Source: http://pa.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20140714_0001574.MPA.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2018-02-19 12:39:10
Document Index: 562473772

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2401', '§ 2675', '§ 3716', '§285', '§ 3728', '§ 3716', '§ 3716']

JUSTIN SHIELDS, Plaintiff
The plaintiff is a federal prisoner who was housed in the United States Penitentiary, Canaan. In his complaint the plaintiff brought an action against the United States of America pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”) 28 U.S.C. § 2401, et seq. and 28 U.S.C. § 2675, et seq. The plaintiff’s pro se complaint recited that, in June of 2011, the prison served inmates chicken fajitas. (Doc. 1.) According to the plaintiff, the chicken was bad, and was tainted with salmonella bacteria. (Id.) Consequently, the plaintiff contracted food poisoning, and suffered excruciating pain and symptoms which included headaches, diarrhea, abdominal pains, nausea, chills, vomiting, inability to eat and profuse sweating. (Id.) Alleging negligence on the part of the prison in the preparation and service of this food, the plaintiff sought damages from the defendant.
On June 30, 2014, the plaintiff filed a document, (Doc. 16.), alleging that this settlement has not been fully consummated in that he had not received his payment under the settlement agreement. Accordingly, in order to address this concern we ordered the defendant to file a response to this pleading, either clarifying the status of efforts to consummate the settlement, or otherwise responding to the plaintiff’s pleadings. (Doc. 17.)
The defendant has now filed a response, (Doc. 18.), which explains that, while a full payment was made to the plaintiff by the U.S. Treasury pursuant to this settlement agreement, the Treasury, which is not a party to this case, also has statutory authority to collect delinquent non-tax debts owed to the federal government by offsetting payments made by other federal agencies. 31 U.S.C. § 3716; 31 C.F.R. §285.5(a)(1). According to the defendant, these offsets can occur for child support, federal taxes, state taxes, restitution or any other delinquent amount owed to the federal, state, or local government and payments made from the Judgment Fund to satisfy awards are statutorily required to be offset pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 3728 and 31 U.S.C. § 3716. Therefore, absent some explicit statutory language to the contrary, there is no exception to this legal requirement that these payments be offset.
In light of this response, for the reasons set forth below, it is recommended that any request to reopen this case should be DENIED since the defendant has substantially complied with the terms of the agreement, but under other provisions of federal law the plaintiff’s settlement payment has been applied to the plaintiff’s outstanding, pre-existing financial obligations.
The practice of withholding federal payment in satisfaction of a debt is known as an administrative offset. Reeves v. Astrue, 526 F.3d 732, 738 n. 3 (11th Cir.), petition for cert. filed (U.S. Aug. 1, 2008) (No. 08-5605). The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1982, 31 U.S.C. &sect;&sect; 3701 et seq., authorizes the Treasury Department &ldquo;to collect non-tax debts by withholding funds paid out by other federal agencies.&rdquo; Reeves, 526 F.3d at 738 n. 3; see 31 U.S.C. &sect; 3716(a); 31 C.F.R. &sect; 285.5. Pursuant to the TOP, any federal agency with a claim against the debtor, after notifying the debtor that the debt is subject to administrative offset and providing an opportunity to dispute the debt or make arrangements to pay it, may collect the debt by administrative offset. See 31 U.S.C. § 3716(a), (c)(6). In order to do so, the creditor agency must certify to Treasury that the debt is eligible for ...