## Facts

- James E. McCormick was operating a small pleasure boat on Choctawhatchee Bay, Florida, near a U.S. Army recreational area.
- The boat struck an unmarked piling near the outer end of a pier extending from the recreational area into the bay.
- McCormick alleged the United States, through the Army, unlawfully placed or maintained the piling, creating a navigation hazard.
- McCormick pursued an administrative claim with the Army under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA); the Army denied the claim.
- McCormick then filed suit under the FTCA after more than two years had elapsed from the date of the accident.

## Issues

1. Whether the boating-accident claim sounded in admiralty and therefore fell within the Suits in Admiralty Act (SAA) rather than the FTCA.
2. If the SAA applied, whether its two-year limitations period was categorically non-tollable or could be equitably tolled based on the plaintiff’s pursuit of FTCA administrative remedies.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit held the claim was a maritime tort on navigable waters with a sufficient relationship to traditional maritime activity and therefore governed exclusively by the SAA, not the FTCA.
- The court rejected the district court’s view that the SAA’s two-year limitations period could never be tolled.
- The court reversed the dismissal and remanded for factual development and application of equitable tolling principles.
- On rehearing, the panel vacated its prior opinion and issued a substituted opinion reaching reversal on the tolling rationale.

## Legal Principles

- Maritime tort claims against the United States that could be brought in admiralty against a private party fall within the SAA, which displaces FTCA jurisdiction for such claims.
- The SAA’s two-year filing period is generally enforced strictly, but it is not inevitably an absolute bar; equitable tolling may be available in appropriate circumstances.
- Good-faith pursuit of an administrative remedy under the FTCA framework, reasonable confusion about the proper statutory vehicle, and lack of prejudicial delay to the government may support tolling, subject to case-specific proof on remand.

## Conclusion

A boating collision with an alleged government-created navigation hazard on navigable waters is governed by the Suits in Admiralty Act, but the Act’s two-year limitations period may be equitably tolled; dismissal based on a no-tolling rule was reversed and the case remanded to decide whether tolling was warranted.


McCormick v. United States, 680 F.2d 345 (5th Cir. 1982)