Comments on: Infobleg – Suing Government Contractors?

By: Criminal Background Screening

Criminal Background Screening — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:31:32 +0000

I agree, I would prefer to use private but at least the TSA is ordered to complete a Criminal Background Screening

By: John Steed

John Steed — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:29:23 +0000

The government contractor defense applies to contractors who are making products for the government who build their products to spec and who warned the government of any potential hazards, but not (as far as I can tell) to contractors providing services. Hercules Inc. v. U.S. 516 U.S. 417 (1996).

By: Marty

Marty — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 05:10:58 +0000

I’ll keep poking around and post if you find something- if the TSA gropers are liable, I would think litigation would be a crippling weapon to use on them.

This issue gets more complex the more I look at it!

good luck…

By: Mark Draughn

Mark Draughn — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:08:22 +0000

Sorry for your loss, and thanks for sharing this story. When I was trying to figure this out for myself, I started looking into how lawsuits work against private contractors and prisons. The case of private medical contractors working in prisons was one of the examples of immunity extending to the contractor, as you have apparently found out.

It may be a waste of time for a non-lawyer like me to try to figure this out, but one distinction I could make between prisons and the TSA is that imprisonment is inherently a government function whereas airport passenger screening is not. But that could reflect my political bias (or my knowledge that it used to be a private function).

Another possible difference is that lawsuits against medical personnel are for malpractice or negligence or something like that, whereas people might sue TSA screeners for damages caused by criminal acts such as fondling passengers more than authorized by the screening rules. I don’t know how qualified immunity works in situations like that.

Like I said, I really am hoping for an answer from someone who knows.

By: Marty

Marty — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:17:41 +0000

I apologize, because I can’t offer anything but my anecdotal story- we had a relative have a stroke in prison, there were clear signs of negligence from the guards and medical staff. CMS is the company contracting health care in MO prisons. The relative ended up dying. Numerous malpractice legal firms shied away because of the ‘govt component’. An expert witness (neurologist) rated the case as ‘strong’. a firm familiar with this kind of litigation estimated it would take 8 years to see it through to completion. Because the case would be on contingency (who can afford to pay for this?!!), everyone backed away
I’m not seeing much benefit to having private companies execute govt orders…