De Baca v. United States

• Decision Date: 13 June 2019
• Docket Number: No. CIV 17-1233 JB\SCY, No. CIV 18-0096 JB\KK, No. CIV 18-0496 JB\JHR, No. CIV 18-0367 JB\KHR, No. CIV 17-1161 JB\KK, No. CIV 17-1186 JB\KK
• Citation: 399 F.Supp.3d 1052
• Parties: Catherine C. DE BACA, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendants. Gary Cianchetti, Plaintiff, v. United States of America, Defendant. Gerald Ohlsen; Janet Youngberg; James Farrington; Tony and Caryn Derochie; William and Donna McClellan; Nancy Higgins; Vernon and Binda Cobb; Christine Wood; Mark Thompson; Donald Giles and Bonnie Long; Thomas and Diane Bragg; Ernest and Frieda Vigil; Brad Wosick; Johnny and Deanne Luna; Marlene Barber ; Michael McDaniel and Paula Wiltgen, and Martin Valencia, Plaintiffs, v. United States, and Does 1-10, Defendants. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., and Safeco Insurance Company of America, Plaintiffs, v. United States, and Does 1-10, Defendants. David Lloyd Sais; Lucille Sais; Tomas Apodaca, and Christine Apodaca, Plaintiffs, v. United States of America, and Does 1-10, Defendants. Homesite Indemnity Company a/s/o Don Giles and Bonnie Long, Plaintiff, v. United States; United States Department of Agriculture; United States Forest Service; Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Mexico

399 F.Supp.3d 1052

Catherine C. DE BACA, Plaintiff,

v.UNITED STATES of America, Defendants.

Gary Cianchetti, Plaintiff,

v.United States of America, Defendant.

Gerald Ohlsen; Janet Youngberg; James Farrington; Tony and Caryn Derochie; William and Donna McClellan; Nancy Higgins; Vernon and Binda Cobb; Christine Wood; Mark Thompson; Donald Giles and Bonnie Long; Thomas and Diane Bragg; Ernest and Frieda Vigil; Brad Wosick; Johnny and Deanne Luna; Marlene Barber ; Michael McDaniel and Paula Wiltgen, and Martin Valencia, Plaintiffs,v.United States, and Does 1-10, Defendants.

State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., and Safeco Insurance Company of America, Plaintiffs,

v.United States, and Does 1-10, Defendants.

David Lloyd Sais; Lucille Sais; Tomas Apodaca, and Christine Apodaca, Plaintiffs,

v.United States of America, and Does 1-10, Defendants.

Homesite Indemnity Company a/s/o Don Giles and Bonnie Long, Plaintiff,v.United States; United States Department of Agriculture; United States Forest Service; Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs, Defendants.

No. CIV 17-1161 JB\KK

No. CIV 17-1186 JB\KK

No. CIV 18-0096 JB\KK

No. CIV 18-0367 JB\KHR

No. CIV 18-0496 JB\JHR

No. CIV 17-1233 JB\SCY

United States District Court, D. New Mexico.

Filed June 13, 2019

A. Blair Dunn, Dori Ellen Richards, Western Agriculture Resource and Business Advocates, LLP, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Attorneys for Plaintiffs Catherine C De Baca, Gary Cianchetti, David Lloyd Sais, Lucille Sais, Thomas Apodaca, Christine Apodaca.

Thomas L. Tosdal, Tosdal Law Firm, Solana Beach, California, Mark Dow, Mary Louise Boelcke, Bauman Dow & Stambaugh, P.C., Albuquerque, New Mexico, Attorneys for Plaintiffs Gerald Ohlsen, Janet Youngberg, James Farrington, Thomas Derochie, Caryn DeRochie, William McClellan, Donna McClellan, Nancy Higgins, Vernon Cobb, Binda Cobb, Christine Wood, Mark Thompson, Donald Giles, Bonnie Long, Thomas Bragg, Diane Bragg, Ernest Vigil, Frieda Vigil, Brad Wosick, Johnny Luna, Deanne Luna, Marlene Barber, Michael McDaniel, Paula Wilten, Martin Valencia, Vested Interest, LLC, Janice Farrington, Ken Kugler, Debbie Kugler, David Lee, Diana Lee, Joseph Lee, Alicia Lee, Ed Mortensen, Katherine Mortensen, David Coulter, Matt Urban, Marie Urban, and Olympia Salas.

Mark Grotefeld, Kevin Scott Mosley, Anooj Manu Thakrar, Cristina Gonzalez, Grotefeld Hoffmann, Austin, Texas, Attorneys for Plaintiffs State Farm Fire and Casualty Co., Safeco Insurance Company of America, and Allstate Insurance Company.

Vladislav Kushnir, VB Kushnir, LLC, Trevose, Pennsylvania, Attorney for Plaintiff Homesite Indemnity Company.

John C. Anderson, United States Attorney, Roberto D. Ortega, Ruth Fuess Keegan, Christopher F. Jeu, Cassandra C. Currie, Assistant United States Attorneys, United States Attorneys Office, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Attorneys for Defendants United States of America, United States Department of Agriculture, United States Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and FNU Does.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JAMES O. BROWNING, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on: (i) the United States of America's Motion to Dismiss Claims for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction or in the Alternative for Partial Summary Judgment, and Memorandums in Support, filed November 2, 2018 (Doc. 60)("Independent Contractor Motion"); (ii) the United States of America's Motion to Dismiss Ohlsen Plaintiffs'^{[1 ]} Second Amended Complaint Due to Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction, filed November 2, 2018 (Doc. 62)("Ohlsen Motion"); (iii) the Reply in Support of the United States of America's Motion to Dismiss Ohlsen Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint Due to Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction (Doc. 62)("Ohlsen Reply"); (iv) the United States of America's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff Catherine C De Baca's Amended Complaint and Gary Cianchetti's Complaint Due to Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction, filed November 5, 2018 (Doc. 64)("C De Baca Motion"); (v) the United States of America's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Sais, Apodaca and Sorroche's Amended Complaint Due to Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction, filed November 15, 2018 (Doc. 80)("Sais Motion"); (vi) the Ohlsen Plaintiffs' Objections to Evidence Submitted by the United States in Support of Its Motion to Dismiss or for Summary Judgment, filed December 20, 2018 (Doc. 102)("First Objections"); (vii) the Ohlsen Plaintiffs' Objections to Third Declaration of Ian Fox, filed March 5, 2019 (Doc. 134)("Fox Objections"); (viii) the Ohlsen Plaintiffs' Motion to Strike Portions of Third Declaration of Ian Fox [Doc. 125] or, Alternatively, Motion for Leave to file Surreply, filed March 5, 2019 (Doc. 135)("Motion to Strike"); (ix) the Ohlsen Plaintiffs' Reply to Defendant's Response to Plaintiffs' Motion to Strike Portions of Third Declaration of Ian Fox [Doc. 125] or, Alternatively, Motion for Leave to File Surreply, filed April 23, 2019 (Doc. 171)("Motion to Strike Reply"); and (x) the Defendants' Motion for Leave to File Supplemental Brief, filed May 8, 2019 (Doc. 179)("Supplemental Briefing Motion").² The Court held hearings on March 8, 2018, see Clerk's Minutes at 1, filed March 8, 2019 (Doc. 146), and on June 3, 2019, see Clerk's Minutes at 1, filed June 3, 2019 (Doc. 204). The primary issues are: (i) whether the Pueblo of Isleta, in thinning³ Treatment Unit 4⁴ ("Unit 4") within the Cibola National Forest⁵ pursuant to the Participating Agreement Between Isleta Pueblo and the USDA [ (United States Department of Agriculture) ], Forest Service^{[6 ]} Cibola National Forest and Grasslands, filed November 2, 2018 (Doc. 60-2)("Participating Agreement"), was a federal employee for the purposes of the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291, 1346, 1402, 2401 - 02, 2411 - 12, 2671 - 80 ("FTCA");⁷ (ii) whether the Ohlsen Plaintiffs can sustain a res ipsa loquitur⁸ claim against Defendant United States of America based on allegations that the Dog Head Fire started while the thinning crew was masticating⁹ Unit 4; (iii) whether the Ohlsen Plaintiffs can sustain a non-delegable duty claim against the United States; (iv) whether the Ohlsen Plaintiffs exhausted their administrative remedies¹⁰ for their claim that the United States Forest Service and the thinning crew workers "failed to and were not in the position to suppress the fire at the time of ignition," Plaintiffs' Claims at 1 (given to the Court at the March 8, 2019, hearing), filed May 31, 2019 (Doc. 202)("Ohlsen Plaintiffs' Claim List"), for their claims against the United States based on the thinning crew workers' actions, and for their claim that the Forest Service negligently failed to have a fire engine at the thinning site with the masticator; (v) whether the discretionary function exception¹¹ divests the Court of subject-matter jurisdiction over the Ohlsen Plaintiffs' claims¹² ; (vi) whether Plaintiffs Catherine C De Baca and Gary Cianchetti exhausted the administrative remedies for their claims of the Forest Service's "purported failure to ensure that the equipment used in the forest thinning project was in good order and the proper equipment for the terrain; failure to provide proper fire extinguishment tools; and failure to manage the undergrowth of the forest area where the fire occurred," C De Baca Motion at 1; (vii) whether the discretionary function exception divests the Court of subject-matter jurisdiction over C De Baca's and Cianchetti's claims based on the Forest Service's failure "to allow first responders to put out the initial fire," C De Baca Motion at 9; (viii) whether Plaintiffs David Sais, Lucille Sais, Tomás Apodaca, Christine Apodaca, and Jeff Sorroche (the "Sais Plaintiffs") exhausted their administrative remedies for the same claims as those claims listed in item (vi), and for their claims that the Forest Service "was negligent in leaving slash and boles produced by forest thinning operations on the ground where the fire started; conducting forest thinning operations under unreasonable conditions; failing to employ competent individuals to perform the work; and failing to train, instruct, direct, or supervise the Pueblo crews," Sais Motion at 11-12; (ix) whether the discretionary function exception divests the Court of subject-matter jurisdiction over all the Sais Plaintiffs' claims listed in item (viii) and over their claim that the Forest Service did not permit initial responders to fight the Dog Head Fire; (x) whether, as the Court applies against Plaintiffs State Farm Fire & Casualty Company, Safeco Insurance Company of America and Allstate Insurance Company (the "State Farm Plaintiffs") and Plaintiff Homesite Indemnity Company all the United States' arguments against the other Plaintiffs and adopts for the State Farm Plaintiffs and Homesite Indemnity all other Plaintiffs' responses, see Transcript of Excerpt of Hearing at 117:1-15 (taken March 8, 2019)(Ortega, Court), filed May 31, 2019 (Doc. 199)("March 8 P.M. Tr.");¹³ id. at 118:2-8 (Tosdal), the Court should dismiss the State Farm Plaintiffs' res ipsa loquitur claim and non-delegable duty claim, and whether the discretionary function exception divests the Court of subject-matter jurisdiction over the State Farm Plaintiffs' and Homesite Indemnity's claims; (xi) whether the Court should strike or disregard portions of the First Declaration of Ian Fox, Natural Resource Staff Officer, Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands (dated October 31, 2018), filed November 2, 2018 (Doc. 60-1)("First Fox Decl."), Third Declaration of Ian Fox (dated February 27, 2019), filed February 28, 2019 (Doc. 125)("Third Fox Decl."), and Videotaped Deposition of Everette Jaramillo (dated September 26, 2018), filed November 9, 2018 (Doc. 76-5)("Jaramillo Depo. 76-5"), per the Ohlsen Plaintiffs' requests in the First Objections, the Fox Objections, the Motion to Strike, and the Motion to Strike Reply; (xii) whether the Court should grant the...