Barrett ex rel. Estate of Barrett v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 07 September 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05-1905.,05-1905.
• Parties: Estate of Arthur M. BARRETT by Elaine Barrett, In Her Capacity as Administratrix of the ESTATE OF Arthur M. BARRETT, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, et al., Defendants, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 28

462 F.3d 28

Estate of Arthur M. BARRETT by Elaine Barrett, In Her Capacity as Administratrix of the ESTATE OF Arthur M. BARRETT, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, et al., Defendants, Appellees.

No. 05-1905.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard April 7, 2006.

Decided September 7, 2006.

Earle C. Cooley, with whom Kevin M. Glynn and Cooley Manion Jones LLP were on brief, for appellant.

Joshua Waldman, Appellate Staff Attorney, with whom Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, Michael J. Sullivan, United States Attorney, and Robert S. Greenspan, Appellate Staff Attorney, were on brief, for United States.

Stephen C. Pfaff, with whom Douglas I. Louison, Merrick, Louison & Costello, LLP, William A. Brown, Alan D. Rose, Alan D. Rose, Jr., Richard E. Bowman, Rose & Associates, Brian P. Fitzsimmons, Hanley, Hassett & Fitzsimmons, LLC, Christine M. Roach, and Roach & Carpenter, PC were on brief, for appellees Roderick Kennedy, Robert Fitzpatrick, James Ring, James Ahearn, and James Greenleaf.

Before LIPEZ and HOWARD, Circuit Judges, and HUG,^* Senior Circuit Judge.

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

This case is the latest in a series of tragic cases arising out of the FBI's mishandling of informants drawn from organized crime. Elaine Barrett (or "Plaintiff"), in her capacity as administratrix of the estate of her deceased husband, appeals from the dismissal of her claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671-2680 (2000), the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution, and Massachusetts' wrongful death statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 229, § 2, due to her failure to file within the applicable two- and three-year statutes of limitations. The government and the individual defendants ("Defendants") argue that we have no jurisdiction to review the dismissal of these claims and, alternatively, that Plaintiff's claims are time-barred.

While we recognize the tragedy experienced by Barrett and his loved ones, the technical requirements of the FTCA and related laws are clear, they serve important purposes, and we are bound to follow them. Although we have jurisdiction to consider this appeal, we do not have jurisdiction to review Plaintiff's FTCA claim against the government because Plaintiff did not exhaust her administrative remedies. Plaintiff's constitutional and wrongful death claims likewise fail because Plaintiff waited more than three years to file her complaint after the accrual of her cause of action. We therefore affirm the district court's orders of dismissal appealed from on June 14, 2005.

I.

In 1983, Plaintiff's spouse was kidnapped and murdered by James Bulger, Stephen Flemmi, and Kevin Weeks. The Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") protected Bulger and Flemmi, both of whom served as confidential informants for the FBI, from arrest, prosecution, and investigation for this and other crimes in order to maintain them as confidential informants. On September 15, 1999, the District Court of Massachusetts (Wolf, J.) issued a decision in United States v. Salemme, 91 F.Supp.2d 141 (D.Mass.1999), which discussed the FBI's relationship with Bulger and Flemmi and the protection from criminal prosecution that the agency afforded them. The Salemme decision specifically mentioned Bulger's and Flemmi's slaying of Barrett, and noted that the FBI had been informed that Bulger was responsible for Barrett's murder. Id. at 257-57. In January 2000, Barrett's body was exhumed from a gully alongside the Southeast Expressway in Dorchester, Massachusetts, although post-mortem determinations and procedures sufficient to identify and permit release of his remains were not completed for another three months. On March 9, 2000, in response to the reported positive identification of Barrett's remains, Plaintiff told reporters that, "I think the government is responsible because if they put them away when they should have, Bucky would be alive today. They gave them a license to kill and do whatever they wanted." Barrett's body was released to Plaintiff on April 3, 2000.

On January 14, 2003, Elaine Barrett, Arthur Barrett's widow and the administratrix of his estate, presented to the government (i.e., the Department of Justice ("DOJ") and the FBI) an administrative tort claim under the FTCA, notifying the government of "Barrett's injuries and wrongful death caused by the negligent and wrongful acts or omissions of [its] employees." On April 2, 2003, before the government denied the administrative claim and before six months had passed, Plaintiff filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, seeking redress from the government pursuant to the FTCA, and seeking redress from eight former FBI agents, James Bulger, Stephen Flemmi, and Kevin Weeks pursuant to the Fourth and Fifth Amendments (under Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents of the Fed'l Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971))¹ and Massachusetts' wrongful death statute. On April 15, 2003, the DOJ denied the FTCA claim as untimely based on the FTCA's two-year statute of limitations.

In November 2003, the government filed a motion to dismiss. Former FBI agents John Morris and Robert Fitzpatrick filed motions to dismiss in December 2003 and January 2004, respectively. On September 28, 2004, the district court, in a written opinion, dismissed Plaintiff's claims against the government as untimely under the FTCA's two-year statute of limitations, and against Morris and Fitzpatrick as untimely under the applicable three-year statute of limitations for Plaintiff's Bivens and wrongful death claims. On October 28, 2004, Plaintiff appealed the September 28, 2004 Order.

On December 1, 2004, "for the reasons set forth in the [September 28, 2004 Order]," the district court dismissed Plaintiff's claims against John J. Connolly, Jr. and James Ahearn. On April 14, 2005, we dismissed Plaintiff's October 28, 2004 appeal "on the ground that we lack jurisdiction absent certification under Fed. R.Civ.P. 54(b)."

The following day, on April 15, 2005, the district court dismissed Plaintiff's claims against the three remaining FBI agents: James Ring, James Greenleaf, and Rod Kennedy.² One month later, on June 14, 2005, Plaintiff appealed this order, together with "each previous order of dismissal entered in this action," i.e., the September 28, 2004 Order and the December 1, 2004 Order. That same day, Plaintiff filed in the district court a motion for entry of immediate judgment against the dismissed defendants. The district court dismissed this motion without prejudice "in the absence of the filing of a set of proposed findings that meet the requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b)." Plaintiff did not file any set of findings. Thus, the district court did not direct the entry of judgment against the dismissed defendants pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b).

On July 22, 2005, we issued an order responding to the June 14, 2005 appeal, stating that "[b]ecause the orders of dismissal do not appear to be appealable final orders[,] and claims against other defendants remain pending in the district court, this court does not appear to have jurisdiction to consider this appeal absent certification pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b)." We also noted that "the notice of appeal as to `each previous order of dismissal entered in this case'"—i.e., the September 28, 2004 Order and the December 1, 2004 Order—"appears to be untimely" because it was not filed within 60 days of the order from which it was appealed, as required by Fed. R.App. P. 4(a)(1). We thus required Plaintiff to move for voluntary dismissal or show cause why the appeal should not be dismissed. Plaintiff filed a showing of cause. On September 20, 2005, we issued an order "allow[ing] the case to proceed for now, without prejudice to reconsideration of the jurisdictional question by the merits panel."³

On September 27, 2005, the district court issued notices of default against Bulger, Flemmi, and Weeks. The following day, on September 28, 2005, the district court vacated the notice of default against Bulger because "no service ha[d] been made," and entered final judgment "in favor of defendants against Plaintiff" on September 28, 2005, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 58.⁴ Plaintiff did not appeal the entry of final judgment, but rather continued to rely for her appeal on the notice of appeal filed on June 14, 2005.

II.

We review the district court's grant of Defendants' motions to dismiss de novo. Patterson v. United States, 451 F.3d 268, 270 (1st Cir.2006). In so doing, we "tak[e] the allegations in the complaint as true and mak[e] all reasonable inferences in favor of plaintiff." Doran v. Mass. Turnpike Auth., 348 F.3d 315, 318 (1st Cir. 2003). We may affirm on any basis supported by the record. Carroll v. Xerox Corp., 294 F.3d 231, 241 (1st Cir.2002).

A. Appellate Jurisdiction

1. Timeliness of Notice of Appeal

Courts of appeals may only hear appeals from "final decisions" of district courts. 28 U.S.C. § 1291. "[T]he term `final decision' normally refers to a final judgment." Sell v. United States, 539 U.S. 166, 176, 123 S.Ct. 2174, 156 L.Ed.2d 197 (2003). "[A] judgment is final only where it `leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgement.'" Consol. Rail Corp. v. Fore River Ry. Co., 861 F.2d 322, 325 (1st Cir.1988) (quoting Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233, 65 S.Ct. 631, 89 L.Ed. 911 (1945)). It is undisputed that the district court entered a final judgment against all Defendants on September 28, 2005. It is also undisputed that Plaintiff did not appeal that final judgment. Instead, Plaintiff relied on the notice of appeal filed on June 14, 2005—more than three months prior to the entry of final judgment. In order to exercise jurisdiction over this action, we must find that either: (1) the June 14, 2005 appeal was timely because the orders of dismissal underlying that appeal were final; or, if the orders were not final (2) the premature...