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Date: 03-25-2022
Case Style:
Case Number: 3:21-cv-01069-WQH-AGS
Judge: William Q. Hayes
Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of California (San Diego County)
Plaintiff's Attorney:
Defendant's Attorney: Michael A Garabed
Description: San Diego, California personal injury car wreck lawyer represented Plaintiff, who sued Defendant on a Federal Tort Claims Act auto negligence theory claiming to have suffered more than $75,000 in injuries and/or damages as a direct result of an accident caused by a federal government employee.
The Federal Tort Claims Act:
Those who litigate claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b),
2671-2680, are likely aware that the FTCA requires analogous tort liability against a “private individual
under like circumstances.” See 28 U.S.C. §§ 2674, 1346(b) (2010). The Supreme Court identified this
requirement as one of the six elements a claim must possess to fall within the FTCA’s limited waiver of
sovereign immunity. See F.D.I.C. v. Meyer, 510 U.S. 471, 477 (1994) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)). The
FTCA provides that courts may only exercise jurisdiction over:
claims against the United States, for money damages . . . for injury or loss of property, or
personal injury or death caused by their negligent or wrongful act or omission . . . under
circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the
claimant in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred.
28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1) (2010) (emphasis added). The statute also provides that:
[t]he United States shall be liable, respecting the provisions of this title relating to tort
claims, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like
circumstances.
28 U.S.C. § 2674 (2010) (emphasis added). Thus, if a private person under similar circumstances would
not be liable to the plaintiff for the alleged conduct, a court does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate the
FTCA claim. The only claims that fall within the purview of the FTCA are those where a private person
in like circumstances would be subject to liability. See United States v. Olson, 546 U.S. 43, 44 (2005).
Despite the fact that this requirement is mentioned on two separate occasions in the text of the
FTCA as an explicit limit on the Act’s waiver of sovereign immunity, it remains one of the statute’s most
misunderstood and underutilized jurisdictional conditions. One major difficulty with the proper
application and use of the analogous private liability requirement rests in the language of the statute
itself. The language in 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b) and § 2674 that sets forth the requirement is not a model of
clarity and may even be described as cryptic. The FTCA mentions the “law of the place” without
defining what place it is referring to – whether it is referring to a federal, state, or local jurisdiction – and
proceeds to rely on a “like circumstances” test, a vague standard devoid of any concrete meaning.
Another difficulty arises from the requirement’s ultimate outcome. The FTCA mandates that an analogy
be drawn between the United States and a private person – two seemingly incongruent and incomparable
things. Finally, the case law interpreting the requirement has taken a number of twists and turns since
Congress first passed the FTCA in the 1940s. In the end, the FTCA’s analogous private liability
requirement could be described as an awkward and counterintuitive jurisdictional prerequisite, but one
that leaves ample room for both sides to make compelling arguments in FTCA cases. Fortunately for the
FTCA litigator, the analogous private liability requirement can prove to be a powerful defensive weapon
when attempting to secure the dismissal of tort claims brought against the United States.
Outcome: 03/25/2022 13 ORDER granting 9 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction Signed by District Judge William Q. Hayes on 3/25/2022. (ave) (Entered: 03/25/2022)
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: