D. L. V. United States, No. 15-15542 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseThe district court erred in dismissing for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction plaintiff's administratively exhausted Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. 1346, claim following the United States' second removal. In this case, plaintiff filed a medical malpractice suit against his medical providers, alleging that his mother had died of postpartum hemmorhage shortly after giving birth to him. The district court concluded that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over plaintiff's claims arising from Dr. Bencomo's actions, dismissed those claims without prejudice, and once again remanded the state claims against the individual defendants. The Ninth Circuit held that plaintiff's initial failure to exhaust his administrative remedies as to Dr. Bencomo whom plaintiff reasonably did not know was covered by the FTCA deprived the federal courts of subject-matter jurisdiction over plaintiff's FTCA claim even after plaintiff dismissed his initial suit against Dr. Bencomo, and then exhausted his administrative remedies before amending his complaint in state court to add Dr. Bencomo again.
Court Description: Exhaustion / Federal Tort Claims Act. The panel reversed the district court’s dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction on exhaustion grounds of a Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”) claim brought by a minor plaintiff, alleging that his mother died of postpartum hemorrhage due to medical malpractice by a physician, who was a deemed employee of the U.S. Public Health Service. The panel held that plaintiff’s initial failure to exhaust his administrative remedies as to a defendant whom the plaintiffs reasonably did not know was covered by the FTCA did not deprive the federal courts of subject-matter jurisdiction over that plaintiff’s FTCA claim where the plaintiff dismissed his D.L. V. UNITED STATES 3 initial suit against that defendant, and then exhausted his administrative remedies before amending his complaint in state court to add the defendant again. The panel held that the district court erred in dismissing for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction plaintiff’s administratively exhausted FTCA claim following the United States’ second removal.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.