McCaleb v. United States

572 F. Supp. 1260, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12348
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedOctober 26, 1983
DocketNo. 3-83-0340
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 572 F. Supp. 1260 (McCaleb v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCaleb v. United States, 572 F. Supp. 1260, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12348 (M.D. Tenn. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

WISEMAN, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Dossie B. McCaleb, as personal representative of the estate of his son, Marks Crittenden McCaleb [decedent], brings this action pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act [FTCA], 28 U.S.C. § 1346. Plaintiff’s decedent, an enlisted man in the United States Navy, was stabbed to death by another enlisted man while decedent lay sleeping in his bunk on the U.S.S. Saipan, while docked in Norfolk, Virginia. Charles Jeffrey Roberts, the fellow serviceman who perpetrated the stabbing, had been absent without leave from the U.S.S. Saipan. Upon his return from AWOL, the doctor on the U.S.S. Saipan sent him to the Naval Regional Medical Center [Center] in Portsmouth, Virginia. At the Center, physicians decided that Roberts could return to ship. Upon his return this incident occurred, and plaintiff bases this claim upon the allegation that the military physicians at the Center recklessly endangered third parties by permitting Roberts to return to ship. In support of the claim, plaintiff asserts that Roberts ingested alcohol and drugs while AWOL, that the ship’s doctor sent Roberts to the Center because he believed Roberts was in a psychotic state, that physicians at the Center failed to diagnose and treat his condition, and that Roberts was in this psychotic state when he stabbed decedent.

The case is now before the Court upon the motion to dismiss filed by the United States pursuant to Rule 12(b), Fed.R.Civ.P. In addition, although plaintiff has not asserted a claim under the Public Vessels Act [PVA], 46 U.S.C. § 781 et seq., or the Suits in Admiralty Act [SIAA], 46 U.S.C. § 741 et seq., the United States raises these Acts in the pleadings and insists that plaintiff does not have a cause of action under either [1262]*1262of these Acts. In the alternative, defendant moves for summary judgment, Rule 56, Fed.R.Civ.P., on the ground that a genuine issue of material fact does not exist.

This case is controlled by the doctrine established in Feres v. United States, 340 U.S. 135, 71 S.Ct. 153, 95 L.Ed. 152 (1950), and must be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Rule 12(b)(6), Fed.R.Civ.P. It is now well-settled that in the Federal Tort Claims Act, Congress did not contemplate tort recoveries by servicemen “where the injuries arose out of or in the course of activity incident to service.” The Court in Feres offered three justifications for this result. First, because servicemen receive compensation benefits when they are injured, the failure of the FTCA to adjust to these benefits “is persuasive that there was no awareness that the Act might be interpreted to permit recovery for injuries incident to military service.” Id. at 144, 71 S.Ct. at 158. Second, the FTCA provides that the law of the state where the wrongful act occurred shall determine the United States’ liability. Because the relationship between the United States and servicemen is “distinctly federal,” Congress did not intend for the laws of the various states to determine liability. Id. at 143, 71 S.Ct. at 158. Third, the FTCA subjects the United States to liability “in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances.” 28 U.S.C. § 2674. Because the relationship between servicemen and the United States is unlike any other relationship, Congress did not contemplate recoveries by servicemen for injuries that arose “incident to service.” Id. at 143, 71 S.Ct. at 158.

A further rationale was noted in United States v. Brown, 348 U.S. 110, 75 S.Ct. 141, 99 L.Ed.2d 139 (1954), in that the command structure would be disrupted “if suits under the Tort Claims Act were allowed for negligent orders given or negligent acts committed in the course of military duty.... ” Id. at 112, 75 S.Ct. at 145.

In Stencel Aero Engineering Corp. v. United States, 431 U.S. 666, 97 S.Ct. 2054, 52 L.Ed.2d 665 (1977), the Supreme Court affirmed the vitality of two of the justifications offered in Feres and the one offered in Brown. In Steneel the life support system of a fighter aircraft malfunctioned and the pilot who suffered injuries sued the U.S. and the manufacturer. Claiming that any malfunction was due to faulty specifications, the manufacturer sought indemnification from the U.S. The Court dismissed the indemnification action, holding that the pilot’s injuries arose “incident to service” and that the manufacturer could not recover indirectly what the pilot could not recover directly. To reach this decision the Court emphasized the “distinctly federal” relationship between the government and servicemen, the need to preserve the military command structure, and that “the military compensation scheme provides an upper limit of liability for the Government as to service-connected injuries.” Id. at 673, 97 S.Ct. at 2059.

The leading case in the Sixth Circuit on the Feres doctrine, Woodside v. United States, 606 F.2d 134 (6th Cir.1979), accepted the justifications offered in Steneel. In Woodside an active duty officer on leave was killed while taking flight lessons from an aero club. The club was a nonappropriated fund activity of the Air Force and the officer was taking the flight instruction solely because he wanted to obtain a commercial pilot’s license. Following Steneel, Woodside emphasized that the Feres doctrine was not justified solely because certain activities might disrupt the military command structure. Rather, the Feres doctrine is applicable whenever “a service member is subject to military discipline at the time of injury ...” and that “[a] service member is subject to military discipline where his movements or actions are under the immediate control of military authorities.” Id. at 141-42. Consequently, Wood-side held that the suit should be dismissed because the officer was entitled to lessons by virtue of his service in the military. See also Hale v. United States, 452 F.2d 668 (6th Cir.1971).

[1263]*1263 The Feres doctrine bars plaintiffs action under the FTCA.

This case appears to be one of first impression. Neither party has cited, and this Court’s research failed to reveal, a case in which a serviceman was treated by military doctors and, in a separate incident, harmed another serviceman.

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572 F. Supp. 1260, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12348, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccaleb-v-united-states-tnmd-1983.