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  1. #1
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    Sep 2015
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    Wink Suing FBI Agents Under the Torts Claims Act

    This actually is a reply to a closed post on suing the FBI for defamation: http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83775

    The expert responded that one cannot sue the FBI for defamation due to "sovereign immunity". That's false.

    I am not a U.S. lawyer. But the lawyer who answered this wasn't correct in his response.

    First of all, anyone can launch a lawsuit. The issue is admissibility (first) then "being heard", by a judge, finally the objective is to "win". It's possible to launch a lawsuit that's automatically dismissed.

    It's also possible to sue U.S. government employees under the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), which allows certain kinds of lawsuits against federal employees who are acting within the scope of their employment.

    The proper tort to use would be a "Bivens" complaint.

    Where a U.S. citizen has a problem winning is in U.S. administration actions in national security cases and foreign affairs.

    In that case, as Justice Emmett Sullivan noted (in 'Meshal v. Higgenbotham'), in 2014. Mr. Meshal was a U.S. citizen who had a shocking experience of being rendered to two different countries, by foreign govenrments, in a situation where FBI officials were complicit, and involved in his incarceration (during which time he was tortured). Mr. Meshal sued the FBI for torture, and the judge, however appalled he was by the FBI's behavior, was unable to do anything but dismiss the case, as he was "constrained by prior rulings". Justice Sullivan indicated that the place of recourse was/is the legislature (Congress).

    Presumptively, if a person can't sue the FBI for torture (in national security cases) they can't sue for defamation.

    So it's possible to sue the FBI.

    You'd just best do it with a good lawyer, and evidence.

    The FBI has been sued quite a bit, so yes, you can sue them.

    Whether or not your case is dismissed, or if you win, is another matter.

    If you want to read about Meshal v. Higgenbotham, go to the ACLU website. https://www.aclu.org/cases/meshal-v-higgenbotham

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Suing the Fbi

    The responder (6 years ago) did not say you could NOT sue the FBI, he stated that, "based on the facts you've given so far, [the OP] will run squarely into a brick wall called "sovereign immunity."

    There are a number of reasons why such a lawsuit in the circumstance outlined would fall flat.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Suing FBI Agents Under the Torts Claims Act

    If you were more familiar with U.S. law, you would know that sovereign immunity is a defense to a lawsuit. You raise defenses to a lawsuit after you are sued, so suggesting a possible avenue of defense is very different from stating that a lawsuit is not possible.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Suing FBI Agents Under the Torts Claims Act

    Quote Quoting Citizen3
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    The expert responded that one cannot sue the FBI for defamation due to "sovereign immunity". That's false.
    It isn’t false, just not complete. Sure, someone may file the complaint in U.S. District Court. But the complaint would be promptly dismissed by the court due to sovereign immunity. So more accurately one should say that a plaintiff cannot successfullly sue the federal government for defamation. While the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) allows persons to sue the United States in court for many torts that employees of the federal government may commit in the course of their official duties, defamation is not one of them. Defamation claims against the federal government (and lawsuits against federal employees acting within the cope of their employment are suits against the federal government) are expressly prohibited by 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h).

    A Bivens claim refers to claims in which the government is being sued for a violation of a constitutional right. In Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents, the court held that it inferred a cause of action against the federal government for violations of a constitutional right even though federal statute did not expressly provide for it. The Court emphasized the particular importance of constitutional rights in making this decision. It is thus a narrow exception to the usual rule of sovereign immunity that says that the federal government may only be sued where Congress has by statute waived the government’s immunity. The problem for using Bivens here is that there is no constitutional right against being defamed. That being the case a Bivens action would not get a plaintiff around the restriction against defamation claims in 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h).

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Suing FBI Agents Under the Torts Claims Act

    Quote Quoting Taxing Matters
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    It isn’t false, just not complete.
    Thea actual statement was, "If you try to sue based on the facts you've given so far, you will run squarely into a brick wall called 'sovereign immunity'".

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Suing FBI Agents Under the Torts Claims Act

    Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
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    Thea actual statement was, "If you try to sue based on the facts you've given so far, you will run squarely into a brick wall called 'sovereign immunity'".
    I was addressing the statement as Citizen3 phrased it, rather than what was said in that other thread. I guess I didn’t make that clear enough.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Suing FBI Agents Under the Torts Claims Act

    I simply wanted to emphasize that he didn't even get that much right.

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