Roger R. Chantal v. United States

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• finding that the NPS’s decision to not alter steps at a national monument or mark them with a visual warning involved policy considerations, and thus, the discretionary function exception barred plaintiffs negligence claim
• applying exception to installation of steps instead of ramp at Gateway Arch, which balanced safety with aesthetics
• affirming summary judgement where plaintiff did not “assert that he was injured as a result of negligently performed regular maintenance of the steps.”
• finding the design of steps leading to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial National Historic Site in St. Louis, Missouri, discretionary and therefore immune from a slip-and-fall case challenging the design of the steps as unsafe
• discretionary function exception is designed to prevent judicial “second guessing” of decisions made by government officials which are essentially grounded in social, economic, and political policy
• “Generally, when governmental policy permits the exercise of discretion, it is presumed that the acts are grounded in policy. Chantal has offered no evidence rebutting this presumption.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).