Kerry Senger v. United States

103 F.3d 1437, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 9466, 12 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 598, 96 Daily Journal DAR 15573, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 33636, 1996 WL 737199
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedDecember 27, 1996
Docket94-35688
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 103 F.3d 1437 (Kerry Senger v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kerry Senger v. United States, 103 F.3d 1437, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 9466, 12 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 598, 96 Daily Journal DAR 15573, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 33636, 1996 WL 737199 (9th Cir. 1996).

Opinions

D. W. NELSON, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Kerry Senger brings this action against the U.S. Government pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”). He claims damages for injuries that allegedly were inflicted by a U.S. Postal Service employee who assaulted him as he was attempting to tow the employee’s car from the post office parking lot. Senger asserts three negligence claims: (1) negligence in hiring; (2) negligence in supervision; (3) negligent failure to warn. The district court dismissed the first two claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to the “assault and battery” exception to the FTCA. See 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h). The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the United States on the claim of negligent failure to warn, finding as a matter of law that the employee’s attack on Senger was unforeseeable. Senger appeals both the dismissal of his first two claims and the grant of summary judgment on the third claim. We have jurisdic[1439]*1439tion under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

In February 1991, Kerry Senger, a tow truck driver for Speed’s Towing, responded to a request from the Postal Service to remove an illegally parked vehicle from the parking lot of the Main Post Office in Portland, Oregon. When someone alerted the postal employee to whom the vehicle belonged, Ervin Lee Brown, that his vehicle was being towed, Brown ran out of the post office building to the tow truck, grabbed Senger by the neck and threatened to kill him if he did not put the car down. The Postal Service’s security guard immediately intervened and separated Brown and Senger. Senger then called the Portland Police, who arrested Brown and charged him with assault and menacing.. Brown was later convicted of menacing and was suspended from work for 82 days.

After exhausting his administrative remedies, Senger sued the U.S. government for $8,100 in lost wages, $5,000 in medical expenses and $500,000 in non-economic damages arising from the incident. He claimed jurisdiction in the district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b).1 Senger alleged three theories of negligence: (1) The Postal Service negligently employed and retained Brown because it either knew or should have known that Brown had a violent and dangerous disposition that posed a risk to Senger and others. (2) The Postal Service negligently supervised Brown because it failed to take steps to protect the public from the risk Brown posed and to thwart the assault on Senger before it occurred. (3) The Postal Service negligently failed to warn Senger of Brown’s dangerous propensities.

The district court held with respect to the first two theories of negligence that under Sheridan v. United States, 487 U.S. 392, 108 S.Ct. 2449, 101 L.Ed.2d 352 (1988), it did not have subject matter jurisdiction. The court read Sheridan as precluding the assertion of negligent hiring and supervision claims against the U.S. government based upon the “assault and battery” exception to the FTCA.2 The district court noted that Sheridan had overruled a line of Ninth Circuit cases finding subject matter jurisdiction where plaintiffs alleged injuries arising from the negligent hiring or supervision of United States government employees. See Morrill v. U.S., 821 F.2d 1426, 1427 (9th Cir.1987) (holding that the “assault and battery” exception did not preclude U.S. government liability where the Navy hired a go-go dancer to perform in a club for enlisted men but failed to provide adequate supervision and the dancer was assaulted and raped by an enlisted man in the women’s restroom); Kearney v. United States, 815 F.2d 535, 537 (9th Cir.1987) (holding that the “assault and battery” exception did not preclude U.S. government liability under the FTCA for negligent supervision where an army officer being held for rape was released by another government employee in violation of military regulations and subsequently murdered the plaintiffs wife); Bennett v. United States, 803 F.2d 1502, 1505 (9th Cir.1986) (holding that the “assault and battery” exception to the FTCA did not preclude U.S. government liability for damages arising from the kidnapping and raping of several children by a teacher hired by the government where the government knew or should have known when it. hired him that the teacher had a history of child molestation).

With respect to Senger’s claim of negligent failure to warn, the district court found that it had subject matter jurisdiction and re[1440]*1440quested additional briefing and affidavits to support or oppose the claim. These briefs and affidavits suggest that Brown had a history of violent behavior. Among the facts alleged by Senger (and uncontested by the United States) regarding Brown’s violent history are the following: (1) Brown was tried and acquitted on murder charges (no date provided); (2) Brown was committed to a psychiatric facility in 1976 after being found not guilty by reason of insanity on an assault charge arising from an attack against his wife, where Brown allegedly beat her and lunged at her with a kitchen knife; (3) Brown was committed to other psychiatric facilities because he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder associated with his service in the Vietnam War; (4) Brown was convicted in 1971 for being drunk and disorderly and in 1977 for harassment; (5) Brown was arrested in 1985 while on the job at the post office on charges of assault filed by his ex-girlfriend.

The U.S. government provided affidavits from Postal Service personnel in support of its contention that Brown was involved in no acts of abusive behavior while on the job at the post office. However, one of the affidavits reveals that in January 1986, after Brown’s 1985 arrest, the Postal Service conducted an internal investigation to determine whether Brown had falsified his employment application. According to the Postal Service’s own investigator, this investigation “revealed that Mr. Brown had had prior police contact resulting in a number of arrests and two misdemeanor convictions____ The result of the internal investigation was a proposed notice that Mr. Brown be removed from the [U.S. Postal Service].” In February 1986 this proposed notice of removal was withdrawn. The affidavit contains no explanation for the withdrawal.

The district court concluded that although Senger was a business invitee and thus entitled under Oregon law (the law that applies to this claim) to warning concerning the foreseeable intentional acts of third parties, the Postal Service could not have foreseen Brown’s assault on Senger because “Mr. Brown’s violent episodes were primarily in the context of domestic disputes.” Thus, the district court granted summary judgment on this claim.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review determinations of the district court concerning subject matter jurisdiction de novo. Persons v.

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103 F.3d 1437, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 9466, 12 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 598, 96 Daily Journal DAR 15573, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 33636, 1996 WL 737199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kerry-senger-v-united-states-ca9-1996.