Opinion ID: 215188
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Public Vessels Act, Suits in Admiralty Act, and Federal Tort Claims Act

Text: Each of these three Acts provides an explicit waiver of sovereign immunity. The PVA waives sovereign immunity for suits for damages caused by a public vessel of the United States. 46 U.S.C. § 31102(a)(1). But the PVA contains a reciprocity requirement: A national of a foreign country may sue under the PVA only if the government of that foreign country would permit a United States national to bring the same suit in its courts. Id. § 31111. The SAA waives sovereign immunity, subject to some exceptions, in admiralty cases when a civil action could otherwise be brought if the United States were not a party. Id. § 30903(a); see Earles v. United States, 935 F.2d 1028, 1032 (9th Cir.1991) (recognizing a discretionary function exception to that waiver). Finally, the FTCA waives sovereign immunity in tort actions brought against the United States, subject to certain exceptions listed in 28 U.S.C. § 2680. Because each of those three Acts provides a separate, explicit waiver of sovereign immunity, one might expect that any of the three waivers would suffice. For example, one would think that a claim brought under the SAA could proceed if the waiver requirements for that Act were met. For historical reasons, however, that is not how the Acts work together. In United States v. United Continental Tuna Corp., 425 U.S. 164, 170-81, 96 S.Ct. 1319, 47 L.Ed.2d 653 (1976), the Supreme Court explained the relevant history. The Court concluded that a plaintiff who brings an admiralty claim that falls within the scope of the PVA must meet the PVA's reciprocity requirement, even though the text of the SAA suggests that a claim brought under the SAA need not meet that requirement. Id. at 181, 96 S.Ct. 1319. In Taghadomi v. United States, 401 F.3d 1080, 1089-90 (9th Cir. 2005), we held that the same reasoning applies to potential claims under the FTCA. In short, if a claim falls within the scope of the PVA, the plaintiff must meet the reciprocity requirement of the PVA, regardless of the type of claim the plaintiff assertsPVA, SAA, or FTCA. We turn, then, to whether Plaintiffs' claims fall within the scope of the PVA.