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Doe Parents No. 1 v. State11/27/2002
gligently allowing the assault to occur." Id. at 398-99.
In the Sheridan Court's view, "two quite different theories might explain why Muniz's claim did not 'arise out of' the assault" perpetrated by the other inmates. Id. at 399. The first theory was that, insofar as Muniz alleged that the prison officials were negligent, his "claim did not arise solely, or even predominately, out of the assault." Id. Under this theory, the focus is upon the negligent acts or omissions of a federal employee rather than upon the assault, which is "simply considered as part of the causal link to the injury ." Id. Thus, it was not the "assailant's individual involvement," but, rather, the "antecedent negligence of [federal employees]" from which Muniz's claim would arise under the first theory. Id. However, the Sheridan majority relied "exclusively on the second theory, which makes clear that the intentional tort exception is simply inapplicable to torts that fall outside the scope of [28 USC] ยง 1346(b)'s general waiver" of sovereign immunity for the conduct of federal employees. Id. at 400.
Under the second theory, espoused by the Sheridan Court, the intentional tort exception is "read against the rest of the [FTCA]," and, therefore, "appl only to claims that would otherwise be authorized by the basic waiver of sovereign immunity." Id. Since the FTCA only waives sovereign immunity "for personal injuries 'caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his [or her] office or employment," id. at 400-401 (citation omitted) (some emphasis added and some in original), the intentional tort exception "only applies in cases arising out of assaults by federal employees," id. at 400. As such, the Sheridan Court believed that the better reading of Muniz was that the FTCA's intentional tort exception did not apply because the prison inmates who actually assaulted Muniz were not federal employees. Id. at 400-401.
Accordingly, as to the facts before it, the Sheridan Court observed that, " f nothing more was involved here than the conduct of Carr at the time he shot at [the plaintiffs], there would be no basis for imposing liability on the [federal g]overnment," insofar as he was not on duty at the time he shot at the plaintiffs and, therefore, was not acting within the scope of his federal employment. Id. at 401. Thus, in the Sheridan Court's view, the FTCA did not waive sovereign immunity for any alleged liability arising from Carr's conduct in the first instance, even had his conduct been merely negligent. Id. Yet, the Sheridan Court noted that the case before it did not simply arise from Carr's conduct; rather, the plaintiffs attempted to hold the federal government liable for "the negligence of other [federal g]overnment employees who allowed a foreseeable assault and battery to occur."
Consequently, the Sheridan Court construed the plaintiffs' negligence claim as one that did not seek to hold the federal government liable on the sole basis that Carr was a federal employee acting within the scope of his employment; rather, the court construed the claim as one in which "the negligence of other Government employees who allowed a foreseeable assault and battery to occur may furnish a basis for Government liability that is entirely independent of [the intentional tortfeasor's] employment status." Id. However, the Sheridan Court did not expressly answer the question on the basis of which it had granted certiorari, see 487 U.S. at 394, insofar as it ultimately held that the intentional tort exception did not apply to the plaintiffs' claim. Rather, the Court held that the federal government, "by voluntarily adopting regulations that pro
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