539 F. Supp. 2d 205 - Thomas v. Nicholson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 district ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The results here are compelled by federal and Tennessee state law. A claimant under the FTCA must file his claim within two years of its accrual. Although he received the [VA’s Statement of the Case “SOC”] on October 9, 1999, the very earliest date on which it might be said that Mr. Thomas filed an FTCA claim based on the failure-to-inform him of Dr. Kelly’s potential schizophrenia diagnosis is October 11, 2001, more than two years later. Because timely presen tation of a claim is jurisdictional, the Court must dismiss all allegations based on the failure to inform of a schizophrenia diagnosis. In addition to complying with the two-year requirement, a claimant must provide sufficient information for the relevant agency to investigate and respond. Mr. Thomas failed to respond to VA’s request for specific information concerning his malpractice claim that spanned a dozen years and over a dozen medical conditions. His inaction and silence prevented the VA from processing his claim on the merits and, therefore, he did not fulfill his duty to exhaust his administrative remedies. Further, there is no record that Mr. Thomas ever filed an FTCA claim arising from his July 23, 2004, visit to Memphis VAMC [VA Medical Center] and, therefore, he also failed to exhaust his administrative remedies therewith. Finally, the VA is entitled to summary judgment on Mr. Thomas’s allegations concerning the failure of Memphis VAMC to provide medical treatment to him in November 2002. Tennessee law req”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 561 F. Supp. 2d 1 - Thomas v. Nicholson

2. “The Court finds the November 2, 1999, letter and Mr. Thomas’s silence about it compelling evidence that Mr. Thomas received the SOC on October 9, 1999. Thus, this is when his claim accrued and’ the statute of limitations for him to file an administrative claim began. There is no doubt on this record that Mr. Thomas had sufficient information from the SOC to advance an FTCA claim as his own statements and the 2001 Claim demonstrate. In his own words, he admitted receiving that information on October 9, 1999. Further, his written admission was dated November 2, 1999, just a few weeks after such receipt at a time when the importance of a few days’ difference was not apparent. Therefore, a timely FTCA claim had to be made no later than October 9, 2001. Mr. Thomas did not timely file an administrative claim. At the earliest, Mr. Thomas filed his claim with the Army on October 11, 2001.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 561 F. Supp. 2d 1 - Thomas v. Nicholson

3. “Mr. Thomas received the SOC on October 9, 1999, which informed him that a potential diagnosis of schizophrenia had been made. He therefore had until October 9, 2001, to file an FTCA claim based on the failure to inform him of this potential diagnosis. He filed the claim on October 11, 2001, after the statute of limitations had run. Because Mr. Thomas failed to timely file an administrative claim, the Court lacks juris diction over Mr. Thomas’s claims regarding the alleged failure to inform or treat him for schizophrenia, Counts la, II, III, and IV, and any unnumbered counts relating to Mr. Thomas’s 2001 Claim.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 561 F. Supp. 2d 1 - Thomas v. Nicholson