Altomare v. United States, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28968 (Pa. Eastern Dist. Ct., February 18, 2025) (Diamond, J.)
Leonard Altomare alleges that he fell when trying to enter a Veterans Affairs facility because the United States had negligently failed to provide him with a wheelchair as soon as he arrived. Because, under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the Government is immune from Altomare’s suit, the Court is without jurisdiction to hear this matter. U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1). Accordingly, I will grant the Government’s Motion for Summary Judgment.
Under the FTCA, Altomare brought the instant action on June 12, 2024.; 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1). He alleged that the United States’ failures to correct a dangerous condition in the VAMC garage and to provide him with a wheelchair as soon as he arrived at the facility constituted negligence under Pennsylvania law, thus causing him injuries.
The government has not shown how the VA’s distribution of wheelchairs is a type of action the discretionary function exception was “designed to shield.” See, Berkovitz 486 US at 536. Accordingly, this exception does not bar the Court from exercising jurisdiction over Altomare’s negligence claim. See, 28 US Section 1346(b)(1), 2680(a).
No other Circuit has yet addressed the question of whether, under the FTCA, a federal agency is immune from suit when the underlying wrongful action is not alleged to have been undertaken by a specific agency employee. Different courts have come to different conclusions. This court concludes that the VA is immune from the corporate negligence claim that Altomare seeks to bring, and the Court is thus without jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Altomare cannot show that the VA’s allocation of wheelchairs causes injuries. The Court also therefore found a lack of causation.
