Devlin v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 12 December 2003
• Docket Number: Docket No. 02-6128.
• Parties: Ellen DEVLIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

352 F.3d 525

Ellen DEVLIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.

Docket No. 02-6128.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: July 15, 2003.

Decided: December 12, 2003.

Errata Filed: December 22, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

THOMAS P. CELLA (Keith R. Rudzik, Todd W. Whitford, on the brief), Howard, Kohn, Sprague & FitzGerald, Hartford, Conn., for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Robin D. Smith, Trial Attorney, Torts Branch, for Robert D. McCallum, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. (Christopher J. Christie, United States Attorney, Jeffrey Axelrad, Director, Torts Branch, Civil Division, on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee.

Before: VAN GRAAFEILAND, CALABRESI, and WESLEY, Circuit Judges.

CALABRESI, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Ellen Devlin appeals from a final judgment entered in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Dorsey, J.) granting the government's motion to dismiss a negligence action brought pursuant to the Federal Torts Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq. We vacate the judgment and remand the case for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff's brother, Michael Murratti, began his employment as a letter carrier for the United States Postal Service (USPS) in New Haven, Connecticut, on June 23, 1984. As a federal employee, he was covered by the Federal Employees Life Insurance program established by the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance Act (FEGLIA), 5 U.S.C. § 8701 et seq. He completed a form, known as a Standard Form 2823 "Designation of Beneficiary," to name his mother, Margaret M. Devlin, as the beneficiary of 60% of the life insurance proceeds, and his nephew, David M. Spinato, as the 40% beneficiary. On July 20, 1984, this form was properly filed in Murratti's Official Personnel File.

On November 8, 1986, Murratti, while acting within the scope of his duties, was involved in a car accident. This accident left him permanently disabled, and he received Federal Employee's Compensation thereafter.

On May 2, 1990, Murratti went to the Personnel Office of the USPS in New Haven and requested assistance from Blase Redding (now Blase Pierce) or Barbara Walcott, or both. Redding and Walcott were employed as personnel assistants; their duties included helping postal service employees and employees receiving Federal Employee's Compensation benefits complete Designation of Beneficiary forms. Murratti sought to change the beneficiaries of his life insurance policy. To do so, Muratti completed and signed a new form, which was witnessed by both personnel assistants. That form named Murratti's mother as the 60% beneficiary and Plaintiff, Murratti's sister, as the 40% beneficiary.

Because of Murratti's status as a "compensationer," that is, as a recipient of Federal Employee's Compensation benefits, see 5 U.S.C. § 8705(a),¹ his form, in order to be effective, had to be filed in the Office of Personnel Management — not in the personnel office in New Haven. Plaintiff alleges that Murratti advised Redding and/or Walcott that he was receiving Federal Employee's Compensation benefits. Plaintiff also alleges that, consistent with the personnel assistants' usual practice for compensationers and regular employees alike, Murratti was given a carbon copy of the form, and the original was retained by either Redding or Walcott for filing.

The personnel assistants, however, never forwarded the form to the Office of Personnel Management. Instead, the form was erroneously put in Murratti's Official Personnel File in the Personnel Office in New Haven.

Murratti's mother died on June 9, 1996, and Murratti died several months later on October 14, 1996. Upon his death, both Plaintiff and Murratti's nephew, Spinato, submitted claims for the life insurance proceeds to Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife), the underwriter for the Federal Employees Life Insurance program. MetLife denied Plaintiff's claim. On May 5, 1998, Plaintiff filed an administrative claim with the USPS, alleging that "[e]mployees of the United States Postal Service negligently failed to comply with the filing requirements [of SF-2823] and/or were negligently trained in the proper filing procedure." That claim was denied on April 15, 1999.

Plaintiff then brought timely suit against the United States pursuant to the Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq. Her complaint alleged, inter alia, that the USPS's employees were negligent in assuming the "duty and obligation to properly file the Designation of Beneficiary form with OPM after taking the completed form from Michael Murratti, which duty was breached by their failure to effectuate proper filing." Complaint ¶ 17(a).

The district court (Dorsey, J.) initially denied the government's motion for summary judgment. See Devlin v. United States, 140 F.Supp.2d 170 (D.Conn.2001), vacated by Devlin v. United States, 285 F.Supp.2d 120 (D.Conn.2002). It rejected the government's argument that the FTCA's misrepresentation exception, 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h), barred Plaintiff's claim. Id. at 173. Additionally, the court held that, if the facts revealed that the USPS employees did assume the task of completing the processing of Murratti's Designation of Beneficiary form, the government could be found liable under the negligence doctrine accepted in Connecticut that "where a person gratuitously undertakes a duty to perform a task, that person must exercise reasonable care in performing that task." Id. at 173 (hereinafter referred to as the "Good Samaritan" theory of liability).

The government moved for reconsideration, and the district court granted that motion, vacated its earlier decision, and granted summary judgment in favor of the government on the ground that Plaintiff's claim did not qualify as one for "injury or loss of property," under section 1346(b)(1) of the FTCA. 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1). Devlin v. United States, 285 F.Supp.2d 120 (D.Conn.2002). Plaintiff appealed.

DISCUSSION

We review a district court's ruling on a motion for summary judgment de novo, examining the evidence in the light most favorable to, and drawing all inferences for, the nonmoving party. Hotel Employees & Rest. Employees Union, Local 100 v. City of New York Dep't of Parks & Recreation, 311 F.3d 534, 543 (2d Cir.2002).

In addition to the ground on which it won below, the government advances the following alternative rationales for upholding the district court's grant of summary judgment: 1) the claim is barred by the FTCA's misrepresentation exception, see 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h); 2) the claim is barred by the FTCA's interference-with-contract-rights exception, see id.; 3) Congress intended FEGLIA's remedies to be exclusive of FTCA remedies in this type of case; 4) Plaintiff's claim is essentially one for estoppel, and estoppel does not lie against the government in this context; 5) Plaintiff does not state a claim under Connecticut tort law; and 6) even if Connecticut law permitted Plaintiff's claim, that law would be preempted by FEGLIA.

We decline to address the government's argument based on the FTCA's interference-with-contract-rights exception, because we have not had the benefit of the district court's initial consideration of that issue.² We also will not address whether Plaintiff states a claim under Connecticut law, but note that the district court, upon reconsideration of the issue, should examine whether Connecticut has resolved whether a plaintiff may rely upon a "Good Samaritan" theory of liability where a) the plaintiff is a third-party with no special relationship to the defendant, b) the claim is one of negligent, rather than intentional, conduct, and c) there may be an absence of "physical harm." Based on our preliminary review of the state's case law, this important question may well remain an open one.³ Accordingly, the district court might deem it advisable to take advantage of Connecticut's certification procedure, see CONN. GEN. STAT. § 51-199b, for guidance.

We do, of course, reach the issue addressed by the district court in its latest opinion — whether the FTCA's "injury or loss of property" clause bars Plaintiff's claim. We disagree with the district court's determination that it does and therefore vacate and remand for further proceedings. We also consider the government's argument that the Plaintiff's claim is barred by the FTCA's misrepresentation exception, and agree with the district court's conclusion in its first opinion that this exception does not apply to Plaintiff's "Good Samaritan" theory of liability. Finally, we consider and reject the government's arguments regarding FEGLIA preemption and estoppel.

I. The FTCA's "Injury or Loss of Property" Requirement

Enacted in 1946, the FTCA waives the federal government's sovereign immunity against certain tort claims arising out of the conduct of its employees. Section 1346(b)(1) provides:

[T]he district courts ... shall have exclusive jurisdiction of civil actions on claims against the United States, for money damages, accruing on and after January 1, 1945, for injury or loss of property, or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred.

28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1). See Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Meyer, 510 U.S. 471, 477, 114 S.Ct. 996, 127 L.Ed.2d 308 (1994) (a claim must allege the six elements contained above to be actionable under § 1346(b)). Section 2674 provides in relevant part:

The United States shall be liable, respecting the provisions of this title relating to tort claims, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances, but shall not be liable...