Where 13 claims brought by a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service failed to state a claim for a variety of reasons, including facial implausibility, lack of exhaustion or because they were time-barred, the suit was dismissed.
Background
Russell Morton Jr. is a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service, who, proceeding pro se, brings a 13-count complaint alleging various claims stemming from his employment. Defendant has filed a motion to dismiss.
FTCA
The counts for “unethical practice and behavior,” libel and deception are torts that must be construed as claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act, or FTCA, which operates as a limited waiver of the federal government’s sovereign immunity for certain state-law torts. The court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over these claims.
First, while Mr. Morton has names USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy as defendant, “the only proper defendant in an FTCA claim is the United States.” On top of that, Mr. Morton has failed to allege that he exhausted his administrative remedies under the FTCA. Finally no amendment could cure the underlying defect in Mr. Morton’s FTCA claims: they all rest on intentional torts, which are not among those for which the United States has waived its sovereign immunity.
