Claims against the government can arise in a number of contexts, whether from a motor vehicle collision, a slip and fall, a false arrest, or a multitude of other bases. Traditionally, under the common law, governments were immune under the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Over the last two hundred years, sovereign immunity has been abandoned in most cases by statute, both at the federal level, and the state and local levels. This does not mean that all claims against the government are viable. For instance, decisions of public officials may be unchallengeable depending on the nature of the decision, the persons affected, the decision making process, or a specific governmental function exemption.
To proceed with a claim against a governmental entity, for Washington State, the state of Idaho, or the United States government, certain procedures are required to successfully prosecute your claim for recovery. With each of the entities above, the governments require a pre-litigation notice to be filed and served on the appropriate entities. Once the notice has been filed, the government has an opportunity, depending on the specific statutory language, to review and consider the claim. Failure to make a determination within the period is considered a denial. Only after a denial, or lapse of the time period, can a claimant proceed to litigation.
In Federal matters, there is a shortened time period for filing the claim that is less than the state of Washington's statute of limitations for negligence claims. The state of Idaho has an even shorter period, one hundred and eighty (180) days. Failure to meet the notice filing requirements will most likely lead to an outright dismissal of the claim. In some instances, you may not even realize that the government is a defendant in the action until it is too late.
In addition to the claim notice requirements, naming the correct entity may pose a hurdle. Claims against any agency of the United States, once in litigation, are always filed solely as claims against the United States, individual agencies and defendants are not identified as defendants. Further, there is no right to a jury trial when making a claim against the government at the Federal level.
While any injury claim presents its own complications, claims against the government have their own specific requirements that must be met to be successful. If you believe that you have a claim against a government agency, don't delay, act quickly, and obtain an experienced attorney.
