Hope Angelic White, Individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Myron Pollard v. United States, et al.

The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. 1346(b), 2671 et seq., waives the sovereign immunity of the United States and creates a cause of action for damages for certain torts committed by federal employees “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). The FTCA also imposes a judgment bar, which provides that “[t]he judgment in an action under section 1346(b) of this title shall constitute a complete bar to any action by the claimant, by reason of the same subject matter, against the employee of the government whose act or omission gave rise to the claim.” 28 U.S.C. 2676. Congress enacted the judgment bar of the FTCA to prevent a plaintiff who first fails to prove a tort claim against the United States from then having a second chance, in a separate lawsuit, at that same claim by suing the government’s official individually. The question presented is whether, in the same lawsuit, a partial judgment for or against a claimant in her capacity as personal representative for an estate claiming one set of damages under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971) is vacated and barred by a subsequent judgment for or against a claimant in her individual capacity claiming another set of damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. 2671 et seq., and 28 U.S.C. Section 1346(b). (i)