Jackson v. United States

• Decision Date: 02 July 2014
• Docket Number: No. 13–1243.,13–1243.
• Citation: 751 F.3d 712
• Parties: Bobby G. JACKSON, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant–Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

751 F.3d 712

Bobby G. JACKSON, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.UNITED STATES of America, Defendant–Appellee.

No. 13–1243.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: Dec. 3, 2013.

Decided and Filed: May 12, 2014.

Rehearing Denied July 2, 2014.

ARGUED: Phillip S. Serafini, Serafini, Michalowski, Derkacz & Associates, P.C., Sterling Heights, Michigan, for Appellant. Andrew J. Lievense, United States Attorney's Office, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Phillip S. Serafini, Serafini, Michalowski, Derkacz & Associates, P.C, Sterling Heights, Michigan, for Appellant. Andrew J. Lievense, United States Attorney's Office, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

Before: SILER, McKEAGUE, and WHITE, Circuit Judges.

McKEAGUE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which SILER, J., concurred. WHITE, J. (pp. 721–24), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.

OPINION

McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge.

This case involves the Federal Tort Claims Act, namely, whether plaintiff Bobby Jackson timely brought her suit against the United States. The district court found that she did not, and granted the United States' motion to dismiss. The district court further declined to apply equitable tolling to Jackson's claim. We affirm.

I.

On January 13, 2009, Bobby Jackson was involved in a car accident with Michele Battistelli, an Assistant Special Agent in Charge who worked at the Detroit Field Office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. According to Jackson, Battistelli's negligent driving resulted in a head-on collision while Jackson was stopped at an intersection. Jackson suffered multiple injuries, including damage to her head and spinal cord.

After the accident, Jackson retained the services of Michael Shaffer, an attorney with the law firm Gursten, Koltonow, Gursten, Christensen and Raitt, P.C., known also as Michigan Autolaw. On March 5, 2009, Shaffer submitted Jackson's administrative claim for Damage, Injury, or Death. Shaffer, however, erroneously mailed Jackson's claim to the Department of Homeland Security, which then forwarded Jackson's claim to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. On June 17, 2009, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency received Jackson's claim. The cover letter included with Jackson's claim listed Shaffer's mailing address as being located on Evergreen Road in Southfield, Michigan. The claim form itself included Jackson's name and mailing address.

On July 7, 2009, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency confirmed receipt of Jackson's claim in correspondence to Shaffer. This receipt letter was sent to the Evergreen Road address provided by Shaffer on the cover letter. Shaffer received the receipt letter. The receipt letter stated that the agency would process Jackson's claim pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), which allows an agency “up to six months to adjudicate a damage claim, beginning from the date the agency receives the claim.” The letter advised, “[o]nce we complete our adjudication, we will send you a letter informing you of our findings. If the agency fails to adjudicate your claim within six months of the date of receipt, or if it denies the claim, you can file a lawsuit in the appropriate United States District Court.”

On March 8, 2011, the Immigration and Customs Agency via certified mail sent a “final determination” denying Jackson's administrative claim. This denial letter noted that if Jackson was dissatisfied with the agency's decision, she could file suit in the appropriate district court “no later than six months after the date of mailing of this notice of final denial.” The agency sent the denial letter to the Evergreen Road address Shaffer provided on the cover letter, the same address to which it sent the receipt letter. On March 23, 2011, the U.S. Postal Service returned the denial letter to the Immigration and Customs Agency, marking the denial letter as “Not Deliverable as Addressed. Unable to Forward.”Apparently, Shaffer's firm had changed locations in May of 2010.

The parties disagree whether a forwarding order was in place. Jackson contends that Michigan Autolaw put in place a one-year forwarding order for its mail when it moved, and that for eight months after the forwarding order expired it regularly sent a runner to collect the mail. In response, the government notes that a one-year forwarding order would have been in effect when the denial letter was mailed, yet that certified letter was marked unable to be forwarded, and tracking information for the letter stated that Michigan Autolaw had moved and left no forwarding address.¹ The parties also disagree whether the information about changing locations was conveyed to the Immigration and Customs Agency. According to the government, Shaffer never informed the Immigration and Customs Agency of the new address. Regardless, the denial letter never reached Jackson or Jackson's attorney. Despite receiving the undelivered mail, the agency took no further action.

Further complicating the situation is the fact that Jackson may have switched attorneys, or at least relied on the services of multiple counsel. Jackson contends that at some point Shaffer transferred her case to Phillip Serafini, an attorney at the law firm Serafini, Michalowski, Derkacz & Associates. She argues that the agency was aware of this change due to an alleged February 2, 2011 phone conversation between Serafini and Toya Azian, a paralegal specialist with the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency. According to Jackson, Azian called Serafini and asked him to submit a demand letter. In support, Jackson submits an affidavit from Serafini as well as Serafini's handwritten notes regarding the phone call. The Government counters that the “agency's claim file contains no record of that phone call or that any such information regarding a new lawyer was provided to the agency in writing or otherwise, and [Azian] no longer works for the agency.” Def. Br. at 18. The parties do not dispute that Serafini did not send formal notice to the agency that he was counsel of record in the case or submit the requested demand letter.

On January 11, 2012, Jackson filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan under the FTCA. Jackson also filed a tort case against Battistelli in state court that Battistelli removed to federal court, which was then consolidated with Jackson's federal court claim after Battistelli was dismissed as a party to the case. The government moved to dismiss Jackson's suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on the grounds that her filing was untimely. The government argued that the agency's mailing of the March 8, 2011 denial letter triggered a six-month window in which Jackson had to file her suit, meaning her last opportunity to file suit was on September 8, 2011. As a result, according to the government, Jackson's filing of her claim on January 11, 2012—four months after the six-month limitation period—was barred by the FTCA. Jackson argued that the six-month limitation period was not triggered because neither she nor her attorney received the denial letter. In the alternative, Jackson argued that the limitation period should be equitably tolled to allow her to file her suit.

On January 30, 2013, the district court granted the United States' motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The district court ruled that the plain language of the FTCA indicated that the mailing of the denial letter triggered the six-month limitation period, thus rendering Jackson's filing of her suit on January 11, 2013 untimely and barred by the FTCA. The district court further did not equitably toll the limitation period on the grounds that Jackson was not diligent or reasonable in not filing suit, reasoning that the July 7, 2009 receipt letter received by Shaffer communicated that Jackson “could have filed suit as early as December 2009 [and] yet [she] did not do so.” R. 16, Dist. Ct. Opn. at 9, PageID # 111 (“As such, [Jackson] had nearly two years to file suit.”). The district court also noted that Jackson could not “claim a lack of notice or constructive knowledge of the filing requirement” given her knowledge of the FTCA's requirements and her having filed her claim within the two-year accrual period. Finally, the district court observed that applying equitable tolling to Jackson's claim would prejudice the United States. This appeal followed.

II.

The first issue concerns the district court's dismissal of Jackson's complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The district court did so on the grounds that Jackson filed her claim against the United States outside of the time period permitted by the FTCA. “We review de novo a district court's judgment dismissing a complaint for the lack of subject matter jurisdiction.” Davis v. United States, 499 F.3d 590, 593 (6th Cir.2007) (citing Sutton v. St. Jude Med. S.C., Inc., 419 F.3d 568, 570 (6th Cir.2005)).

The doctrine of sovereign immunity shields the United States from lawsuits. See Dep't of the Army v. Blue Fox, Inc., 525 U.S. 255, 260, 119 S.Ct. 687, 142 L.Ed.2d 718 (1999). Suits brought against the United States are therefore dismissed unless a claimant can point to an express waiver of sovereign immunity. See id. (citing FDIC v. Meyer, 510 U.S. 471, 475, 114 S.Ct. 996, 127 L.Ed.2d 308 (1994)); see also Lane v. Pena, 518 U.S. 187, 192, 116 S.Ct. 2092, 135 L.Ed.2d 486 (1996) (“A waiver of the Federal Government's sovereign immunity must be unequivocally expressed in statutory text, and will not be implied.” (internal citations omitted)). As noted by the district court, “when Congress enacts a statute that waives federal sovereign immunity ... a court may not enlarge the waiver beyond what the language requires.” R. 16, Dist. Ct. Opn. at 4, PageID # 106 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

The waiver at issue in this case is the one...