Elisha Cummings v. United States

N OTE: This order is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
ELISHA CUMMINGS,
Plaintiff-Appellant
v.
UNITED STATES,
Defendant-Appellee
______________________
2025-1292
______________________
Appeal from the United States Court of Federal Claims
in No. 1:24-cv-00949-MRS, Judge Molly R. Silfen.
______________________
ON MOTION
______________________
Before D YK, P ROST , and CHEN, Circuit Judges.
P ER CURIAM .
O R D E R
The United States moves to summarily affirm the judg-
ment of the United States Court of Federal Claims dismiss-
ing Elisha Cummings’s complaint over a private landlord-
tenant dispute for lack of jurisdiction. Ms. Cummings has
not responded but has filed an opening brief.
Case: 25-1292 Document: 6 Page: 1 Filed: 03/19/2025

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CUMMINGS v. US 2
The Court of Federal Claims has jurisdiction only over
certain monetary claims against the United States “not
sounding in tort,” 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1); United States v.
Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 588 (1941). Here, the trial court
was clearly correct that it could not entertain Ms. Cum-
mings’s claims over her private-property dispute. After
considering all of Ms. Cummings’s arguments in her open-
ing brief, the court agrees with the government that sum-
mary affirmance is appropriate because dismissal was “so
clearly correct as a matter of law that no substantial ques-
tion regarding the outcome of the appeal exists.” Joshua v.
United States, 17 F.3d 378, 380 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
Accordingly,
I T I S O RDERED T HAT :
(1) The motion is granted. The judgment of the United
States Court of Federal Claims is affirmed.
(2) Each party shall bear its own costs.
March 19, 2025
Date
F OR THE COURT
Case: 25-1292 Document: 6 Page: 2 Filed: 03/19/2025

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