Court Opinion

ID: 9461186
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:08:13.214947+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:56.319782
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
I concur in Judge Van Oosterhout’s excellent analysis of the requirements for exhaustion of administrative remedies as a prerequisite to suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
The Government on appeal urges two defenses as grounds for affirmance: 1) failure of appellant to exhaust administrative remedies, and 2) the running of the applicable statute of limitations. With respect to the latter defense, it is appropriate to observe that appellant may have indirectly given actual notice to the Post Office Department- of the amount of her claim by serving a summons and complaint, in the state court action, within two years of the accrual of the claim. See 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b).1 Appellant brought the state action, which was subsequently removed to federal court, against the driver-postal employee involved in the accident. Whether such notice suffices to satisfy the administrative claim filing requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 2675(a) and the applicable regulation thereunder2 and thus serves to bring appellant’s claim within the statute of limitations, is a question not before us on this appeal and on which I express no opinion.

. 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b) reads as follows :
(b) A tort claim against the United States shall be forever barred unless it. is presented in writing to the appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues or unless action is begun within six months after the date of mailing, by certified or registered mail, of notice of final denial of the claim by the agency to which it was presented.

. 39 C.F.R. § 912.5 provides :
For purpose of this part, a claim shall be deemed to have been presented when the U. S. Postal Service receives from a claimant, his duly authorized agent or legal representative, an executed Standard Form 95, Claim for Damage or Injury, or other written notification of an incident, accompanied by a claim for money damages in a sum certain for injury to or loss of property, personal injury, or death alleged to liave occurred by reason of the incident. Standard Form 95 may be obtained from postmaster, postal inspectors, or other local Postal Service establishments.