How to Sue the Federal Government Under the FTCA

To sue the federal government under the FTCA, you first file a written administrative claim with the agency whose employee caused your injury, wait up to six months for the agency to act, and only then file a lawsuit in federal district court if the claim is denied. The Federal Tort Claims Act sets hard deadlines at every stage, and missing one ends your case for good.

Step One: File an Administrative Claim Within Two Years

You cannot walk into federal court and sue the United States for negligence. The FTCA requires you to present your claim to the responsible agency first and get a final denial before any lawsuit can proceed.¹

The clock is two years from the date of the injury, or from the date you reasonably should have discovered it. That deadline is absolute. If two years pass without a filed claim, your right to any compensation is gone.²

Use Standard Form 95

The claim is normally submitted on Standard Form 95, “Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death.” You can download it from the General Services Administration or from the agency you are filing against.³ Any written notification that includes the required information and a specific dollar amount also satisfies the rule.⁴

The form asks for your identifying information and a factual account of what happened, including date, time, and location. Identify the federal agency and, if you know, the specific employee. Keep the narrative thorough and factual. Vague accounts invite quick denials.

State a Sum Certain

You must state a specific dollar amount for your total damages. Your claim is not considered legally filed until the agency has a demand for a specific figure.³ That number also caps what you can recover in any later lawsuit. You can only exceed it if you later discover evidence that was not reasonably available when you filed, or if new facts arise that change the value of your damages.¹

Add up every category of loss: medical expenses already incurred, projected future medical costs, lost wages, property repair or replacement, and pain and suffering. Do not lowball hoping to seem reasonable. Once the agency has the number, it effectively becomes your ceiling.

Attach Everything That Supports the Number

For property damage, include repair estimates, final invoices, and photographs. For personal injury, gather medical records, treatment notes, hospital bills, and pharmacy receipts. If the injury cost you income, include pay stubs or an employer letter documenting the loss. Add witness names and contact information. A complete package is harder for the agency to dismiss without a real review.

Send It to the Right Agency

Send the package to the federal agency that employs the person who caused your injury. A collision with a postal vehicle goes to the U.S. Postal Service. An injury at a VA hospital goes to the Department of Veterans Affairs. An incident at a national park goes to the Department of the Interior.

Within the agency, filings typically go to the Office of the General Counsel or another office designated for tort claims. Check the agency’s website for its specific address and instructions. Use certified mail with return receipt requested, or another method that creates proof of delivery. That receipt is your evidence that the claim was timely filed and it starts the agency’s clock for responding.

Step Two: Wait Out the Six-Month Agency Review

Once the agency receives your claim, it has six months to investigate, evaluate the evidence, and decide. You cannot file suit while that period is running.

Three things can happen. The agency may approve your claim and offer a settlement, at the full amount or a lower figure. It may send a formal written denial by certified or registered mail explaining why. Or it may simply not respond within six months. If the agency stays silent past six months, you can treat that silence as a denial and proceed to court whenever you choose.¹

The two types of denial trigger different clocks. A formal written denial starts a strict six-month deadline to file suit. A constructive denial from agency silence does not start that clock, so you have more flexibility on timing, but waiting too long is still risky because evidence degrades and memories fade.

Requesting Reconsideration

If the agency denies your claim or offers less than you believe it is worth, you can request reconsideration in writing before the six-month suit deadline expires. That request gives the agency a fresh six months to reconsider, and your right to file suit does not begin until the new period runs.⁵

Reconsideration makes sense when you have new evidence, when the agency made a clear factual or legal error, or when a settlement offer was unreasonably low and you can present a stronger case. Whatever the agency decides on reconsideration is the final administrative word. Further reconsideration requests will not extend the deadline to sue.⁶

Step Three: File Suit in Federal District Court

If the agency formally denies your claim, you have six months from the date the denial letter was mailed to file in U.S. District Court. Miss that window and the case is permanently barred.² If the agency never responded and you are treating the silence as a denial, you have more time but should not sit on the claim indefinitely.

You can file in the federal judicial district where you live or the district where the incident occurred.⁷ The civil filing fee in federal court is currently $405. Name the United States as the defendant, not the individual employee or the agency by name.

Rules That Shape Your Case

No Jury

FTCA cases are decided by a judge alone. Federal law requires that suits against the United States under the Act be tried by the court without a jury.⁸ Your case lives or dies on the evidence and legal arguments in front of a single federal judge.

No Punitive Damages

Even if you win, the FTCA prohibits punitive damages. The government’s liability is limited to compensatory damages, and you cannot collect pre-judgment interest.⁹ Recovery is capped at what it takes to make you whole for actual losses.

You Cannot Sue the Employee Personally

The FTCA is the exclusive remedy for injuries caused by federal employees acting within the scope of their jobs. If you try to sue the employee directly, the Attorney General can certify that the employee was acting within the scope of employment, at which point the United States is substituted as defendant and the case proceeds under the FTCA anyway.¹⁰ You face all the FTCA restrictions regardless of how you frame the complaint.

Attorney Fees Are Capped

Federal law caps what an attorney can charge on FTCA cases. For claims settled at the administrative level without going to court, fees cannot exceed 20 percent of the settlement. For claims resolved by court judgment or post-filing settlement, the cap is 25 percent. An attorney who charges more faces a fine and up to one year in prison.¹¹

You may represent yourself in federal court. Courts publish basic guides for self-represented litigants, but staff cannot give legal advice, and you are held to the same procedural rules as any lawyer.¹² FTCA cases involve complex federal procedure, strict evidentiary rules, and a government defense team that litigates these claims routinely. The fee caps make experienced FTCA counsel more affordable than in typical litigation, and the administrative stage is where most cases are realistically won or lost.

Claims the FTCA Will Not Let You Bring

Before investing in a filing, confirm your claim is one the FTCA actually allows. The Act waives sovereign immunity only for injury, death, or property damage caused by a federal employee acting within the scope of their job, under circumstances where a private person would be liable under the law of the state where the incident happened.¹³ State negligence law, not a uniform federal standard, governs whether the conduct was wrongful.

The biggest barrier is the discretionary function exception. It blocks any claim based on a federal agency’s policy-level judgment call, even one that turned out badly. If a federal regulation already dictated what the employee was supposed to do and they failed to follow it, the exception does not apply.¹⁴

Most intentional torts are also excluded. You generally cannot bring claims for assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, libel, slander, misrepresentation, or interference with contract rights. One carve-out matters: claims for assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, abuse of process, and malicious prosecution are allowed when committed by federal law enforcement officers empowered to make arrests, execute searches, or seize evidence.¹⁴

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2675 – Disposition by Federal Agency as Prerequisite; Evidence
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2401 – Time for Commencing Action Against United States
3
General Services Administration. Standard Form 95 – Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death
4
eCFR. 28 CFR 14.2 – Administrative Claim; When Presented
5
eCFR. 28 CFR 14.9 – Final Denial of Claim
6
eCFR. 32 CFR 536.89 – Reconsideration of Federal Tort Claims Act Claims
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1402 – United States as Defendant
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2402 – Jury Trial in Actions Against United States
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2674 – Liability of United States
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2679 – Exclusiveness of Remedy
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2678 – Attorney Fees; Penalty
12
Court of Federal Claims. Pro Se Information
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1346 – District Courts; Original Jurisdiction
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2680 – Exceptions