Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 16-53
02-25-2020
MELVIN A. PETRUS v. U.S. GOVERNMENT
MEMORANDUM Savage, J.
In this action brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2679, plaintiff Melvin Petrus alleges that he suffered a rash after he was administered flu and shingles vaccines at the Veterans Administration facility. He candidly avers that a biopsy did not identify the vaccines as the cause of his rash. Nevertheless, without any basis to connect the rash to any act of the government, he asserts a claim for strict liability.
The FTCA waives the United States' sovereign immunity for negligence. 28 U.S.C. § 2674. It does not for strict lability. Ward v. United States, 471 F.2d 667, 670 (3d Cir. 1973) (citing Laird v. Helms, 406 U.S. 797 (1972). The government is not a guarantor of the plaintiff's health and safety. The FTCA precludes imposition of liability where there is no negligence. Id. Thus, in the absence of any negligence, the FTCA does not waive immunity.