Redland Soccer Club, Inc. v. Department of the Army of the United States

835 F. Supp. 803, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15004, 1993 WL 427365
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 19, 1993
DocketCiv. A. 1:CV-90-1072
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 835 F. Supp. 803 (Redland Soccer Club, Inc. v. Department of the Army of the United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Redland Soccer Club, Inc. v. Department of the Army of the United States, 835 F. Supp. 803, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15004, 1993 WL 427365 (M.D. Pa. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

CALDWELL, District Judge.

We are considering Defendant’s motions to dismiss and for summary judgment and Plaintiffs’ motions for partial summary judgment and to strike. We properly exercise jurisdiction over this environmental-law claim according to 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

I. Facts and Procedural History

As our previous memoranda have described the facts in some detail, our recitation here of the history of the case will be brief.

*806 The New Cumberland Army Depot (“NCAD,” now known as Defense Distribution Region East) is a large supply facility operated by the United States Army in Fair-view Township, Pennsylvania. For about 40 years, beginning in 1917, NCAD disposed of various forms of waste in a 14-acre landfill known as the Marsh Run Field. In 1972, the Army determined that it no longer needed much of the land surrounding NCAD and, in 1976, the government transferred Marsh Run Field to Fairview Township by quitclaim deed. Plaintiffs indicate that the field was used for soccer play between 1983 and 1987.

Plaintiffs in Redland Soccer Club v. Department of the Amy are members of a soccer club that used the field, township employees who worked at the field, and neighbors. Plaintiffs in Elliott v. United States are neighbors of the park who allege that their children were exposed to toxins while playing in what is now called Marsh Run Park. 1

II. Law and Discussion

A. Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss

The Army argues that it is immune from Plaintiffs’ tort claims.

1. The Federal Tort Claims Act and the Discretionary Function Exception

In 1946, Congress enacted the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b), which was to serve as a limited waiver of sovereign immunity.

The FTCA ... waives sovereign immunity in suits against the United States for injuries or losses caused by the negligent or wrongful acts or omissions of any employee of the government under circumstances where a private person would be liable to the claimant.

Sea-Land Service, Inc. v. United States, 919 F.2d 888, 890 (3d Cir.1990). The FTCA contains a number of exceptions, including the one at issue here: the discretionary function exception. It exempts from the purview of the FTCA 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 or an employee of the Government, whether or not the discretion involved be abused.” 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a). Thus, if a governmental action falls within the discretionary function exception, the waiver of sovereign immunity has no effect and the government remains immune from suit.

The United States Supreme Court has examined the discretionary function exception on several occasions in the 47 years since the FTCA was enacted. The Court’s most recent pronouncement was in United States v. Gaubert, 499 U.S. 315, 111 S.Ct. 1267, 113 L.Ed.2d 335 (1991). There, the Court re-stated the two-part test it established in Berkovitz v. United States, 486 U.S. 531, 108 S.Ct. 1954, 100 L.Ed.2d 531 (1988). A district court considering application of the discretionary function exception is to question (1) whether the act is actually discretionary; i.e., does the government actor have decisions to make or is his conduct prescribed by statute or regulation? and (2) whether the action implicates legislative or administrative decisions grounded in social, economic, and political policy. Berkovitz, supra, at 537,108 S.Ct. at 1959. In delineating those decisions implicating social, economic or political policy, courts have indicated that the exception is intended to “prevent judicial ‘second-guessing’ of legislative and administrative decisions ... through the medium of an action in tort.” United States v. S.A. Empresa de Viacao Aerea Rio Grandense (Varig Airlines), 467 U.S. 797, 814, 104 S.Ct. 2755, 81 L.Ed.2d 660 (1984). Importantly, the exception does not immunize every discretionary act by a government employee or agency; a court must decide “whether that judgment is of the kind that the discretionary function exception was designed to shield.” Berkovitz, supra 486 U.S. at 536, 108 S.Ct. at 1959.

We read Gaubert, Berkovitz, Varig Airlines, and the lower-court cases applying them, to draw an important distinction between those acts of government actors that *807 embody public policy and those that are merely every-day decisions devoid of any public policy implications. To implicate public policy, a decision must be “susceptible to policy analysis.” Autery v. United States, 992 F.2d 1523, 1531 (11th Cir.1993).

Many actions of government agencies and employees clearly implicate policy decisions. For example, in Dalehite v. United States, 346 U.S. 15, 73 S.Ct. 956, 97 L.Ed. 1427 (1953), the Court considered a case involving a massive explosion in fertilizer being prepared for shipment to Europe as part of a comprehensive program to increase the food supply in occupied countries at the conclusion of World War II. Id. The Court determined that the discretionary function exception applied because the fertilizer was gathered and prepared as part of an overall federal policy. Id. at 37-38, 73 S.Ct. at 969.

Varig Airlines involved a tort challenge to regulations regarding the Federal Aviation Administration’s program for “spot-checking” airplanes for safety problems. 467 U.S. at 815, 104 S.Ct. at 2765. The Court determined that the regulations and the decisions of the FAA in implementing them reflected public policy considerations concerning airline safety and, thus, were within the exception. Id.

In Berkovitz, the Court determined that a government program regulating laboratories producing polio vaccine reflected public policy concerns, although the Court remanded the case for consideration of whether the decision at issue was, in fact, discretionary. 486 U.S. at 533, 108 S.Ct. at 1957.

Finally, in Gaubert,

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835 F. Supp. 803, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15004, 1993 WL 427365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/redland-soccer-club-inc-v-department-of-the-army-of-the-united-states-pamd-1993.