Clayton Avery, Jr. v. United States of America, Abel Rocha v. United States

Suit against the Government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, June 25, 1948, ch. 646, as amended by Pub.L. 89-506, 80 Stat. 306 (1966), codified at 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346 (b), 2671-80 (1976), is not permitted unless a claim has first been filed with the agency; suit may begin when the agency denies the claim or has failed to act upon it for six months. 28 U.S.C. § 2675 (a). These two cases present the problem of how to implement this statute where the agency takes the position it cannot process a claim because of incomplete information. The Government urges adoption of the rule followed by the district court in both of the two separate cases below. Those courts held that the claimant’s failure to present full or adequate information to the agency in support of his claim was ground for dismissing his subsequent suit for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The Government argues that dismissal for lack of jurisdiction is the only available means to implement the congressional intent that administrative consideration of a claim occur before the courts are open to it.

The claimants argue that the rule adopted below, at worst, allows the agency to avoid trial on the merits by a procedural…