White-Squire v. U.S. Postal Service

• Citation: 592 F.3d 453
• Decision Date: 27 January 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-1577.,09-1577.
• Parties: Monica WHITE-SQUIRE; John Squire, Appellants v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)

592 F.3d 453

Monica WHITE-SQUIRE; John Squire, Appellants v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE.

No. 09-1577.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) January 15, 2010.

Filed: January 27, 2010.

John G. Mennie, Richard Schibell, Schibell Mennie & Kentos, Ocean, NJ, for Appellants.

Mark C. Orlowski, Office of United States Attorney, Trenton, NJ, for Appellee.

Before: SCIRICA, Chief Judge, BARRY, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

SMITH, Circuit Judge.

This appeal requires us to determine whether a claimant under the Federal Tort Claims Act, whose damages continue to accrue, must nevertheless submit a claim to the appropriate agency containing a "sum certain" for damages prior to filing suit. Because the sum certain requirement is jurisdictional, we answer this question in the affirmative.

I.

On July 17, 2006, a United States Postal Service ("USPS") vehicle driven by a USPS employee acting within the scope of his employment allegedly collided with a car driven by Plaintiff Monica White-Squire, causing her serious personal injury. On August 15, 2006, White-Squire's attorney sent a letter to the USPS purporting to provide formal notice that White-Squire was pursuing a personal injury claim against it.¹ This letter did not include a sum certain claim for damages.

The USPS responded by letter on August 18, 2006, and provided White-Squire's attorney with two copies of the Standard Form 95 claim form. The August 18 letter outlined the administrative presentment requirements under the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), including the requirement, written in bold typeface, that "[a] claim must be for a specific amount." The USPS sent White-Squire's attorney a second letter, dated August 22, 2006, explaining that White-Squire's August 15 letter "does not constitute a valid claim." The August 22 letter also directed White-Squire to the statutes and regulations governing the procedures for submitting a claim under the FTCA. The USPS again informed White-Squire that to satisfy the administrative presentment requirements, a claim must be accompanied by "a `sum certain' amount for injuries or losses alleged to have occurred by reason of the incident."

In a letter to the USPS dated October 6, 2006, White-Squire's attorney acknowledged receipt of the August 22, 2006, letter. He also advised the USPS that he would be submitting White-Squire's medical records and a "`sum certain' demand to resolve the claim" once White-Squire was discharged from her doctors' care. White-Squire never submitted a completed Standard Form 95, supporting medical records, or a sum certain demand for damages to the USPS.

On July 14, 2008, White-Squire filed this action in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against the USPS seeking damages for personal injury arising from the collision. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), the USPS moved to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because White-Squire failed to provide the USPS with a sum certain request for damages as required by the FTCA. 28 U.S.C. § 2675(a), (b); 28 C.F.R. § 14.2(a). The District Court granted the USPS's motion and dismissed the case, concluding that White-Squire's failure to submit a sum certain claim deprived it of subject matter jurisdiction. White-Squire timely filed this appeal.²

II.

White-Squire sought to invoke the District Court's subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b). For reasons that we will explain infra, the District Court was correct in concluding that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over White-Squire's claim; however, "it is familiar law that a federal court always has jurisdiction to determine its own jurisdiction." United States v. Ruiz, 536 U.S. 622, 628, 122 S.Ct. 2450, 153 L.Ed.2d 586 (2002) (citation omitted). Appellate jurisdiction is proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. When reviewing an order dismissing a claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, we exercise plenary review over legal conclusions and review findings of fact for clear error. CNA v. United States, 535 F.3d 132, 139 (3d Cir.2008) (citations omitted).

III.

The District Court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction over White-Squire's claim because she failed to provide the USPS with a sum certain claim for damages prior to filing suit. White-Squire argues that she was not required to submit a sum certain request because her medical treatment arising from the collision was ongoing, and thus her damages could not be liquidated.

As a sovereign, the United States is immune from suit unless it consents to be sued. United States v. Mitchell, 445 U.S. 535, 538, 100 S.Ct. 1349, 63 L.Ed.2d 607 (1980) (quoting United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 586, 61 S.Ct. 767, 85 L.Ed. 1058 (1941)). Its consent to be sued must be "unequivocally expressed," and the terms of such consent define the court's subject matter jurisdiction. Id. (quotations omitted). The FTCA operates as a limited waiver of the United States's sovereign immunity. See Roma v. United States, 344 F.3d 352, 362 (3d Cir. 2003). "Because the Federal Tort Claims Act constitutes a waiver of sovereign immunity, the Act's established procedures have been strictly construed." Livera v. First Nat'l State Bank of N.J., 879 F.2d 1186, 1194 (3d Cir.1989). "[W]e should not take it upon ourselves to extend the waiver beyond that which Congress intended." United States v. Kubrick, 444 U.S. 111, 117-18, 100 S.Ct. 352, 62 L.Ed.2d 259 (1979).³

The FTCA is codified in scattered sections of Title 28 of the United States Code. One section is § 1346, which is contained in chapter 85 of the Federal Judicial Code, pertaining to the jurisdiction of the district courts. Subsection 1346(b)(1) provides:

Subject to the provisions of chapter 171 of this title, the district courts ... shall have exclusive jurisdiction of civil actions on claims against the United States, for money damages, ... 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). Chapter 171 of Title 28 pertains to the tort claims procedure for FTCA claims. 28 U.S.C. §§ 2671-2680. Section 2675 mandates that an FTCA action "shall not be instituted upon a claim against the United States for money damages ... unless the claimant shall have first presented the claim to the appropriate Federal agency...." 28 U.S.C. § 2675(a). Subsection (b) further specifies that an FTCA action "shall not be instituted for any sum in excess of the amount of the claim presented to the federal agency...." Id. § 2675(b) (emphasis added). This provision "anticipates that the claim will be for a definite amount." Adams v. United States, 615 F.2d 284, 292 n. 17 (5th Cir.1980).⁴ Because the requirements of presentation and a demand for a sum certain are among the terms defining the United States's consent to be sued, they are jurisdictional. Sherwood, 312 U.S. at 586, 61 S.Ct. 767; Bialowas v. United States, 443 F.2d 1047, 1049 (3d Cir.1971) (noting that the requirement to present a claim to the agency "is jurisdictional and cannot be waived") (citation omitted).

Indeed, in CNA v. United States, we considered whether jurisdiction over an FTCA claim was lacking if the claimant was unable to demonstrate that a government employee had been acting within the scope of his employment, as § 1346(b)(1) requires. We stated that "[t]o evaluate whether Congress `clearly stated' that a requirement should `count as jurisdictional,' we ask whether the requirement appears in or receives mention in the jurisdictional provision of a given statute." 535 F.3d at 142 (internal citation omitted) (citing Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 515-16 & 515 n. 11, 126 S.Ct. 1235, 163 L.Ed.2d 1097 (2006)). We noted that the scope of employment requirement "appear[ed] in the same sentence as Congress's grant of jurisdiction." Id. We reiterated that under § 1346(b)(1), "each clause of that provision represents a limitation on Congress's waiver of sovereign immunity and thus a limitation on federal courts' jurisdiction." Id. Because the scope of employment requirement was "tether[ed]" to the grant of jurisdiction, we concluded that the requirement was jurisdictional. Id. at 143.

IV.

CNA is instructive. Here, although the sum certain requirement is not set forth in the text of § 1346, the sum certain requirement is nevertheless tethered to the grant of jurisdiction because § 1346 specifies at the outset that a district court's jurisdiction over an FTCA claim is "[s]ubject to the provisions of chapter 171." 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1). Chapter 171 contains § 2675, which sets forth the sum certain requirement. Id. § 2675(b). Accordingly, to remove any doubt on this point, we hold that the sum certain requirement contained in § 2675(b) is jurisdictional. Thus, a claimant's failure to present her FTCA claim to the appropriate agency with a sum certain, as required by § 2675(b), compels the conclusion that a district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the claim.

We are mindful of White-Squire's contention that her damages continued to accrue and precluded her from stating a sum certain. However, neither the FTCA nor the regulations promulgated thereunder contain an exception to this sum certain requirement when a claimant's damages continue to accrue through the two years following accrual of a claim. As stated above, sovereign immunity can only be waived by the sovereign, and the "conditions upon which the Government consents to be sued must be strictly observed and exceptions thereto are not to be implied." Soriano v. United States, 352 U.S. 270, 276, 77 S.Ct. 269, 1...