Bolton v. United States, No. 18-60700 (5th Cir. 2019)
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After plaintiffs filed suit against two federal agents for making allegedly defamatory comments to a local news station, the district court denied scope-of-employment discovery, substituted the United States as the proper defendant, and dismissed for failure to file an administrative claim.
The Fifth Circuit held that the offending statements were made in the scope of the agents' employment; plaintiffs have no right to even limited discovery, because they failed to allege any facts that, taken as true suggested that the agents acted outside of the scope of their employment; and reconsideration was not warranted by any supposed additional evidence.
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