Donahue v. United States, 634 F.3d 615 (1st Cir. 2011)

First Circuit opinion of February 10, 2011 reversing Federal Tort Claims Act judgments for the families of two men killed on Bulger's orders, on the ground that the suits were untimely, while calling the FBI's conduct reprehensible.

Date: 2011-02-10
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Docket: Nos. 09-1950, 09-1951, 09-1952, 10-1766
Rights: Opinion of a United States court. Works of the federal judiciary are in the public domain in the United States. The text was read on CourtListener.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit, February 10, 2011. The estates and heirs of two men killed on Bulger’s orders sued the United States, alleging that the FBI had leaked confidential information to Bulger. The district court entered multi-million-dollar judgments for the plaintiffs.

The court opens: “The tawdry tale of the FBI’s corrupt collaboration with Bulger and his sidekick, Stephen ‘the Rifleman’ Flemmi, has been recounted many times.” It recounts the relationship through Agent John Connolly. It then held that the suits were not timely filed and reversed, “without endorsing the FBI’s conduct, which we regard as reprehensible.”

itemMcIntyre v. United States, 367 F.3d 38 (1st Cir. 2004)First Circuit opinion of May 10, 2004 in two Federal Tort Claims Act suits against the United States arising from the FBI's handling of informants Bulger and Flemmi. It turned on when the claims accrued.itemUnited States v. Salemme, 91 F. Supp. 2d 141 (D. Mass. 1999)Judge Wolf's memorandum of September 15, 1999 setting out, after long hearings, the FBI's relationship with informants Stephen Flemmi and James Bulger, the 1981 bugging of 98 Prince Street and the 1989 Medford recording. Reversed in part in 2000.