Taking Targeted Immunity Statutes Seriously  | Sep 16, 2013 |
Opinion  For decades, the rules governing how and when parties
allegedly injured by federal employees may obtain money damages
have been generally consistent across the government.  But two
recent Supreme Court cases—including one from the Court’s most
recent term—shed new light on relatively obscure agency-specific
immunity statutes, indicating that sometimes the outcomes in
tort litigation can still vary based on the occupation and
agency affiliation of the involved government employee.  The
1946 Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) waived sovereign immunity
for most torts committed by federal employees acting within the
scope of their employment.  But the FTCA did not specifically
immunize federal employees themselves from tort liability in the
course of their duties.  While judgment in an FTCA case
constituted a bar to further action against individual
employees, federal personnel were otherwise subject to lawsuits
in their individual capacity unless