Jade Mound v. The United States of America, No. 22-1721 (8th Cir. 2023)
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Plaintiffs sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), alleging that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe failed to warn motorists of unsafe road conditions. The district court held that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that as a sovereign, the United States is immune from suit. It has waived immunity in some FTCA cases but expressly retains immunity in cases involving “a discretionary function or duty.” If the discretionary function exception applies, “it is a jurisdictional bar to suit.” The court wrote that Plaintiffs “have failed to rebut the presumption that the Tribe’scdecision not to post warning signs was grounded in policy.” Accordingly, the court concluded it lacks subject matter jurisdiction under the FTCA’s discretionary function exception.
Court Description: [Kobes, Author, with Loken and Melloy, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Federal Tort Claims Act. The district court did not err in dismissing claims for failure to warn of road conditions, as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's decision about whether or not to warn motorists of unsafe driving conditions on a road on the reservation fell within the discretionary exception; as the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction under the discretionary function exception, the appeal is dismissed.
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