Opinion ID: 3036664
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: FTCA’s DISCRETIONARY FUNCTION

Text: EXCEPTION [1] The United States “can be sued only to the extent that it has waived its immunity.” United States v. Orleans, 425 U.S. 807, 814 (1976). The FTCA waives the federal government’s immunity from suit for a discrete class of lawsuits. 28 U.S.C. §§ 2671-80 (2005). This waiver, however, is limited by the discretionary function exception, precluding “[a]ny claim based upon an act or omission of an employee of the Government . . . based upon . . . a discretionary function or duty.” 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a). The Supreme Court has estab2878 OBERSON v. USDA lished a two-part test for application of the discretionary function exception. See United States v. Gaubert, 499 U.S. 315, 322-25 (1991); Berkovitz v. United States, 486 U.S. 531, 53637 (1988). First, courts inquire as to whether the challenged action was discretionary, as opposed to being governed by mandatory statute, policy, or regulation. Whisnant v. United States, 400 F.3d 1177, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2005) (summarizing Berkovitz test). Second, if the court finds the action to have been discretionary, it then determines whether the action involved “a decision susceptible to social, economic, or political policy analysis.” Id. at 1181; see also O’Toole v. United States, 295 F.3d 1029, 1033-34 (9th Cir. 2002). If the challenged action was both discretionary and policy driven, the discretionary function exception bars FTCA claims. We review de novo the district court’s application of the discretionary function exception. Marlys Bear Med. v. United States, 241 F.3d 1208, 1213 (9th Cir. 2001). [2] There is no serious claim that the Forest Service’s actions in this case were mandated by statute, policy or regulation. The question is whether its discretionary actions were policy driven. The Forest Service argues that the absence of a warning sign at the hill was the direct result of the 1993 warranting process protected by the discretionary function exception. But as the Forest Service’s brief explains, the warranting process was conducted at a route design speed of 35 mph and did not identify the hill as a hazard. Later, in 1996, the Service raised the speed limit to 45 mph—the limit in effect at the time of the accident—simply to conform to the speed limit in Yellowstone Park, resulting in the creation of the hazardous condition at the hill. Because the trails were never warranted at the higher speed limit of 45 mph, the Service is not shielded by the warranting process. [3] The Service’s argument that the decision not to rewarrant the trails in 1996 was protected by the discretionary function exception misses the point. Undoubtedly, its decision whether to warrant trails is protected, as is its decision to OBERSON v. USDA 2879 adopt a 45 mph speed limit. But not having warranted the trails at 45 mph, the Service cannot claim that its failure to warn of hazardous conditions at that speed is protected by the discretionary function exception. [4] Inasmuch as the warranting process does not shield the Service under the circumstances of this case, we must consider whether the failure to post a warning at the hill is protected by the discretionary function exception. Whether it is protected depends on whether the Service’s action—or inaction—was grounded in social, economic or political policy. Other than its (misplaced) reliance on the 1993 warranting process, the Service offers no evidence to show that its failure to post a warning was the result of a policy decision. This case is not like Childers v. United States, 40 F.3d 973 (9th Cir. 1995), where the decision not to post signs and to close portions of Yellowstone National Park were the result of policy decisions regarding how best to manage the park during winter. The court explained: Unable to maintain all the trails in the park, cognizant that posting warning signs would inadvertently attract visitors to unmaintained trails, and unable to post signs throughout the park, NPS could only decide to close large portions of the park, or to keep the park open, provide visitors with information on the hazards, and take steps to discourage visitors from going to hazardous areas. Id. at 976. Similarly, in Valdez v. United States, 56 F.3d 1177 (9th Cir. 1995), the failure to install warning signs alongside a potentially hazardous stream was held to “implicate[ ] a choice between the competing policy considerations of maximizing access to and preservation of natural resources versus the need to minimize potential safety hazards.” Id. at 1180; see also Blackburn v. United States, 100 F.3d 1426, 1434 (9th Cir. 1996) (following Valdez and Childers, holding the decision how to warn public of the hazard of diving off a bridge 2880 OBERSON v. USDA in Yosemite National Park involved considerations of visitor enjoyment, preservation of historical features, minimizing manmade intrusions and protection of wildlife and the environment). [5] The case before us is different. It is more nearly analogous to cases such as Summers v. United States, 905 F.2d 1212, 1215-16 (9th Cir. 1990), holding the discretionary function did not protect the Park Service where it had failed to warn visitors of the danger of stepping on hot coals in a fire ring in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The court found that “NPS’s failure to identify and warn of the danger to barefoot visitors of hot coals on park beaches resembles more a departure from the safety considerations established in Service policies . . . than a mistaken judgment in a matter clearly involving [policy] choices.” Id. at 1216. Similarly, Faber v. United States, 56 F.3d 1122, 1127 (9th Cir. 1995), held that the Forest Service’s failure to post a sign warning of danger of diving off a waterfall in a National Forest was not protected by the discretionary function exception. The court stated: “It would be wrong to apply the discretionary function exception in a case where a low-level government employee made a judgment not to post a warning sign . . . .” Id. at 1125; see also Seyler v. United States, 832 F.2d 120, 123 (9th Cir. 1987) (stating “we doubt that any decision not to provide adequate signs would be of the nature and quality that Congress intended to shield from tort liability”) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). In Sutton v. Earles, 26 F.3d 903, 910 (9th Cir. 1994), the court held the Navy’s decision not to post speed limit signs after creating a hazard to navigation not protected by the discretionary function exception, stating that “[a] decision not to warn of a specific, known hazard for which the acting agency is responsible is not the kind of broader social, economic or political policy decision that the discretionary function exception is intended to protect.” Here, the Forest Service knew of the hazard through its own investigation, which disclosed that sixteen days prior to Musselman’s accident the hill in question had been the site of a OBERSON v. USDA 2881 potentially serious collision between a snow grooming machine and two snowmobiles. In the absence of any evidence that the failure to post a warning or remedy the hazard was the product of a policy choice, we conclude that the discretionary function exception did not shield the Forest Service from liability.