Statute of Limitations for Filing a Tort Claim in Federal Court Against the U.S. Government

Finding the Statute of Limitations for Filing a Tort Claim Against the U.S. Government

    A client of the law office in which you work had an accident with a U. S. Post Office truck.  The Post Office truck ran a red light in downtown Fairbanks and collided with your client’s automobile. Your client suffered $18,500 in damages to her vehicle and has been diagnosed with a possible herniated disc at L5-S1, which may require surgery. The accident occurred on December 10, 2017. The client has taken no steps since that date to perfect a claim against the U. S. Government. Because the defendant is an agency of the U. S. Government, this becomes a “federal case” and cannot be filed in state superior court.
   

Your client is faced with a statute of limitations problem. A considerable period of time has elapsed since the accident. Under state law, this would be a simple research problem; the tort statute of limitations is two years from the date of the accident, AS 09.10.070. If the client has waited more than two years to file a complaint in superior court, the case is barred by the statute.  However, as in many instances, federal practice is not as simple.

    Your assignment is to write an office memorandum outlining the statute of limitations for filing a tort claim in federal court against the U. S. Government. Your research should proceed roughly as follows:

    a) Find the statute which fixes the statute of limitations for filing a tort claim against the United States Government. Cite the statute in your memorandum.

    b) Read the statute. It is poorly written. One federal court described it as “not happily drafted.” It is not entirely clear exactly what you need to do to preserve your client’s claim in federal court. It isn’t as simple as in state court, where all that is required is the single step of filing a complaint in superior court within two years from the date of the accident. The federal process is more complicated, requiring more than a single, simple step. You need to do some research to properly interpret the federal tort statute of limitations.

    c) Outline in detail what the client must do. In your memorandum outline specifically what must be done to preserve the client’s claim within the time period(s) stated in the controlling statute of limitations. I won’t accept a mere restatement of the statute word for word.  Several courts have held the statute, when read word for word, is confusing and does not clearly state how one complies with it. You need to find some court cases and provide very specific instructions on what needs to be done and by what date or dates.

Interpreting the Federal Tort Statute of Limitations

    d) Find the form which is used to file a claim against a federal agency. The identifying number for the form is mentioned in one or more of the cases you might read, or almost certainly on the Internet. Cite the form number in your memo.

    Organize your work as an office memorandum.

STATEMENT OF ASSIGNMENT   
    ISSUE PRESENTED

    STATEMENT OF FACTS

    BRIEF ANSWER

to preserve her claim, without citation of authorities.>

    ANALYSIS

    CONCLUSION
    RECOMMENDATIONS
   

This is an actual project I was asked to draft several years ago. It took me a long time to find what I needed. Since this is more of a writing project than a research project, I am offering the following helpful research hints to get you started:

    1. Find the Statute. When I prepared this project, I started by using Westlaw to find the statute of limitations for a tort claim against the federal government. Alas, the statute, when you find it, includes the word “tort,” but does not use the term “statute of limitations” which complicates the use of word-searching in Lexis. I hate to admit it, since I am supposed to be teaching you “legal research,” but as we learned in Project 5 there are some searches which work better on “Google.”

While Lexis (and Westlaw) are fabulous legal research resources, they can sometimes be entirely too cumbersome. I would recommend you at least start with Google, which will quickly provide you with the federal tort claim statute of limitations. In addition, you will retrieve some basic information with which to begin your project. As you already know, the key to using Google as a legal research tool is to verify the information you retrieve. If Google provides you with a citation for what you believe is the appropriate statute, use Lexis to verify that you have indeed located the appropriate statute. Then, using Lexis, cite the statute and quote the correct subsection in your memo.

    2. Discuss How Courts Have Interpreted the Statute of Limitations for Filing a Federal Tort Claim. Usually the best way to find court decisions interpreting a statute is to use the annotations which follow immediately after the statute in the Alaska Statutes and both the USCS and USCA. However, as you can see, the annotations following the statute you will be discussing are extremely long. You can scroll down through them; however, since this is more of a writing project than a research project, allow me to give you a “helpful hint.” On page one of this project, I told you that at least one federal judge has concluded the statute is “not happily drafted.”

Outlining What the Client Must Do to Preserve the Claim

This phrase is unique enough that it should provide good search language for Lexis; that is, it won’t provide a lot of irrelevant “garbage.” If you want to search on Lexis for a specific phrase or set of words, enclose the phrase or words in quotations marks. So, use the “All Federal Cases” database and search for “not happily drafted,” specifically enclosing the words in quotation marks. That tells Lexis not to search separately for “not,” or “happily,” or “drafted,” but to search only for “not happily drafted” as a specific combination of words. Most of what you will retrieve involves the federal tort claims statute with which you are working.

    Scroll through the retrieved cases and you will see why courts have considered the statute of limitations confusing. Frankly, I don’t find it all that difficult to interpret but courts have said it would read better by replacing the word “or” as used in the statute with the word “and.” I want you to cite two cases in your memo that provide the specific instructions you have been assigned to locate. Provide a direct quotation from at least one of the cases, citing the specific page of the opinion from which you derive the quoted language.

    3. Find a Second Relevant Statute. I want you to also find a different statute which clears up a possible problem with the “not happily drafted” statute. The “not happily drafted” statute states that an “action” must begin within six months after the federal agency involved denies the claim. The claim cannot proceed until the agency denies it. What is to keep an agency from simply filing away claims presented against them, which meant, as a practical matter, nothing could happen since the agency never denied the claim. There is another statute which remedies this mischief on the part of the federal agency involved by providing that if the agency doesn’t deny the claim within a certain period of time, it will be deemed a “final denial.” I want you to find this second statute, cite it, and incorporate it into your memo. It’s in the same title as the “not happily drafted” statute but several sections away from it. You will find it cited as you read through the cases you retrieve or as you review the subject on Google.

    4. Find the Form. As you know, there is a boiler-plate (fill-in-the-blanks) form for almost everything we do with the federal government. Find the form which is used to file a claim against a federal agency. The identifying number for the form is mentioned in one or more of the cases you might read, or almost certainly on the Internet. Cite the form number in your memo.

    5. After drafting your memo, proof read it. Make sure you have used correct citation formats, and have not misused any of the rudimentary grammar or spelling guidelines.