Military Personal Injury Suit Makes Inroads into Feres Doctrine

Courtney Mills

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The Feres doctrine will not prevent Lance Corporal Aaron Schoenfeld from proceeding with his personal injury suit against the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals announced yesterday.

In the case Schoenfeld v. Quamme, Corporal Schoenfeld was on weekend "liberty", or weekend leave, at Camp Pendleton, CA, when while traveling as a passenger in a car on base property, the car he was in spun out of control, crashed, and caused him to sever part of his leg on a jagged, unrepaired guardrail. Schoenfeld sought recovery under FTCA and his claim was initially dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The 9th circuit singled this fact pattern out as atypical because Schoenfeld was substantially involved in activities unrelated to military service when the vehicle crashed into the guardrail. The government argued that Schoenfeld was washing his marine uniforms over the weekend, but their legal arguments were otherwise unpersuasive on the issue of military activity - a key point in barring recovery under Feres.

The Feres doctrine immunizes the federal government from suit and prevents any form of recovery under the FTCA from military personnel. Schoenfeld v Quamme may successfully mark some liberalization in Feres.