Berkovitz v. United States
United States Supreme Court
486 U.S. 531 (1988)
Two-month-old Kevan Berkovitz (plaintiff) contracted paralytic polio after receiving an oral polio vaccine that had been licensed and released for distribution by federal agencies. Berkovitz's family sued the United States (defendant) under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging negligence in licensing and releasing the vaccine; the district court held the discretionary function exception did not bar the suit, but the court of appeals reversed, finding the government's regulatory actions were discretionary and thus immune. The Supreme Court granted review.
Whether the FTCA's discretionary function exception, which shields the government from suit over its employees' exercise of policy judgment, bars suit over the government's licensing and release of a vaccine that caused injury.