PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ...

The United States shall be liable, respecting the
provisions of this title relating to tort claims, in
the same manner and to the same extent as a
private individual under like circumstances, but
shall not be liable for interest prior to judgment or
for punitive damages.
28 U.S.C. § 2674. To make a claim under the FTCA, a claimant
first must file her claim with the administrative agency allegedly
responsible for her injuries. 28 U.S.C. § 2675(a); see Reo v.
United States Postal Serv., 98 F.3d 73, 75 (3d Cir. 1996)
(discussing the FTCA). If the agency denies the claim or fails
to resolve it within six months, as happened here, she then may
file an action on her claim in a district court. 28 U.S.C. §§
2675(a), 2672. District courts have exclusive jurisdiction over
suits against the United States brought under the FTCA. 28
U.S.C. § 1346(b).
Even though substantively the FTCA follows state
liability law, it includes a two-year limitations provision stating
that “a tort claim against the United States shall be forever
barred unless it is presented in writing to the appropriate Federal
agency within two years after such claim accrues . . . .” 28
U.S.C. § 2401(b). Moreover, federal law, not state law, governs
the determination of the often decisive question to answer for
statute of limitations purposes of when a claim has accrued
under the FTCA. Miller v. Philadelphia Geriatric Ctr., 463 F.3d
266, 270 (3d Cir. 2006); Zeleznik v. United States, 770 F.2d 20,
22 (3d Cir. 1985). Similarly, state-law tolling statutes do not
apply to the FTCA’s limitations period, and thus the
Pennsylvania tolling statute, the basis for Santos’s timing in
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