Botched sum certain requirement

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted October 4, 2021 11:06 AM

Three days after a postal service employee allegedly caused an accident that injured Kelly and Paul Copen, she submitted a “Standard Form 95” that notified the United States Postal Service about the damage to her car and their trip to the hospital. The government paid for the property damage. But when the Copens sued for their personal injuries without having satisfied the requirement (imposed by Sec. 2675 of the Federal Tort Claims Act) of first providing the agency with a “sum certain” for those damages, a district judge …

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