United States Seventh Circuit

In plaintiff's suit against a customs officer for arresting him for illegal reentry into the U.S. and against the Assistant United States Attorney who prosecuted the case, grant of the government's motion for substitution and dismissal under the Federal Employees Liability Reform and Tort Compensation Act (Westfall Act) is affirmed where: 1) the district court correctly substituted the U.S. as defendant, as plaintiff's claim for relief for violation of his rights under the Vienna Convention does not fall within an exception to the Westfall Act's substitution provision; and 2) the district court properly dismissed plaintiff's claim as the source of his claims is not state tort law, but international treaty and as such, does not fall within the United States' waiver of its sovereign immunity in section 1346(b).

Appellate Information

• Argued Array
• Decided 12/09/2009
• Published 12/09/2009

Judges

• RIPPLE, Circuit Judge., Before RIPPLE, MANION and TINDER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Millicent A. Hoffman, Attorney (argued), David C. Layden, Attorney (argued), Jenner & Block, Chicago, IL, Babajide Sobitan, Post, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Samuel B. Cole, Attorney (argued), Thomas P. Walsh, Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Chicago, IL, Sharon Swingle, Attorney (argued), Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Defendants-Appellees.