Reed v. U.S. Department of the Interior
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
231 F.3d 501 (2000)
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) (defendant) issued an event permit for the Burning Man Festival on federal land in Nevada, considering the festival's compliance history and its own multiple-use land-management mandate. Daniel Reed (plaintiff) attended the festival and was severely injured overnight when a car ran over his tent, in an area BLM agents were not actively monitoring after 10 p.m. Reed sued under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), arguing four BLM actions -- including failing to warn campers, failing to separate cars from tents, failing to monitor the event, and failing to suspend the permit -- fell outside the FTCA's discretionary-function exception. The district court ruled for the BLM, and Reed appealed.
Whether the Federal Tort Claims Act's discretionary-function exception protects the federal government from liability for exercising its discretion to create and enforce permit terms for events on federal land.