Brown v. Cooper
- David Doty
- 0:18-cv-00219
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 2
In Brown v. Cooper, Judge Thorson granted the United States’ motion to replace federal employees as defendants on the Federal Tort Claims Act claim.
The United States and the federal employees named as defendants in Claim Five; the substitution applied only to Claim Five of James N. Brown, Jr.’s amended complaint.
What happened
In Brown v. Cooper, the United States asked to be substituted for the federal employees named in Claim Five of James N. Brown, Jr.’s amended complaint. Claim Five sought money damages and injunctive relief under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
The court explained that federal employees cannot be named as defendants in a Federal Tort Claims Act case. The United States is the proper defendant instead. No party responded to the motion within the time allowed by the local rules.
Judge Becky R. Thorson granted the motion and substituted the United States for the federal defendants as to Claim Five.
The detailed version
- Brown v. Cooper · No. 0:18-cv-00219
- David Doty
- July 10, 2018
Background
The United States moved to substitute itself as the defendant for the federal employees named in Claim Five of James N. Brown, Jr.’s amended complaint. The motion concerned the federal defendants identified in the order, including G. Cooper, Ken Hyle, Kathleen Kenny, Sara Revell, L. LaRiva, C. Orum, A. Cossette, R. Woltman, M. Porter, L. Janssen, D. Holbus, C. Stromberg, Hare, Charles Slater, Peter Arroyo, and Sheila Hadaway. No party responded within the time allowed by the local rules.
Claim and legal standard
Claim Five sought money damages and injunctive relief under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The court relied on Supreme Court and Eighth Circuit precedent stating that federal employees cannot be named as defendants in a Federal Tort Claims Act action and that the United States is the proper defendant.
Ruling
The court granted the Motion to Substitute the United States of America for Federal Defendants as to Claim Five. Judge Becky R. Thorson therefore ordered that the United States replace the specified federal defendants with respect to that claim.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.