Kohl v. United States, No. 11-6213 (6th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseKohl, a certified bomb technician, participated in an experiment funded by the U.S. Department of Defense at the Tennessee State Fire Academy, which involved constructing and detonating explosives in vehicles and collecting post-blast debris for analysis. Officers of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives participated. Following detonation, after an “all-clear” was given, participants, including Kohl, entered the range to inspect the vehicles. Kohl searched the passenger’s side, while another technician attempted to search the driver’s side of the vehicle. The driver’s side door would not open. While other team members were preparing to winch the door a second time, Kohl returned to the passenger’s side door. Kohl’s negligence complaint alleged that due to the winching, the door came loose and the frame crashed into Kohl’s head. Kohl was diagnosed with “post-concussive syndrome with persistent headaches and cognitive changes” and has not been employed since the incident. Relying on the discretionary-function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. 1346(b), 2671, the district court dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, finding that the government’s decisions about how to extract evidence and what types of equipment to use are shielded from liability by the exception.
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