John Winters v. United States

MEMORANDUM

John Winters appeals the decision of the district court granting summary judgment to the United States. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Winters was injured when he was thrown from his motorcycle after hitting a pothole in Eldorado National Forest. He sued the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346 (b) and 2674, alleging negligent road maintenance. The district court granted summary judgment to the United States on the basis that California Civil Code § 846 creates immunity for any person that allows others to enter and use private land for recreational use free of charge. •

Reviewing the district court’s decision de novo, Oyama v. Univ. of Hawaii, 813 F.3d 850, 860 (9th Cir. 2015), we agree that under the FTCA, the federal government must be treated as a private person, not a public entity, and is therefore, immune. See, e.g., United States v. Olson, 546 U.S. 43, 45-46 , 126 S.Ct. 510 , 163 L.Ed.2d 306 (2005) (holding that the United States’ liability under the FTCA is to be based on the state law liability of a private party, not of a state or municipal…