clerk and chief judge of the court.
(b) Payment of any such judgment and of interest thereon shall be a full discharge to the United States of all claims and demands arising out of the matters involved in the case or controversy, unless the judgment is designated a partial judgment, in which event only the matters described therein shall be discharged.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §285, and sections 225, 228, of title 31, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Money and Finance, (R.S. §§236, 1089; Feb. 18, 1904, ch. 160, §1, 33 Stat. 41; Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §178, 36 Stat. 1141; June 10, 1921, ch. 18, §§304, 305, 42 Stat. 24; Feb. 13, 1925, ch. 229, §3(c), 43 Stat. 939).
Section consolidates section 285 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., and sections 225 and 228 of title 31, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Money and Finance.
Words “chief judge” were substituted for “the chief justice, or, in his absence, by the presiding judge of said court” in section 225 of title 31, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Money and Finance, in conformity with chapter 7 of this title.
Words “or, on review, by the Supreme Court, where the same are affirmed in favor of the claimant” in section 225 of title 31, U.S.C., 1940 ed., were omitted as unnecessary.
Provisions of section 228 of title 31, U.S.C., 1940 ed., for payment of district court judgments are incorporated in section 2414 of this title.
Changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
2011—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 111–350 substituted “chapter 71 of title 41” for “the Contract Disputes Act of 1978”.
1996—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104–316 substituted “Secretary of the Treasury” for “General Accounting Office”.
1992—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–572 substituted “United States Court of Federal Claims” for “United States Claims Court”.
1982—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 97–164, §139(k)(1), substituted “United States Claims Court” for “Court of Claims”.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 97–164, §139(k)(2), struck out the comma after “shall be discharged” thereby correcting a technical error in the directory language in Pub. L. 95–563 which placed both a comma and a period after “shall be discharged”.
1978—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 95–563, §14(e), inserted Contract Disputes Act of 1978 exception.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 95–563, §14(f), inserted provision relating to discharge of partial judgments.
Effective Date of 1992 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 102–572 effective Oct. 29, 1992, see section 911 of Pub. L. 102–572, set out as a note under section 171 of this title.
Effective Date of 1982 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 97–164 effective Oct. 1, 1982, see section 402 of Pub. L. 97–164, set out as a note under section 171 of this title.
Effective Date of 1978 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 95–563 effective with respect to contracts entered into 120 days after Nov. 1, 1978, and, at the election of the contractor, with respect to any claim pending at such time before the contracting officer or initiated thereafter, see section 16 of Pub. L. 95–563, Nov. 1, 1978, 92 Stat. 2391, formerly set out as an Effective Date note under section 601 of former Title 41, Public Contracts.