Court Opinion

ID: 9489513
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:17:36.168985+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:34.359939
License: Public Domain

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I write separately to raise an important issue, not argued by the parties or addressed by the majority, which could be crucial in cases of this sort. That question is whether the discretionary function exception applies only to suits challenging affirmative “acts that involve an element of judgment or choice,” United States v. Gaubert, 499 U.S. 315, 322, 111 S.Ct. 1267, 1273, 113 L.Ed.2d *299335 (1991). Alternatively, the exception may also apply to government failures to act when any effort to act would likely have required an exercise of judgment grounded in considerations of public policy. The issue is therefore whether mere omissions as well as affirmative exercises of judgment are covered. In the present case, we are apparently addressing a mere omission.
The question I describe has arisen infrequently, since most reported cases involve affirmative discretionary actions or allegations of negligence in the administration of existing regulatory programs. As the majority notes, there is a two-part test for determining whether the discretionary function exception applies. The exception covers “acts that are discretionary in nature, acts that ‘involve an element of judgment or choice.’ ” Id., quoting Berkovitz v. United States, 486 U.S. 531, 536, 108 S.Ct. 1954, 1958, 100 L.Ed.2d 531 (1988). However, even if the act involves an element of judgment, it must also be shown that “that judgment is of the kind that the discretionary function exception was designed to shield.” Gaubert, 499 U.S. at 322, 111 S.Ct. at 1273, quoting Berkovitz, 486 U.S. at 536, 108 S.Ct. at 1959. Most often, the reported cases turn on whether a decision was of the kind shielded by the exception. This sort of analysis is in contrast to an inquiry whether there has actually been an act involving an element of judgment or choice. Two courts of appeals have considered the question whether the exception applies only to decisions actually made and have come to opposite conclusions.
The Ninth Circuit, in a ease relied upon by the majority, addressed a claim of failure to warn against dangers resulting from radiological exposure, which was similar to the claims presented here. In re Consolidated United States Atmospheric Testing Litigation, 820 F.2d 982 (9th Cir.1987), cert. denied sub nom. Konizeski v. Livermore Labs, 485 U.S. 905, 108 S.Ct. 1076, 99 L.Ed.2d 235 (1988). There, the appellants made the argument that the discretionary function exception could not apply in the absence of a “conscious decision” by the government not to warn possible victims. This contention was apparently based on lack of any evidence of measures taken before 1977 for actually deciding not to issue warnings. The U.S. Atmospheric court rejected the argument, reasoning that “[i]f the decision to issue or not to issue a ‘warning’ is within the discretionary function exception, then logically the failure to consider whether to issue one necessarily falls -within the exception as well.” Id. at 998-99.
The First Circuit, however, rejected the view that the discretionary function exception applies to anything that is hypothetically “susceptible of discretion.” Dube v. Pittsburgh Corning, 870 F.2d 790 (1st Cir.1989). That court noted that “the discretionary function exception applies only to conduct that involves the permissible exercise of policy judgment.” Id. at 796, quoting Berkovitz, 486 U.S. at 537, 108 S.Ct. at 1959. In that case, which involved the failure to warn a Navy shipyard worker of the dangers of asbestos, the First Circuit concluded that “[b]e-cause there was no exercise of judgment, the government appears to fail the threshold test of establishing that its conduct was protected from liability under the exception.” Dube, 870 F.2d at 796. The Dube court recognized that “[wjhere the activity is a traditional governmental function, it is possible that failure to exercise judgment will remain within the discretionary function exception,” id. at 798, but concluded that, on the facts of that case, the common law duty to warn remained intact.
Since these two eases were decided, the Supreme Court in Gaubert has returned to the issue of the scope of the discretionary function exception. The specific situation addressed by Gaubert was whether there was a distinction between “policy decisions” and “operational actions,” a question which is of no relevance to the current discussion. However, in analyzing that question the Court engaged in a discussion of the purpose of the discretionary function exception. That discussion may provide some insight into whether the discretionary function exception should be applied in cases where the government agency failed to make any decision or exercise any judgment.
According to the Supreme Court in Gau-bert:
*300Because the purpose of the exception is to prevent judicial ‘second-guessing’ of legislative and administrative decisions grounded in social, economic, and political policy through the medium of an action in tort, when properly construed, the exception protects only governmental actions and decisions based on considerations of public policy.
For a complaint to survive a motion to dismiss, it must allege facts which would support a finding that the challenged actions are not the kind of conduct that can be said to be grounded in the policy of the regulatory regime. The focus of the inquiry is not on the agent’s subjective intent in exercising the discretion conferred by statute or regulation, but on the nature of the actions taken and on whether they are susceptible to policy analysis.
Gaubert, 499 U.S. at 323-25, 111 S.Ct. at 1274-75 (citations omitted; emphasis added). Thus, where there is a governmental program in place, “[ajctions taken in furtherance of the program [are] protected, even if those particular actions were negligent.” Id.
The Gaubert discussion suggests that the Federal Tort Claims Act might be viewed as providing two alternative regimes for monitoring governmental actions. The common law provides a basic standard drawn from what a “reasonable person” would do. However, when Congress has delegated the responsibility of weighing costs and benefits to some presumably expert administrative body — when there is, in the phrase of Gau-bert, a “regulatory regime” — the application of common law standards would constitute “judicial second-guessing” of policy decisions made by the regulators. If this view of Gaubert is correct, it lends support to the Dube conclusion that “where there is no policy judgment, courts would be ‘second-guessing’ by implying one.” Dube, 870 F.2d at 800.
This perspective on the discretionary function exception is also consistent with the cases cited by the majority.1 In those cases, the challenged actions or decisions took place within an established regulatory regime. In M.M.H. v. United States, 966 F.2d 285 (7th Cir.1992), by contrast, the failure to notify an army veteran that the positive HIV blood test result she had received was in error was actionable under the FTCA.2 The decision when and whether to inform veterans of mistakes in medical tests is, hypothetically at least, “susceptible of policy analysis.” There was, however, no hint in M.M.H. of the existence of any regulatory regime governing erroneous medical reports.
In the case before us, there might well have been a question whether there existed a regulatory regime governing the question of veterans who had been exposed to radiation and who should be notified of later scientific studies indicating more severe effects than originally supposed. The record in this case does not disclose whether there was a conscious decision not to alert the Project Crested Ice veterans of the results of the National Academy of Sciences report or whether the question was simply never considered. Plaintiffs have not argued that the lack of a conscious decision takes the failure to warn out of the discretionary function exception. The appellants not having raised the question, the majority predictably provides no answer. However, the question is fundamental and, if not raised here, is likely to appear again.

. Bailor v. Salvation Army, 51 F.3d 678 (7th Cir.1995) (exception applies to placement of prisoner in halfway house); Cassens v. St. Louis River Cruise Lines, 44 F.3d 508 (7th Cir.1995) (exception applies to Coast Guard inspection of excursion cruise boat); Rothrock v. United States, 62 F.3d 196 (7th Cir.1995) (exception applies to decision whether to fund road project in light of various prescribed factors); Lockett v. United States, 938 F.2d 630 (6th Cir.1991) (exception applies to decision when to warn residents of possible PCB contamination of soil); Graves v. United States, 872 F.2d 133 (6th Cir.1989) (exception applies to decision concerning appropriate warnings of closing of river locks).

. Though the discretionary function exception was not the subject of explicit discussion in that case, it is jurisdictional. Thus, if it was not discussed, it must be taken not to have applied.