Oakley v. U.S.
| Decision Date | 30 June 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-3434,78-3434 |
| Citation | 622 F.2d 447 |
| Parties | Richard OAKLEY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Michael Jay Singer, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for defendant-appellant.
Michael J. Keady, San Francisco, Cal., argued, for plaintiff-appellee; Michael A. Zamperini, Keady & Quint, San Francisco, Cal., on brief.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Before ELY, TRASK and CHOY, Circuit Judges.
Appellant, Richard Oakley, sought to recover damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, (FTCA) 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b), for injuries sustained while performing work for an independent contractor of the United States at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Oakland, California.
The United States, in turn, impleaded its independent contractor, United Telecommunications, Inc. (UTI) as a third party defendant. The contractor's workman's compensation insurance carrier, Industrial Indemnity Company, intervened as a plaintiff in the action. On July 13, 1978, following a trial, the district court held that the United States and the government contractor were each 50 percent negligent in causing appellant's injuries and entered judgment in favor of appellant and against the United States in the sum of $112,782.15. The district court also entered judgment for plaintiff-intervenor, Industrial Indemnity Co., and against the United States for $18,608.93, and held for the United States and against the government contractor for indemnification in the sum of $56,391.08. The court further provided that each of said judgments should bear interest at the rate of 7 percent per annum from date until paid.
Pursuant to an agreement dated October 25, 1975, between UTI and the United States, UTI was acting as an independent government contractor in order to install an overhead fire alarm system at a federal facility in Oakland. California, known as the Naval Regional Medical Center. Sometime after the work had begun UTI discovered that many of the poles upon which the system was to rest and upon which the UTI employees were required to climb were not sturdy enough to support the new system or the workers who were installing it. Accordingly, UTI temporarily ceased operations while the Navy Department took charge of performing the work required to make the poles sufficiently strong to safely perform the work. After the Navy notified the contractor that the poles were strong enough, UTI returned to complete its task. Although UTI soon realized that the Navy work had not been completed, the independent contractor proceeded with its installation.
On August 20, 1975, appellant was working when a live power line broke loose and fell on him. He was caused to fall some 30 feet to the ground and sustained the injuries complained of.
On November 11, 1975, Oakley filed an administrative claim for injuries with the Department of the Navy which was denied. The present action was then instituted under the Federal Tort Claims Act, supra. UTI's workman's compensation carrier intervened as a plaintiff in an attempt to recover a portion of the workman's compensation payments it had made to Oakley. The district court entered judgment on July 13, 1978, finding that the United States and UTI were each 50 percent negligent in causing the injuries. It also found that Oakley had sustained injuries in the amount of $150,000. The court subtracted the sum of $37,217.85 in workman's compensation claims already paid to Oakley and awarded him a net judgment of $112,782.15 "to be paid by the defendant United States." The court further provided that each of the above judgments was to bear interest at the rate of 7 percent per annum until paid.
In establishing the interest rate at 7 percent the district court was in error. The Federal Tort Claims Act, 28...
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