Sovereign immunity — FTCA highlights

28 U.S.C. §§1346(b), 2671-2680

The rule

The Federal Tort Claims Act waives federal sovereign immunity for money-damages claims arising from the negligent or wrongful acts of federal employees acting within the scope of employment, applying the substantive tort law of the place where the act occurred. Key exceptions preserve immunity for (1) discretionary functions involving policy judgment, (2) most intentional torts (though assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, abuse of process, and malicious prosecution by federal law-enforcement officers are actionable), (3) claims arising from combatant activities or in foreign countries, and (4) strict-liability claims. A claimant must first exhaust administrative remedies with the appropriate federal agency, and trial is to the court without a jury.

In plain English

The FTCA is how you sue the United States in tort. Watch for the discretionary-function exception — it swallows most policy-level decisions — and the administrative-exhaustion requirement, which is a common bar-exam trip-wire.

Memory hook

Waived: employee negligence in scope. Not waived: DISCRETION, most INTENTIONAL torts, FOREIGN acts, STRICT liability.

The trap

Assuming any government tort is barred (it isn't) or that all intentional torts are barred (the law-enforcement proviso is a major exception).

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