Mace v. The United States of America et al
Filing
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ORDER by Judge Laurel Beeler granting 18 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction. The court dismisses the plaintiff's third claim with prejudice. (lblc3S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/15/2015)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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San Francisco Division
United States District Court
Northern District of California
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SEAN J. MACE,
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Case No. 15-cv-04060-LB
Plaintiff,
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v.
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO
DISMISS
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THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et
al.,
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[ECF No. 18]
Defendants.
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INTRODUCTION
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This is a premises-liability suit against the federal government. The defendant United States,
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under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, moves to dismiss the plaintiff‘s third
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claim for want of subject-matter jurisdiction. (ECF No. 18.)1 The United States argues that the
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Federal Tort Claims Act (―FTCA‖), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2401(b), 2671-80, does not waive the
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federal government‘s sovereign immunity to the claim in question. All parties have consented to
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magistrate jurisdiction. (ECF Nos. 7, 13.) Because this motion can be decided without oral
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argument, the court vacates the hearing that is set for January 7, 2016. See Civil L.R. 7-1(b). The
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court grants the defendant‘s motion and dismisses the plaintiff‘s third claim with prejudice.
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Record citations are to material in the Electronic Case File (―ECF‖); pinpoint citations are to the
ECF-generated page numbers at the tops of documents.
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ORDER - 15-cv-04060-LB
STATEMENT
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Plaintiff Sean Mace claims that, while he was ―reading and napping‖ in a grove of trees in the
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San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, a large and heavy seed pod (the species of tree in
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question can have seed pods weighing as much as 40 pounds) fell from above and struck him in
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the head, causing serious injuries. (Compl. – ECF No. 1 at 1, 4-5 [¶¶ 1, 15-26].) He brought this
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suit against the governmental entities that run the Park: the United States; the Department of the
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Interior; the National Park Service; and the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park itself.
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(ECF No. 1.) He later dismissed all these defendants with prejudice except the United States.
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(ECF No. 9.) There is no dispute that the United States owns the Park property.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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ANALYSIS
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The plaintiff‘s third claim — the only one relevant here — is for ―dangerous condition of
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public property‖ under California Government Code § 835. (ECF No. 1 at 9-11 [¶¶ 49-62].) The
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United States moves to dismiss that claim for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under Rule
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12(b)(1). More specifically, the United States contends that it enjoys sovereign immunity to the
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§ 835 claim. The FTCA, the United States says, waives the federal government‘s sovereign
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immunity and thus subjects it to suit in a variety of tort cases — but only ―if a private person‖
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could be liable on the given theory. Under § 835, only public entities can be liable. The plaintiff‘s
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dangerous-condition claim thus falls outside the immunity waiver of the FTCA and this court has
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no power to entertain that claim. For the reasons given below, the court agrees with the United
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States.
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1. Rule 12(b)(1)
The United States here brings a ―facial‖ rather than a ―factual‖ Rule 12(b)(1) challenge. A
district court in this circuit recently explained the difference:
[A] party invoking Rule 12(b)(1) to challenge subject matter
jurisdiction may bring a ―factual‖ attack, one that relies on evidence
outside the pleadings and requires the court to resolve factual
disputes. Safe Air for Everyone v. Meyer, 373 F.3d 1035, 1039 (9th
Cir. 2004). In a ―facial‖ jurisdictional attack, by contrast, ―the
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ORDER - 15-cv-04060-LB
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challenger asserts that the allegations contained in a complaint are
insufficient on their face to invoke federal jurisdiction.‖ Id.
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Weidenhamer v. Expedia, Inc., 2015 WL 1292978, *3 (W.D. Wash. Mar. 23, 2015) The United
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States argues that the complaint‘s allegations do not support federal subject-matter jurisdiction;
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the government does not invoke material outside the complaint to make that argument. Its motion
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is thus a facial Rule 12(b)(1) challenge. The factual allegations of the complaint are accordingly
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presumed to be true. See, e.g., Savage v. Glendale Union High Sch. Dist. No. 205, Maricopa
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Cnty., 343 F.3d 1036, 1039 n. 1 (9th Cir. 2003).
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2. The Federal Tort Claims Act — Waiving sovereign immunity
―It is axiomatic that the United States may not be sued without its consent and that the
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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existence of consent is a prerequisite for jurisdiction.‖ Jachetta v. United States, 653 F.3d 898,
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903 (9th Cir. 2011) (quoting United States v. Mitchell, 463 U.S. 206, 212 (1983)). This is the
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doctrine of sovereign immunity. The Ninth Circuit has explained: ―Before we may exercise
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jurisdiction over any suit against the government, we must have a ‗clear statement from the United
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States waiving sovereign immunity, together with a claim falling within the terms of the waiver.‘‖
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Jachetta, 653 F.3d at 903 (quoting in part United States v. White Mountain Apache Tribe, 537
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U.S. 465, 472 (2003)).
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The plaintiff finds jurisdiction in the FTCA. (ECF No. 1 at 3 [¶ 9].) The FTCA indeed waives
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the federal government‘s sovereign immunity to a variety of tort claims, and ―authorizes private
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tort actions against the United States,‖ Jachetta, 653 F.3d at 904, but only ―under circumstances
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where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the
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law of the place where the act or omission occurred,‖ 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b) (emphasis added). As
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another part of the FTCA puts it, the United States can ―be liable‖ in tort ―in the same manner and
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to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances.‖ 28 U.S.C. § 2674. The Ninth
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Circuit has thus held that, under the FTCA, ―the United States must be treated as a private person .
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. . , even if a different rule would apply to California governmental entities.‖ Ravell v. United
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States, 22 F.3d 960, 961 (9th Cir. 1994) (premises liability); see, e.g., Simpson v. United States,
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652 F.2d 831, 832-33 (9th Cir. 1981) (premises liability) (―Since California Civil Code § 846
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ORDER - 15-cv-04060-LB
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doubtless applies to private persons, it must, therefore, also apply in the same way to the United
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States.‖).
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3. Section 835 of the California Government Code
Both expressly and inherently, by definition, § 835 reaches only public entities. The statute
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provides that (on certain conditions not material here), ―a public entity is liable for injury caused
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by a dangerous condition of its property.‖ Cal. Gov‘t Code § 835 (emphasis added). The statute
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makes no provision for the liability of private actors. See id.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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4. Case law supports dismissal
The arc of this analysis is now clear: The FTCA waives the government‘s sovereign immunity
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only for claims on which a private person could be liable. Ravell, 22 F.3d at 961; Simpson, 652
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F.2d at 833. But only public entities can be liable under § 835. Private actors cannot. The FTCA
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thus does not waive sovereign immunity to the plaintiff‘s § 835 dangerous-condition claim against
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the United States. The court consequently lacks jurisdiction to hear that claim.
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The court in United States v. Montrose Chem. Corp. of Cal., 788 F. Supp. 1485 (E.D. Cal.
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1992), reached the same conclusion. In Montrose Chemical, the United States sued several
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defendants ―to recover natural[-]resource damages and [environmental] response costs‖ for
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damage that the defendants had allegedly done to several natural spaces in California. Id. at 1489-
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90. The defendants counterclaimed, arguing that the United States had itself damaged the areas in
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question; their counterclaims were brought partly on a ―dangerous condition‖ theory under § 835.
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See id. at 1490-92. The United States moved to dismiss this claim for want of subject-matter
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jurisdiction, making the same argument that it makes here. It pointed out ―that under the F.T.C.A.,
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the United States can only be held liable to the extent that a private person could . . . .‖ Id. at 1491.
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The government‘s argument continued: ―[S]ince . . . § 835 provides for liability of the State for
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maintaining a dangerous condition on public property, it cannot be the basis of an action against a
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private person, and thus it cannot be the basis for an action against the United States under the
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F.T.C.A.‖ Id. at 1492 (emphasis in original). The court found ―merit‖ in this analysis. Id. It agreed
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ORDER - 15-cv-04060-LB
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that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over the § 835 claim and so dismissed that claim under
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Rule 12(b)(1). Id.
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The operative aspects of Montrose Chemical are identical to those presented here; this court
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believes that the same result must follow. Other premises-liability cases, though differing from
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this suit in particulars, cement that conclusion by following the same FTCA rule to the same basic
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result. These cases all involve ―recreational use‖ statutes that shield private landowners from tort
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claims brought by plaintiffs who had been injured on their properties. The courts in all these cases
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held that, though the federal government is obviously a public entity, under the FTCA the United
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States must nonetheless be given the same statutory defenses as private landowners. In every such
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case the respective court invoked the FTCA to dismiss premises-liability claims.
United States District Court
Northern District of California
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For example, in Hannon v. United States, 801 F. Supp. 323 (E.D. Cal. 1992), the court held
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that, under the FTCA, the United States must be afforded the same defense to liability as a private
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person would under California‘s ―recreational use‖ statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 846) — even if, as
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the plaintiff claimed, that statute did not protect public entities. Id. at 325-26. The defensive statute
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undeniably did cover private entities, consequently shielded the United States ―in the same
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manner‖ through the FTCA, and thus warranted summary judgment against the plaintiff‘s claim.
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Id. (discussing Simpson, supra).
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The same effective result obtained in Proud v. United States, 723 F.2d 705 (9th Cir. 1984).
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The plaintiff in Proud was injured while diving in a national park in Hawaii. Id. at 705-06. Like
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California, Hawaii had a ―recreational use‖ statute that shielded landowners from the sorts of
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claims that the Proud plaintiff made; Hawaii‘s version of this statute, however, expressly withheld
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its protection from publicly owned land. Id. at 706. The Ninth Circuit held that this did not matter
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given the FTCA; the United States had to be treated like a private entity and so could invoke the
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protective statute. Id. at 706-07. The Proud court affirmed a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of the
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complaint. Id.
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The Ninth Circuit‘s decision in Ravell is for all relevant purposes identical. See 22 F.3d at 96163 (affirming summary judgment for defendant).
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ORDER - 15-cv-04060-LB
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Some of these cases analyzed and dismissed premises-liability claims against the United States
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under Rule 12(b)(6) (Proud) or Rule 56 (Hannon; Ravell). The FTCA analysis resolves equally
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well, though, if not better, through the jurisdictional lens of Rule 12(b)(1). The root principle
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beneath the FTCA is, after all, sovereign immunity; so that, if a given claim does not ―fall[] within
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the terms of the [FTCA‘s] waiver,‖ the court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over that claim.
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Jachetta, 653 F.3d at 903; see Montrose Chemical, 788 F. Supp. at 1490-92.
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The plaintiff responds that ―several California federal district courts have acknowledged the
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viability of a cause of action for ‗dangerous condition of public property‘ [pleaded] against federal
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public entities under the FTCA.‖ (ECF No. 21 at 3.) He cites the following cases to support this
assertion: McAllister v. United States, 2013 WL 2551990 (N.D. Cal. June 10, 2013); Jones v.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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United States, 2011 WL 2143903 (E.D. Cal. May 31, 2011); Muchhala v. United States, 532 F.
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Supp. 2d 1215 (E.D. Cal. 2007); and McAsey v. United States Dept. of the Navy, 2001 WL
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1246620 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 20, 2001). (ECF No. 22 at 4.) The plaintiff‘s portrayal of these
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decisions, if admirable as plucky advocacy, is nevertheless inaccurate. None of these cases raises,
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much less decides, the jurisdictional FTCA question that is presented here. These cases do not
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impact this analysis and they certainly do not overcome the ―same extent as a private individual‖
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rule deriving from the FTCA‘s plain text (see 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2674), and recognized both in
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the Ninth Circuit‘s decisions in Ravell and Simpson, or in the lucidly reasoned Montrose
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Chemical.
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ORDER - 15-cv-04060-LB
CONCLUSION
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The court grants the United States‘ Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss the plaintiff‘s third claim
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for want of subject-matter jurisdiction. The nature of this analysis — the effect of the FTCA on
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the plaintiff‘s dangerous-condition claim — rules out the possibility that the plaintiff could cure
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the jurisdictional defect by amending his claim. This dismissal is therefore with prejudice. See,
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e.g., Steckman v. Hart Brewing, Inc., 143 F.3d 1293, 1296 (9th Cir. 1998) (dismissals without
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leave to amend are proper if ―it is clear . . . that the complaint could not be saved by any
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amendment‖).
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This disposes of ECF No. 18.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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Dated: December 15, 2015
______________________________________
LAUREL BEELER
United States Magistrate Judge
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ORDER - 15-cv-04060-LB
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