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Dear Editor,
Supplementing the generally comprehensive article by Marty Banks on the Federal Tort Claims Act (UBJ Nov. 2000), the practitioner should be aware of the
provisions of USC 28 Sec. 2675(b):
Action under this section shall not be instituted for any sum in excess of the amount of the claim presented to the federal agency, except where the increased amount is based
upon newly discovered evidence not reasonably discoverable at the time of presenting the claim to the federal agency, or upon allegation and proof of intervening facts,
relating to the claim.
In the event of a serious personal injury claim, the submitter of Form 95 should be certain that the amount of damages is large enough to encompass any reasonably expected
damage award by the court. It should also be noted that 28 USC 2402 provides that any action against the United States shall be tried by the court without a jury.
George C. Renner
Dear Editor,
I read with interest the excellent article by Dr. Theresa Martinez in the December issue of the Bar Journal. I am pleased that the Bar is considering a
Cultural Competency Program. We as attorneys should lead the way in improving our attitudes about the cultures in our society, especially where those cultures have suffered
under the guise of the government.
As a young child reading about the Indians, I was upset to read about the horrible "Trail of Tears" of the Cherokee Nation. One of my best friends in high school was
an Indian.
I was shocked when my mother told us kids about the Japanese family in Tooele, a family liked by everyone in town, being forced on a train for Topaz during the Second World
War. The whole town showed up at the train station to wish them well, and many cried as the train pulled away. This story came to my recollection several times while I served
as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in northern Japan, where relics of that war still remained and people still remembered the horrors of the
destruction. One of my high school buddies and one of my favorite missionary companions are second-generation Japanese.
I grew up an hour from Watts, and as a young teenager viewed the Watts Riots which spilled over to a small degree into my hometown. Some of my high school friends with whom I
played football and ran track and served in student government are Black.
I have stood at the foot of Water Street on the banks of the Mississippi River where my own pioneer ancestors started their own "Trail of Tears" in mid-winter after
being forced from their homes for the fourth time by a government-endorsed mob. I work with people from that area who are not of my faith who are the finest of gentlemen.
The point of these ramblings is that we don't have to endure diversity that tears us apart. I worry that the intense focus on diversity in our country has actually prevented us
from focusing on our similarities. Instead of drawing us closer together, this "diversity training" has repelled us further apart. I believe we need to spend less
time focusing on our differences and more time focusing on our similarities, our sameness. That, I hope, can eliminate the forces that tear us apart.
If we focus on sameness, we can play after school with Frank Magellanes, whose father is a Mexican farm laborer in the citrus orchards east of town; or do math homework with
Richard Katsuda, whose father is a Japanese vegetable farmer south of town; or go to church with Dennis Little, a Navajo Indian; or have as a favorite missionary companion
Alan Kira, a second-generation Japanese from Honolulu; or be inspired to serve as a Bar section officer by Toni Marie Sutliff, a very fine and selfless woman attorney; or play
football and run track with Mark Hawkins, LeRoy Taylor and Tom Randolph, fine Black athletes and student government leaders; or deal with crucial issues facing members of our
Bar with a very fine Black attorney Billy Walker.
We as individuals are very different from each other. For this I am thankful. But we also have much in common. I hope that the Bar's Cultural Competency Program will focus on
that sameness.
Steven G. Johnson
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