JONES v. United States

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedSeptember 9, 2025
Docket1:24-cv-00054
StatusUnknown

This text of JONES v. United States (JONES v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
JONES v. United States, (N.D. Fla. 2025).

Opinion

Page 1 of 19 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE DIVISION CHARLES ANTHONY JONES,

Plaintiff, vs. Case No. 1:24cv54-MW-MAF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Defendant. ____________________________/ SECOND REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION1

Pro se Plaintiff Charles Anthony Jones filed a first amended complaint, ECF No. 6, on April 11, 2024. Defendant initially filed a motion to dismiss, ECF No. 15, which was denied, ECF No. 25. Defendant then filed an answer, ECF No. 26, and the parties were provided a discovery

period. ECF No. 28. While discovery was ongoing, Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 31, seeking judgment as to Plaintiff’s medical

malpractice claim and partial summary judgment on Plaintiff’s abuse claim. 1 The first Report and Recommendation, ECF No. 23, was entered on Defendant’s motion to dismiss, ECF No. 15. The Report and Recommendation was accepted in part and rejected in part. ECF No. 25. Page 2 of 19 Defendant separately filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s discrimination claim. ECF No. 35. Plaintiff initially filed a combined response in

opposition to both the motion for summary judgment and the motion to dismiss. ECF No. 39. However, Plaintiff then filed an amended response, ECF No. 44, to the partial summary judgment motion, ECF No. 31. Plaintiff was then given additional time in which to file amended responses to the

Defendants’ motions if he desired to do so. ECF No. 45 at 4. Alternatively, Plaintiff was permitted to stand on the amended responses already filed. See ECF Nos. 39 and 44.

Plaintiff then filed a second amended response, ECF No. 46, to the motion for partial summary judgment and an amended response, ECF No. 47, to Defendants’ motion to dismiss. As an amended response completely replaces a prior response, only those two responses have been

reviewed, ECF Nos. 46-47, in opposition to the two pending motions, ECF Nos. 31 and 35. Plaintiff’s Allegations, ECF No. 6

Plaintiff filed this case under the Federal Tort Claims Act [“FTCA”], see ECF No. 6 at 9 and 13, and asserted three claims: sexual assault and abuse, discrimination, and medical malpractice. Id. at 7. The claims stem

Case No. 1:24cv54-MW-MAF Page 3 of 19 from Plaintiff’s June 24, 2022, appointment at the VA medical facility2 in Gainesville, Florida. Id. at 4. Plaintiff was suffering from a urinary

blockage and the doctor recommended placement of a catheter. Id. at 4-5. Plaintiff went “to the nurse[‘s] office to get it done,” and a white female nurse asked Plaintiff if he wanted a male nurse to insert the catheter. Id. at 5. Plaintiff said yes and the nurse left, returning with “a

black male nurse” who Plaintiff believed would insert the catheter. Id. However, the female placed the catheter instead. Id. Plaintiff contends that was against his will and constitutes sexual assault and abuse as the

male nurse stood idly by and “did nothing to stop it.” Id. at 5-6. Plaintiff claims the nurse sought to inflict pain by “violently” pressing, poking, and prodding the catheter against his will. Id. at 6. Plaintiff alleged that his belief that “race had something to do with it,” stating that the white female

nurse “was outraged” because a black man was “telling her what to do.” Id.

2 Plaintiff’s first case concerning this incident was more clear in showing that Plaintiff “visited a doctor at the VA Hospital in Gainesville, Florida on June 24, 2022.” Jones v. United States, No. 1:23CV54/MW/ZCB, 2023 WL 6798877, at *1 (N.D. Fla. Sept. 15, 2023), report and recommendation adopted, No. 1:23CV54-MW/ZCB, 2023 WL 6795291 (N.D. Fla. Oct. 13, 2023). Plaintiff’s first case was dismissed because he did not exhaust administrative remedies prior to filing the lawsuit. Id. After doing so, Plaintiff initiated this second case. Case No. 1:24cv54-MW-MAF Page 4 of 19 Plaintiff said the procedure caused “intense bleeding, paid, and scar tissue” in his penis and he “had to have surgery on [his] bladder and a

superpubic tube3 [sic] had to be placed in [his] bladder.” Id. at 6. Plaintiff asserted a “medical malpractice” claim “because the nurse was not competent” to insert the catheter. Id. at 7. As noted above, Defendant filed both a motion to dismiss, ECF No.

35, and a motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 31. The motion to dismiss is addressed first. Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 35

Defendant filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), arguing that Plaintiff’s discrimination claim is barred by sovereign immunity and should be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. ECF No. 35 at 1-2. Defendant contends that the Government’s waiver of

sovereign immunity pursuant to the FTCA does not waive immunity for claims of constitutional violations. Id. at 5. A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1) challenges this Court’s

subject-matter jurisdiction to decide Plaintiff’s claim. McElmurray v.

3 The Court takes judicial notice that a “suprapubic urinary catheter” may be required for patients with severe urinary retention or incontinence issues. Case No. 1:24cv54-MW-MAF Page 5 of 19 Consol. Gov't of Augusta–Richmond Cnty., 501 F.3d 1244, 1251 (11th Cir. 2007). Defendant has presented the motion only as a “facial attack.” ECF

No. 35 at 3. In a facial attack4 to subject matter jurisdiction, the Court must determine if Plaintiff’s complaint “sufficiently alleged a basis of subject matter jurisdiction, and the allegations in his complaint are taken as true for the purposes of the motion.” Houston v. Marod Supermarkets, Inc., 733

F.3d 1323, 1335-36 (11th Cir. 2013). To be clear, in ruling on Defendant’s motion to dismiss, ECF No. 35, the Court has reviewed only the motion, Plaintiff’s amended complaint,

ECF No. 6, and Plaintiff’s response, ECF No. 47. See Douglas v. United States, 814 F.3d 1268, 1274 (11th Cir. 2016) (citing to McElmurray, 501 F.3d at 1251 (deciding that a dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction was facial because “[t]he district court did not decide any issues of disputed

fact”), and Stalley ex rel. United States v. Orlando Reg’l Healthcare Sys., Inc., 524 F.3d 1229, 1233 (11th Cir. 2008) (per curiam) (deciding that a subject matter jurisdiction challenge was “a facial attack on the complaint”

4 On the other hand, a “factual attack challenges the existence of subject matter jurisdiction in fact, and a court is ‘free to weigh the evidence and satisfy itself as to the existence of its power to hear the case.’” Rocha-Jamarillo v. Madrigal, 727 F. Supp. 3d 1370, 1382 (M.D. Ga. 2024) (quoting Lawrence v. Dunbar, 919 F.2d 1525, 1528–29 (11th Cir. 1990)). Case No. 1:24cv54-MW-MAF Page 6 of 19 because “the record establishes that the district court considered only the complaint and the attached exhibits”)). The Court is also mindful that

Plaintiff is a pro se litigant and pro se filings are “held to a less stringent standard than pleadings drafted by attorneys” and must be “liberally construed.” Hughes v. Lott, 350 F.3d 1157, 1160 (11th Cir. 2003). “The federal government is entitled to sovereign immunity from civil

lawsuits, except to the extent that it consents to be sued.” United States v. Mitchell, 445 U.S.

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