Marlys Bear Medicine v. United States ex rel. Secretary of the Department of Interior

FERGUSON, Circuit Judge:

Leland Kicking Woman, a male member of the Blackfeet Indian Tribe (the “Tribe”), was fatally injured when a tree fell on him at a logging site on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. Kicking Woman’s descendants and executors filed an action under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. §§ 2671-2680, against the United States. In granting the Government’s motion for summary judgment, the district court held that Plaintiffs failed to state a cause of action under Montana law and, even if a cause of action were stated, the discretionary function exception…