Federal Tort Claims Act

The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), enacted in 1946 and codified at 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 1402(b), 2401(b), and 2671–2680, is the principal mechanism by which an injured person may sue the United States for the negligent or wrongful acts of federal employees. Before the FTCA, sovereign immunity barred most tort suits against the federal government, leaving claimants to pursue private bills in Congress for individual relief. The FTCA waived that immunity in defined circumstances and channeled claims into federal district court.

The statute operates as a limited consent to suit. Under § 1346(b), the United States is liable for personal injury, property damage, and wrongful death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of a federal employee acting within the scope of employment, under circumstances in which a private person would be liable to the claimant under the law of the place where the act or omission occurred. The 'law of the place' phrase makes state tort law the substantive source of liability — federal law supplies only the waiver of immunity and the procedural framework.

FTCA claims are subject to a strict administrative-exhaustion requirement under § 2675(a). Before filing suit, the claimant must present an administrative claim in writing to the appropriate federal agency within two years of the claim's accrual. The agency has six months to deny the claim or make a final disposition. Only after the agency denies the claim, or six months passes without a final disposition, may the claimant file suit in federal district court — and suit must be filed within six months of the agency's denial. These deadlines are jurisdictional and unforgiving.

Section 2680 carves out broad exceptions to the FTCA's waiver of immunity. The most important is the discretionary-function exception under § 2680(a), which preserves immunity for acts based on the exercise or performance of a discretionary function. Other exceptions include claims arising from postal mishandling, tax assessment and collection, intentional torts (with exceptions for assaults, batteries, and false arrests by law-enforcement officers under the law-enforcement proviso), claims from foreign-country torts, and combatant activities of the military during war.

FTCA cases are tried to the bench, not a jury, under § 2402. Damages are limited to actual compensatory damages — punitive damages are barred under § 2674. Pre-judgment interest is also unavailable. Successful FTCA claimants may obtain substantial recoveries when the underlying tort is severe, but the procedural and substantive limits make FTCA litigation a specialized area requiring early attention to administrative deadlines.