Estate of Williams By and Through Williams v. Brennan

371 F. Supp. 3d 343
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Mississippi
DecidedMarch 4, 2019
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO: 3:17-CV-253-MPM-RP
StatusPublished

This text of 371 F. Supp. 3d 343 (Estate of Williams By and Through Williams v. Brennan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Williams By and Through Williams v. Brennan, 371 F. Supp. 3d 343 (N.D. Miss. 2019).

Opinion

Michael P. Mills, U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE

This cause comes before the court on the motion of defendants Megan J. Brennan, Postmaster General and Chief Executive *346Officer of the United States Postal Service (USPS), and the USPS itself, to dismiss this action, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), 12(b)(4), 12(b)(5), and 12(b)(6).1 Plaintiff Estate of Pamela Kay Williams, by and through administrator Cooper Williams II, has responded in opposition to the motion, and the court, having considered the memoranda and submissions of the parties, concludes that the motion should be granted in part and denied in part.

This is a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) action arising out of a particularly tragic fact pattern. For the purposes of its motion to dismiss, defendant concedes the essential facts alleged by plaintiff in his complaint, as follows:

Pamela Kay Williams was an employee mail carrier of the United States Postal Service in Pope, Mississippi. (Docket 1, ¶ 7). Ms. Williams separated from her husband, Cooper Clemons Williams, on June 12, 2016. Id. at ¶ 8. On June 24, 2016, Ms. Williams received an Emergency Protection Order against her husband, alleging he threatened to kill her. Id. at ¶ 10. Ms. Williams presented the protective order to her superiors at USPS, and requested that she not be required to deliver mail to her estranged husband's residence. Id. at ¶ 14. USPS denied the request. Id. at ¶ 15. Ms. Williams filed for divorce on October 27, 2016, and told the USPS that if her husband saw her delivering mail to his house then he would kill her. Id. at ¶ 17. Again the USPS denied Ms. Williams' request. Id. at ¶ 18. While Ms. Williams delivered mail in Mr. Williams' neighborhood on December 23, 2016, Cooper Williams shot and killed her and then shot and killed himself. Id. at ¶ 20, 21.

[Defendants' brief at 2]. Based on these and other allegations, plaintiff filed the instant action in this court on December 18, 2017.

In its motion, defendant raises several grounds for dismissal, some of which have been conceded by plaintiff in his response. In particular, defendant argues, and plaintiff concedes, that various constitutional claims which are asserted in the complaint are not the proper subject of a FTCA action. It seems clear that the FTCA exists (as its name suggests) for the litigation of tort claims, and any constitutional claims which plaintiff sought to assert under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and/or Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents , 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971) are improper and due to be dismissed under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). This court likewise concludes that any attempt by plaintiff to recover directly against the United States for the torts of assault and battery is barred by the FTCA. However, it seems clear that plaintiff's real argument in this context is that the government should be held liable for negligence or gross negligence in failing to protect her from the threat of harm by a third party. See Sheridan v. United States , 487 U.S. 392, 398, 108 S.Ct. 2449, 2454, 101 L.Ed.2d 352 (1988) (observing that "it is both settled and undisputed that in at least some situations the fact that an injury was directly caused by an assault or battery will not preclude liability against the Government for negligently allowing the assault to occur.") It thus appears that plaintiff does not actually dispute defendant's argument that it may not be held liable for the torts of assault and/or battery in this case, and this court will now turn to the dismissal arguments which are actually contested.

*347This court first considers defendant's motion, under Fed. R. Civ. P. Rule 12(b)(1), to dismiss this action for lack of jurisdiction, based on the discretionary functions exception in the FTCA. The FTCA imposes liability on the federal government "in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual" for the negligent acts of federal employees acting within the scope of their employment. 28 U.S.C. § 2674 ; see also Aretz v. United States , 604 F.2d 417, 426 (5th Cir. 1979). This waiver of sovereign immunity is subject to several exceptions, including the discretionary functions exception which prohibits holding the government liable for:

any claim based upon an act or omission of an employee of the Government, exercising due care, in the execution of a statute or regulation, whether or not such statute or regulation be valid, or based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of the federal agency or an employee of the Government, whether or not the discretion involved be abused.

28 U.S.C. § 2680(a). Based on this retention of sovereign immunity in § 2680(a), courts lack subject matter jurisdiction over lawsuits based on discretionary functions.

A two-step inquiry determines if the discretionary functions exception applies. First, the court must determine whether the act or failure to act in question involves "judgment or choice." United States v. Gaubert , 499 U.S. 315, 111 S.Ct. 1267, 113 L.Ed.2d 335 (1991).

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Sheridan v. United States
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Bluebook (online)
371 F. Supp. 3d 343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-williams-by-and-through-williams-v-brennan-msnd-2019.