I've always heard that you can't sue the government. Why? Since the gov does so much wrong-doings, is there some kind of written law to protect them, regardless of what kind of crap they do?

I beleive, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, that you can't sue the federal government as an entity because it is too large and encompasses too much. You can sue individual sections, i.e. the IRS, but you can't, like, bring a suit against the President for something a government agency does.

Example: say I own a chain of businesses that are independently owned and operated, like Pizza Hut. You go to one of the stores one day. An employee of that store punches you in the face.

You can't sue me for the damages from the assault, becuase I am not personally responsible for the actions of an individual in an independently run subsection of my business. You have to go after the owner, manager, and the employee.

With the government, think of the subsections of the overall entity as independently run chain stores. You can't bring an action against the overall mechanism for the failure of one part.

I thought the IRS was also exempt from lawsuits.

A question was raised by someone recently about suing Social Security, and a lawyer said it couldn't be done, but I don't know all the juicy details.

You definitely can sue the government. Recent suits include farmers suing the DEA and DoJ to lift a ban on growing hemp, telemarketers suing over the do not call list, environmental groups suing the EPA for failing to curb global warming, Physicians (including a congressman) suing the Department of Health and Human Resources for violating constitutional privacy protections, Indian tribes suing over the effects of mining, gun-rights groups suing over gun-sales restrictions, Oklahoma city bombing victims suing the ATF for failing to adequately protect them, and the Kansas City Royals suing the IRS for a refund of employment taxes that the club paid on labor settlements made to players. The lawyer probably didn't mean that the government couldn't be sued. He probably meant that the particular case didn't stand a chance of winning and would be dismissed before trial.

Methos

Actually, what you said here backs up what I had heard--you can sue individual departments or agencies, but not the government as a whole.

Mx2 - I believe you are correct, but I didn't comment on being able to sue the federal government as a whole because (while I don't think you can sue it), I don't actually know.


P.S. - I'm not sure what the 'actually' is there for. I never suggested that I was contradicting you, I was just answering honilov's questions.

Thanks, and the lawyer probably 'did' mean that the case didn't have a chance of being won.

quote:

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Originally posted by methos5000:
Mx2 - I believe you are correct, but I didn't comment on being able to sue the federal government as a whole because (while I don't think you can sue it), I don't actually know.


P.S. - I'm not sure what the 'actually' is there for. I never suggested that I was contradicting you, I was just answering honilov's questions.

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Methos

It wasn't meant for anything--I just say (and type) it all the time. Like a mental burb

He he--that should have said "burp". Apparently I had a brain fart, too.

I'm sure you can sue states. I can't recall any specific instances but I've heard of it.

Here's a current lawsuit against the state of Oregon. Monitor it and see what the outcome will be:

http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=60117

This is the ongoing case of Ward Weaver, the serial killer that killed the two girls in Oregon last year that got national media attention.

If you can sue the IRS, I'm going to get them for mental anguish and loss of wages for having to take time off work to run to H&R Block.