Judge Orders $1.25M Over Training Death

[unhappycamper]

Judge Orders $1.25M Over Training Death
June 01, 2010
Associated Press

GARFIELD, N.J. -- A federal judge found the Navy 80 percent negligent in the training death of Seaman Freddie Porter Jr., when it awarded $1.25 million to his mother, Cassita Massiah, last December.

As it stands, it won't be the Navy paying Massiah. Instead, a company found to be 20 percent negligent - the owner of the tugboat that overran Porter's small Navy vessel more than two years ago - has been ordered to pay the total damages.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. has spawned a legal battle that could alter how the government defends itself in similar lawsuits.

The seeming inequity stems from long-held legal precedent of sovereign immunity that protects the government from lawsuits - in this case, by military personnel injured or killed in the course of service. The government can be sued by a third party - a product manufacturer, for example - to contribute to a damage award, but those suits rarely succeed, according to Daniel Rose, an attorney representing Massiah.

If a federal appeals court holds the Navy liable for damages, however, the case would likely go to the Supreme Court, which hasn't ruled definitively on the issue, Rose said.


unhappycamper comment: Yet another example of taking care of our veterans and their families.

[Scuba]

1. The gov't does not care about veterans...

... as evidenced by the cuts to veteran-family health services and other benefits. Just meat for the grinder.

Sorry, I'm feeling rather cynical this morning.

[Angry Dragon]

2. It happens

With all the good news one hears every day