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Bonita A. Hart, As Personal Representative of the Estate of Kenneth M. Block, Deceased v. United States of America

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Submitted: October 22, 2010

Before RILEY, Chief Judge, MELLOY and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

Bonita Hart brought this wrongful death action under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346, 2671-80, against the United States. Hart asserted that a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) law enforcement officer failed adequately to supervise, secure, and detain her son, Kenneth Block, after Block’s arrest for federal sex crimes, resulting in Block’s suicide. The district court*fn1 sua sponte dismissed Hart’s complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, holding the discretionary function exception, 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a), to the FTCA’s general waiver of sovereign immunity, 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b), barred Hart’s claims. Hart appeals, and we affirm.

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