Michael J. Sutton and John Wiley Mitchell v. United States

819 F.2d 1289, 1987 U.S. App. LEXIS 8051
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJune 25, 1987
Docket85-2235
StatusPublished
Cited by116 cases

This text of 819 F.2d 1289 (Michael J. Sutton and John Wiley Mitchell v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Michael J. Sutton and John Wiley Mitchell v. United States, 819 F.2d 1289, 1987 U.S. App. LEXIS 8051 (5th Cir. 1987).

Opinions

JOHN R. BROWN, Circuit Judge:

Today, we consider the interplay between two sections of the Federal Tort Claims Act: the “discretionary function exception” of 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a), and the “law enforcement proviso” of § 2680(h). The court below incorrectly interpreted the relationship between the two when it dismissed the plaintiffs’ somewhat tenuous claims of malicious prosecution because they had failed to surmount the hurdle of the discretionary function exception. Because the trial court lacked the precise facts on which to base its decision, we reverse and remand.

An Evil Deed, a Forged Deed

In 1975, Frank Van Breeman executed a real estate deed in favor of plaintiff John Mitchell in the presence of plaintiff Michael [1291]*1291Sutton.1 In 1976, Van Breeman contended that his signature was a forgery and filed a mail fraud complaint with the United States Postal Service. Curtis Woodard, a Postal Service investigator, was assigned to the case.

Sutton and Mitchell contend that, in the course of his investigation, Woodard systematically suppressed evidence favorable to them and manipulated the remaining evidence so as to convince various state and federal prosecutors to pursue indictments against them for criminal fraud. Four separate indictments of Sutton and Mitchell were handed down by a Harris County Grand Jury; all four indictments were subsequently dismissed. Woodard also presented the case to three Assistant United States Attorneys, each of whom declined to institute proceedings against Sutton and Mitchell.2

Sutton and Mitchell eventually filed suit against the United States under the terms of the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671-2680. They claimed that they were injured by the actions of Inspector Woodard in conducting his investigation. Their complaint alleges that they had been the victims of malicious prosecution, false arrest, and abuse of process. They sought to proceed under 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h), which waives the sovereign immunity of the United States for acts or omissions of its law enforcement officers which give rise to claims of assault, battery, false imprisonment, abuse of process, or malicious prosecution.3

The government moved to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction.4 It contended that Investigator Woodard’s acts fell within the discretionary function exception to the FTCA, 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a), which provides that the sovereign immunity of the United States is not waived for any claim “based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a federal agency.”5 The government further argued that because the law enforcement proviso of § 2680(h) does not stand alone, it is insufficient to render the claims in this case actionable.

The District Court agreed with the government and dismissed the case. In doing so, it relied heavily upon Gray v. Bell, 712 F.2d 490 (D.C.Cir.1983), a case in which the District of Columbia Circuit held that actions under the “law enforcement proviso” must surmount the hurdle of the discretionary function exception before [1292]*1292they present a jurisdictional claim 6 under the FTCA. Sutton and Mitchell appeal, contending that the District Court erred in its interpretation of the interplay between the two statutory provisions.

Plowing the Ground:

An Initial Look at the Statutory Language

The FTCA is a general waiver of the sovereign immunity of the United States Government to suit in the federal courts. It was designed “to afford easy and simple access to the federal courts for persons injured by the activities of government” without the need to resort to private bills for the purpose of obtaining compensation. Collins v. United States, 783 F.2d 1225, 1233 (5th Cir.1986) (Brown, J., concurring). This design for simplicity, however, is rendered more intricate by the numerous exceptions and provisos to the waiver that are found in § 2680.

This case involves two of those intricate provisions. The first, the discretionary function exception, § 2680(a), retains sovereign immunity against

[a]ny claim ... based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a federal agency or an employee of the government, whether or not the discretion involved be abused.

The second is the law enforcement proviso, a 1974 amendment to § 2680(h) constituting a limited waiver of sovereign immunity, which added to the original language that

with regard to acts or omissions of investigative or law enforcement officers of the United States Government, the provisions of this chapter [that waive sovereign immunity] ... shall apply to any claim arising out of assault, battery, false arrest, abuse of process, or malicious prosecution.

The underlying question in this appeal is whether any of the actions enumerated in the proviso of § 2680(h), may be maintained if the conduct complained of occurs while the officer is performing acts that are within the broad discretionary function exception of § 2680(a). We believe the legislative history and the language of the statute demonstrate that § 2680(a) and § 2680(h) are not mutually exclusive, however, because this case was decided on inadequate factual allegations which prevent us from evaluating the appellants’ cause of action in light of the differing statutory policies, we remand this case to the District Court for further proceedings.

Planting the Seeds:

The Task of Statutory Construction

Our duty is to construe a statute consistent with the intent of Congress as expressed in the plain meaning of its language. “There is, of course, no more persuasive evidence of the purpose of a statute than the words by which the legislature undertook to give expression to its wishes.” United States v. American Trucking Associations, 310 U.S. 534, 543, 60 S.Ct. 1059, 1063, 84 L.Ed. 1345, 1350-51 (1940). We begin, as we must, with an analysis of the text of the statute itself.7 [1293]*1293Specific words within a statute, however, may not be read in isolation of the remainder of that section or the entire statutory scheme.

The FTCA was enacted for the purpose of waiving “the Government’s immunity from actions for injuries to person and property occasioned by the tortious conduct of its agents acting within their scope of business.” Dalehite v. United States, 346 U.S. 15, 27-28, 73 S.Ct. 956, 964, 97 L.Ed. 1427, 1436 (1953).

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819 F.2d 1289, 1987 U.S. App. LEXIS 8051, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/michael-j-sutton-and-john-wiley-mitchell-v-united-states-ca5-1987.