Quinones v. United States

Opinion OF THE COURT ALDISERT, Circuit Judge. This appeal from an order granting the dismissal of a complaint filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b),1 requires us to decide whether Pennsylvania courts would be hospitable to a tort claim, sounding in negligence, for damages resulting from an employer's failure to use due care in maintaining the record of an employee's performance and work history, and whether such a claim would be barred by the ""libel-slander"" exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h).2 Reasoning that the interest sought to be protected by the plaintiff -- freedom from injury to one's image or reputation -- was identical to that protected by the defamatory torts, the district court concluded that the plaintiff's claim was barred by Section 2680(h) since it was ""purely and simply one of libel and slander."" The plaintiff, a former agent of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), has appealed. We reverse.