Brownback v. King

A plaintiff needs to plausibly allege, under state law, “the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant” to survive both a Rule 12(b)(6) merits determination and a subject-matter jurisdiction determination. §1346(b)(1).

Respondent sued the United States following a violent encounter between himself and federal task force members.  The circuit court affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Respondent’s Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) suit for his failure to establish jurisdiction. The Court noted the presence of an overlapping issue; the “merits and jurisdiction will sometimes come intertwined,” and courts can decide “all . . . of the merits issues” to resolve jurisdictional questions. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela v. Helmerich & Payne Int’l Drilling Co., 581 U.S. ___, ___ (2017) (slip op., at 7). A plaintiff needs to plausibly allege, under state law, “the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant” to survive both a Rule 12(b)(6) merits determination and a subject-matter jurisdiction determination. §1346(b)(1). The Court concluded that the lower courts’ merit judgment of the FTCA claims may trigger the judgment bar because a judgment on jurisdiction is still a judgment on the merits. REVERSED.