Harris v. Donald S. Boreham Margaret E. Harris

• Decision Date: 30 April 1956
• Docket Number: No. 11711,No. 11710,11710,11711
• Parties: MARGARET E. HARRIS, Appellant v. DONALD S. BOREHAM MARGARET E. HARRIS, Appellant v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

3 V.I. 565

MARGARET E. HARRIS, Appellant v. DONALD S. BOREHAM

MARGARET E. HARRIS, Appellant v. UNITED STATES

No. 11710

No. 11711

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit

Argued January 31, 1956

Decided April 30, 1956

See, also, 233 F.2d 110

Action against Donald S. Boreham, who was Superintendent of Public Works of Municipality of St. Thomas and St. John, and the United States to recover damages for injuries sustained by plaintiff as a result of tripping over street opening cover. The District Court, Moore, J., 3 V.I. 170, 130 F. Supp. 533, dismissed complaints against both defendants and plaintiff appealed. The Court of Appeals, Maris, Circuit Judge, held that the Superintendent of Public Works was not an "employee of the Government of the United States" and the municipality was not a "federal agency" within the Federal Tort Claims Act so as to render the United States liable for alleged negligence of Superintendent in failing to maintain street in safe condition for pedestrians, and that Superintendent was not negligent and was not personally liable for injuries caused by defect in street opening cover.

Judgments of District Court affirmed.

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GEORGE H. T. DUDLEY, Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands, for plaintiff

CROXTON WILLIAMS, Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands, for defendant Boreham

LEON P. MILLER, United States Attorney, Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands, for United States

Before MARIS, MAGRUDER and WOODBURY, Circuit Judges

MARIS, Circuit Judge

The plaintiff in these cases alleged that while walking along Trumpeter Gade in the town of Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas, on the evening of September 19, 1952, she was injured as a result of tripping over a loose steel plate designed to cover a street opening surrounding the access pipe to a salt water main pipeline. To recover damages for the injuries thus occasioned she brought suit in the District Court of the Virgin Islands against the Municipality of St. Thomas and St. John, Donald S. Boreham, who was the Superintendent of Public Works of the municipality, Ella Blanche Barbel, whowas the owner of adjacent property, and John Doe, an unknown property owner alleged also to be liable. The municipality thereupon moved to dismiss the complaint as to it on the ground that it was immune from suit on a tort claim without its consent, which motion was granted by the district court. Harris v. Municipality of St. Thomas and St. John (2 V.I. 251), 111 F. Supp. 63. Upon appeal the order of the district court dismissing the complaint as against the municipality was affirmed by this court. Harris v. Municipality of St. Thomas & St. John, 3 Cir., 1954 (3 V.I. 502), 212 F.2d 323.

Following dismissal of her complaint as against the municipality, the plaintiff brought suit against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. § 1346) for damages for her injuries. A motion by the United States to dismiss this suit for want of jurisdiction was denied by the district court. (3 V.I. 76) 125 F. Supp. 536. The plaintiff's suit against the United States and her prior suit against Boreham, Barbel and John Doe were then consolidated for trial and were tried in the district court. During the course of the trial the suit was dismissed as to Barbel on the plaintiff's motion and it was not pressed as to John Doe, who was not further identified. At the close of the plaintiff's case the United States again moved for dismissal for want of jurisdiction but the district court adhered to its previous ruling on this question. The trial resulted in the dismissal on the merits of the complaints against both the United States and Boreham, D.C. (3 V.I. 170), 130 F. Supp. 533. The appeals by the plaintiff which are now before us followed.

We will consider first the case against the United States. The plaintiff's claim is predicated upon the theory that the public streets of the town of Charlotte Amalie, in the Municipality of St. Thomas and St. John,¹ are the propertyof the United States, that the plaintiff was making legitimate use of those streets as a member of the public at the time of her injury, that Boreham was an employee of the United States engaged in the business of the United States in maintaining those streets and as such was guilty of negligence imputable to the United States in failing to maintain Trumpeter Gade in a safe condition for the use of pedestrians.

[1, 2] The Federal Tort Claims Act imposes liability upon the United States only for those injuries which are "caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment."² This means that for the United States to be liable the federal employee must at the time of his negligent or wrongful act or omission be acting in the line of his federal duties.³ We accordingly must decide whether the streets of Charlotte Amalie are property of the United States and whether Boreham was an employee of the Government of the United States acting with respect to those streets within the scope of his office or employment as such. Only if those questions are decided in the affirmative need we consider in the case against the United States whether Boreham was guilty of a negligent or wrongful act or omission in carrying out his duties with respect to those streets.

[3-5] It is settled that Congress has sovereignty over the territories of the United States and accordingly has power to legislate for a territory with respect to all sub-jects upon which the legislature of a state might legislate within the state. Simms v. Simms, 1899, 175 U.S. 162, 168, 20 S. Ct. 58, 44 L. Ed. 115. It is also settled that Congress may delegate to a territory such of these powers as it sees fit. Binns v. United States, 1904, 194 U.S. 486, 491-492, 24 S. Ct. 816, 48 L. Ed. 1087; Christianson v. King County, 1915, 239 U.S. 356, 364-366, 36 S. Ct. 114, 60 L. Ed. 327. And the right of Congress to revise, alter and revoke these delegated powers does not diminish the powers while they reside in the territory. Hornbuckle v. Toombs, 1873, 18 Wall. 648, 85 U.S. 648, 655-656, 21 L. Ed. 966; District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co., 1953, 346 U.S. 100, 106, 73 S. Ct. 1007, 97 L. Ed. 1480. The aim of Congress is to give the territory full power of local self-determination. The local laws enacted under the legislative power granted by Congress are accordingly territorial laws, not laws of the United States. People of Puerto Rico v. Shell Co., 1937, 302 U.S. 253, 58 S. Ct. 167, 82 L. Ed. 235; People of Puerto Rico v. Rubert Hermanos, Inc., 1940, 309 U.S. 543, 60 S. Ct. 699, 84 L. Ed. 916; Arroyo v. Puerto Rico Transp. Authority, 1 Cir., 1947, 164 F.2d 748.⁴

[6, 7] These principles apply to the unincorporated territories, such as the Virgin Islands. For it has been held that Congress may create a territorial government for an unincorporated territory and may confer upon it an autonomy similar to that of the states. Gromer v. Standard Dredging Co., 1912, 224 U.S. 362, 370, 32 S. Ct. 499, 56 L. Ed. 801; People of Puerto Rico v. Shell Co.,1937, 302 U.S. 253, 260-262, 58 S. Ct. 167, 82 L. Ed. 235. And the territorial body politic thus created may be endowed with attributes of sovereignty, such as nonliability to suit without its consent. People of Porto Rico v. Rosaly y Castillo, 1913, 227 U.S. 270, 33 S. Ct. 352, 57 L. Ed. 507. In the Rosaly case the Supreme Court held that Congress by the Foraker Act of 1900 (prec. 1 L.P.R.A.), had conferred such sovereignty upon what was then the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico.

[8-10] We think it clear that by the Organic Act of June 22, 1936⁵ (prec. 1 V.I.C.), Congress did the same with respect to the two municipalities which then constituted the Virgin Islands.⁶ That Act constituted each municipality into a body politic and juridic with perpetual succession and with power to acquire property, to possess, administer, and govern such property and to alienate or encumber it. It provided for a municipal council in each municipality with local legislative powers, a Legislative Assembly with legislative powers for the Virgin Islands as a whole, a Governor to act as chief executive of the Virgin Islands as a whole and of each of the two municipalities, and a district court to exercise the judicial power of the Islands. As the Supreme Court said with respect to the Organic Act of Puerto Rico (1900; prec. 1 L.P.R.A.), "the purpose of Congress . . . was to follow the plan applied from the beginning to the organized territories by creating a government conforming to the American system with denned and divided powers — legislative, executive and judicial . . ." People of Porto Rico v. Rosaly y Castillo, 1913, 227 U.S. 270, 276-277, 33 S. Ct. 352, 354, 57 L. Ed. 507.

[11] Moreover by section 4(a) of the Organic Act of1936⁷ all the property which was acquired by the United States from Denmark under the treaty of cession and which was not reserved by the United States for public purposes within one year after the passage of the Act, was placed under the control of the Government of the Virgin Islands which by definition included the two municipalities. The property thus acquired undoubtedly included the streets in the town of Charlotte Amalie and, since they were not reserved by the United States, they thus became the property of the Municipality of St. Thomas and St. John.

[12, 13] It is thus clear that the Municipality of St. Thomas and St. John in the unincorporated territory of the Virgin Islands was a body politic quite distinct from the Government of the United States and that it had attributes of sovereignty which had been delegated to it by the Government of the United States but which were distinct from the powers of that government. It is equally clear that the municipality was endowed by Congress with the sovereign power to acquire, administer, govern...