Source: http://openjurist.org/959/f2d/12
Timestamp: 2017-01-24 16:40:45
Document Index: 522476638

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1346', '§ 2680', '§ 2680', '§ 4213', '§ 2', '§ 4213', '§ 2', '§ 4203', '§ 3602', '§ 3606', '§ 3653']

959 F2d 12 Wilson v. United States | OpenJurist
959 F. 2d 12 - Wilson v. United States HomeFederal Reporter, Second Series 959 F.2d.
959 F2d 12 Wilson v. United States 959 F.2d 12
Lawrence WILSON, Plaintiff-Appellant,v.UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 652, Docket 91-2391.
Argued Jan. 10, 1992.Decided March 17, 1992.
The government is entitled to invoke sovereign immunity with respect to claims asserted against the United States. Lehman v. Nakshian, 453 U.S. 156, 160, 101 S.Ct. 2698, 2701, 69 L.Ed.2d 548 (1981); Akutowicz v. United States, 859 F.2d 1122, 1125 (2d Cir.1988). Congress has chosen to waive immunity as to certain claims against the United States by creating the FTCA. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671 et seq.; see Lambertson v. United States, 528 F.2d 441, 443 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 921, 96 S.Ct. 2627, 49 L.Ed.2d 374 (1976). The waiver is not absolute. Rather, the FTCA specifically defines the limited causes of action that may be maintained against the federal government. A list of exceptions further narrows the availability of claims that may be asserted against the United States. 28 U.S.C. § 2680. Section 2680(h), commonly known as the intentional tort exception, bars all claims "arising out of assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, libel, slander, misrepresentation, deceit, or interference with contract rights." Id. at § 2680(h) (emphasis added). By its terms, however, the exception does not apply to the "acts or omissions of investigative or law enforcement officers," so that the federal government remains liable for the intentional torts of those officers. Id. The statute defines "investigative or law enforcement officer[ ] [as] any officer of the United States who is empowered by law to execute searches, to seize evidence, or to make arrests for violations of Federal law." Id.
Federal law and regulations do not vest parole officers with the power to make arrests. 18 U.S.C. § 4213; 28 C.F.R. § 2.46. Parole officers seeking to arrest parolees may only recommend that the USPC issue an arrest warrant. Even if the warrant issues, the statute does not confer upon parole officers the authority to execute it. That function is reserved to "officer[s] of any Federal penal or correctional institution, or any Federal officer authorized to serve criminal process within the United States." 18 U.S.C. § 4213(d). Thus, parole officers lack arrest powers that would qualify them as investigative or law enforcement officers under the FTCA.
When observing contraband in plain view during a regular supervisory visit, a parole officer may seize evidence only with the parolee's consent. See 28 C.F.R. § 2.40(a)(12); Parole Commission Procedures Manual at 113, para. 2.40-14(a), (b). Because the power to seize evidence depends on the consent of the person from whom the evidence is to be taken, however, parole officers lack the seizure power contemplated by section 2680(h), and thus cannot be considered law enforcement personnel.
Wilson argues that the regulations of the USPC do not properly interpret the statutory powers given parole officers. Where an agency interprets a statute within the agent's area of expertise, however, courts will defer to that reading if it is "sufficiently reasonable." Detsel v. Sullivan, 895 F.2d 58, 62 (2d Cir.1990) (citing Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 844-45, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 2782-83, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984)). As the USPC authorizing statute does not vest parole officers with any of the law enforcement powers identified in section 2680(h), much less the power to seize evidence, the district court properly deferred to the agency interpretation that Congress did not intend to grant such powers to parole officers.
Wilson's final argument rests on the premise that a probation officer acting as a parole officer simultaneously may exercise the powers of a probation officer. Since the repeal of the parole statutes, Pub.L. No. 98-473, 98 Stat. 2027, 2031 (Oct. 12, 1984), the USPC supervises inmates convicted before repeal by enlisting probation officers to perform the functions of parole officers. See 18 U.S.C. § 4203(b)(4); see also 18 U.S.C. §§ 3602, 3655. Thus, some probation officers wear two hats, sometimes acting as parole officers, other times as probation officers, depending on who is being supervised. By statute, probation officers have the power to arrest "[i]f there is probable cause to believe that [the] probationer ... violated a condition of his probation." 18 U.S.C. § 3606; see also 18 U.S.C. § 3653. Wilson contends that because all parole officers are probation officers and probation officers have the power to make arrests, parole officers are law enforcement officers for the purposes of the FTCA exception. This argument is unavailing.