Civil Division
The Civil Division is called upon to defend the United States, its agencies or officials in a wide range of cases. These actions pertain to torts (motor vehicle accidents, slip and fall accidents, negligence by government agencies or officials), medical malpractice, federal officials sued in their individual capacity for constitutional violations under the Bivens rule, employment discrimination (race, sex, national origin, age, disability, reprisal, sexual orientation, sexual harassment), environmental, bankruptcy, state court foreclosures, Native American matters, Social Security appeals, subpoenas issued to federal employees for testimony in state courts, suits seeking injunctive relief, review of administrative agency action, and tax litigation.
The Civil Division is organized, in accordance with the major case types encountered in this District, into the following units: (1) General Civil; (2) Federal Foreclosures; (3) State Court Foreclosures and Bankruptcy; (4) Social Security Disability Appeals; (5) Financial Litigation Unit (FLU) and Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE); and (6) Asset Forfeiture.
Financial Litigation Unit
The collections component of the Civil Division has the primary responsibility of handling debt collection and affirmative claim litigation. The Financial Litigation Unit cooperates with the Court Clerk's Office and the United States Probation Office to assist in the collection of criminal fines, restitution and special assessments. The Financial Litigation Unit also has the primary responsibility for enforcing the collection of civil debts owing to the United States and victims of crime from a wide variety of sources.
The Financial Litigation Unit maintains collection files on approximately 910 criminal cases and 150 civil cases. This number has increased an average of 15% over the last year. Since the enactment of the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act mandates the collection of criminal restitution for a period of 20 years, this number is expected to increase dramatically over the next five to ten years.
As a result of its collection responsibility, the Financial Litigation Unit sustains strong relationships with civil client agencies and all members of the criminal justice team, i.e., the United States Marshal's Service, the United States Probation Office, the United States District Court Clerk's Office, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the local judiciary, the office's Victim-Witness Coordinator, victims and victim groups, and federal, state and local investigatory agencies.
Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE)
A growing factor in the Department's increased civil recoveries in the Affirmative Civil Enforcement program, which pursues the civil aspect of cases in which there has been a false claim or statement made to the United States, or where the public health, welfare or safety has been threatened. These cases are brought in lieu of, or in addition to, criminal prosecution and encompass a broad range of enforcement actions pursuant to various statutes.
The goal of the Civil Division is to fairly achieve the maximum amount of recovery with the least amount of cost for each affirmative claim or debt, consistent with applicable laws, regulations, policies and other governmental interests. The U.S. Attorney continues to emphasize the importance of the imposition and collection of criminal monetary impositions. Most of the dollars recovered will be returned to the victims and defrauded agencies. However, three percent of the dollars recovered from civil judgments are deposited into a special Department of Justice fund which is used to purchase the physical resources needed to support future collection efforts by the Financial Litigation Units in all of the U.S. Attorney offices.