Opinion ID: 785220
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Discretionary Function Exception to Federal Tort Claims Act Liability

Text: 13 Negligence in not directing Bultema to give a copy of his pass to unit management, if proven, would amount to negligence in following a nondiscretionary policy, and that particular negligence claim is accordingly not protected by the discretionary function exception to FTCA liability. Therefore, the district court should not have granted summary judgment to the Government. The Government relies on the discretionary function exception, which precludes tort liability on the part of the United States for 14 (a) Any claim based upon an act or omission of an employee of the Government, exercising due care, in the execution of a statute or regulation, whether or not such statute or regulation be valid, or based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a federal agency or an employee of the Government, whether or not the discretion involved be abused. 15 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a). 16 There is a two-step test to determine whether the discretionary function exception is applicable. See United States v. Gaubert, 499 U.S. 315, 322-23, 111 S.Ct. 1267, 113 L.Ed.2d 335 (1991); Reetz v. United States, 224 F.3d 794, 795-96 (6th Cir.2000). A court first must make a determination of whether the challenged act or omission violated a mandatory regulation or policy that allowed no judgment of choice. Rosebush v. United States, 119 F.3d 438, 441 (6th Cir.1997). The court only needs to consider the second step if the action was discretionary under the first step. Reetz, 224 F.3d at 796. Under the second step, if the conduct was of the type that Congress intended for the discretionary function exception to include, then the exception is applicable. Id. The intent of Congress was to prevent judicial `second guessing' of legislative and administrative decisions grounded in social, economic, and political policy. Rosebush, 119 F.3d at 441 (internal quotation omitted). 17 Examples of exercises of discretionary functions under this analysis include a decision to institute a program of producing and exporting fertilizer, Dalehite v. United States, 346 U.S. 15, 37-38, 73 S.Ct. 956, 97 L.Ed. 1427 (1953); a decision to install a system of coastal navigational aids, Indian Towing Co. v. United States, 350 U.S. 61, 69, 76 S.Ct. 122, 100 L.Ed. 48 (1955); a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) policy decision to spot check airplanes rather than to inspect them in detail, United States v. S.A. Empresa de Viacao Aerea Rio Grandense (Varig Airlines), 467 U.S. 797, 815-19, 104 S.Ct. 2755, 81 L.Ed.2d 660 (1984); a U.S. Forest Service policy of not placing protective railings around campground fire pits, Rosebush, 119 F.3d at 443-44; and a U.S. Forest Service policy of not marking off-road-vehicle trails that are closed (but rather marking only those that are open), Reetz, 224 F.3d at 797. 18 Where a particular government action is a deliberate or necessary result of a discretionary general policy, such that a tort suit based on the particular act or omission would amount to a challenge to the protected across-the-board policy, then the discretionary function exception applies as well. Thus, the discretionary function exception protected the United States against suits for the use of a high bagging temperature fixed by a discretionary plan to manufacture fertilizer, Dalehite, 346 U.S. at 38-41, 73 S.Ct. 956, for the failure of the FAA to inspect a particular aircraft because of the FAA's spot-check policy, Varig Airlines, 467 U.S. at 819-20, 104 S.Ct. 2755, and for a particular failure of the Forest Service to mark an off-road-vehicle trail as closed, Reetz, 224 F.3d at 795. 19 But where a particular government action is not a necessary result of such a general policy, the act does not necessarily amount to an exercise of a discretionary function merely because carrying out the general policy provided the opportunity for the negligent act. Thus the United States can be liable for the Coast Guard's negligent maintenance of a navigational aid, even though the decision to employ such aids was an exercise of a discretionary function. Indian Towing, 350 U.S. at 69, 76 S.Ct. 122. Negligence in maintaining the aid is not a necessary concomitant of the decision to employ such aids. A fortiori, if a particular act violates a governmental policy, the act cannot be protected under the discretionary function exception by the fact that the violated policy itself was an exercise of a discretionary function. 20 In order to undertake a proper discretionary function analysis, then, we must first determine the exact conduct at issue. Rosebush, 119 F.3d at 441. In the court below, Bultema not only claimed that the failure to provide Bultema with a copy of the pass along with directions on whom to give it to, but also appeared to challenge the prison's policy of not having rails on upper bunks and the prison's policy of relying on prison inmates to notify unit management of the issuance of bunk passes, rather than having the issuer of the pass notify unit management directly. Bultema now properly concedes that such claims are barred by the discretionary function exception. The decision generally not to have bed rails, and the decision to have inmates notify unit management of a bunk pass, both involve the type of across-the-board policy-making judgment that the discretionary function exception was meant to leave to federal administrators, in this case prison administrators. As the district court reasoned, 21 the policy-makers apparently decided that the quickest and most efficient method for communicating a medically-necessary bottom bunk assignment to the unit officer was to utilize the inmate himself.... In fact, this policy has intuitive appeal especially where, as here, it deals with something that every inmate apparently wants, i.e., a bottom bunk. 22 Bultema v. United States, 195 F.Supp.2d 1001, 1008 (N.D.Ohio 2002). The district court also reasoned properly that 23 with respect to [the] claim that the bunk beds should have had ladders and/or guardrails, this, too, is a discretionary call to be made by prison administrators. There were valid safety and security concerns relating to the beds at issue. Guard rails, and sometimes ladders, are not included because of the danger that they can be broken off and used as weapons or escape devices. 24 Id. In short, these policies are akin to the spot-check policy in Varig Airlines and the no-campfire-rail policy in Rosebush. As Bultema now concedes, the district court properly granted summary judgment on these claims as barred by the discretionary function exception. 25 Bultema's remaining claim, however, is that the prison was negligent in carrying out its bunk-pass-notification policy. The allegedly negligent act or omission is not a necessary concomitant of the prison's notification policy, but rather is allegedly in contravention with, or at least not required by, that policy. Bultema claims that the prison was negligent in not informing him of the process by which he would obtain his bottom bunk after receiving a pass. In particular, the prison allegedly failed to provide him with verbal instructions along with two copies of the bottom bunk pass. So limited, Bultema's claim is not barred by the discretionary function exception. 26 First, the discretionary function exception arguably does not apply to Bultema's limited claim because Elkton's policy for handling bottom bunk passes did not give the medical staff or the unit management any discretion, but rather dictated their actions. As the Supreme Court has explained, 27 the discretionary function exception will not apply when a federal statute, regulation, or policy specifically prescribes a course of action for an employee to follow. In this event, the employee has no rightful option but to adhere to the directive. And if the employee's conduct cannot appropriately be the product of judgment or choice, then there is no discretion in the conduct for the discretionary function exception to protect. 28 Berkovitz v. United States, 486 U.S. 531, 536, 108 S.Ct. 1954, 100 L.Ed.2d 531 (1988). The allegedly negligent behavior of the prison's employees in failing to instruct Bultema would not be discretionary under this analysis. Therefore, the discretionary function exception would be inapplicable as to the failure of the prison to notify Bultema of his responsibility to tell unit management and the failure to give him two copies of the pass. 29 Moreover, under the second step of a discretionary function analysis, even if the prison employees retained some discretion in carrying out the bunk-pass policy, that discretion was not of the type that the discretionary function exception was intended to protect. The alleged failure to direct Bultema to give a copy of his pass to unit management was a particular act or omission that was not required by the across-the-board bunk-bed policy, and indeed it was arguably in violation of that policy. It was therefore not protected by the discretionary function exception. The failure is instead analogous to the Coast Guard's failure to maintain a particular navigational aid in Indian Towing. 2 The discretionary function exception therefore did not warrant summary judgment for this limited claim.