$60 Billion in Federal Payments: First-Ever Public Analysis of the Treasury Judgment Fund

The Treasury Judgment Fund is a permanent, indefinite appropriation established by Congress in 1956 (31 U.S.C. § 1304). When someone wins a lawsuit against the federal government, this fund pays out — no Congressional approval needed for individual payments.

Here are the most significant findings:

• The average payment is $525,149, but the median is just $5,000 — a staggering 105:1 ratio. A tiny number of massive payments dramatically skew the average.
• In 2020, federal payments spiked to $14.2 billion — nearly 10x the prior year ($1.5B in 2019). A single category, breach of contract, accounted for 89% of the spike.
• CMS and the Department of Energy are the top payers — each responsible for over $13 billion. Just 319 CMS cases averaged $42.8 million per payment.
• Federal medical malpractice accounts for 10,170 cases and $3.2 billion — the VA is by far the largest federal healthcare provider and the largest source of federal med mal claims.
• Traffic accidents are the most common claim type (37,668 cases) but generate relatively low payouts ($31K average). Contract disputes are the least common but highest value.

In 2020, federal payments surged from $1.5 billion to $14.2 billion — a 9.7x increase over the prior year. This wasn't a broad increase across all categories. The spike was driven almost entirely by one category:

While we cannot identify specific cases from the public data, the scale suggests one or more major government contract disputes resolved during this period, likely related to defense or healthcare procurement.

Federal payments fall into several distinct categories, each with very different payment profiles:

Breach of contract dominates by dollar value (49.5% of all payments) despite being a small fraction of cases. Meanwhile, traffic accidents under FTCA are the most common claim type (37,668 cases) but represent just 2% of total dollars paid.