Porter v. United States, 7013
| Decision Date | 21 December 1955 |
| Docket Number | No. 7013,7014.,7013 |
| Citation | 228 F.2d 389 |
| Parties | John A. PORTER, a minor, by his Guardian ad Litem, Mrs. Alvarene Jones, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. Cecil W. PORTER, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
John Grimball and C. T. Graydon, Columbia, S. C., for appellants.
Lester S. Jayson, Atty., Department of Justice (Warren E. Burger, Asst. Atty. Gen., N. Welch Morrisette, Jr., U. S. Atty., Irvine F. Belser, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Columbia, S. C., and Paul A. Sweeney, Atty., Department of Justice, Washington, D. C., on the brief), for appellee.
Before PARKER, Chief Judge, and SOPER and DOBIE, Circuit Judges.
These suits were brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the United States, one by John A. Porter, a twelve year old boy, through his guardian ad litem, and one by the boy's father, to recover damages for injuries sustained by the boy in June, 1954 when a hand grenade fuse or detonator of army origin, which he had found near his home, exploded in his hand. The question for decision is whether the government was negligent in its care and custody of its explosives so that the detonator came into the boy's possession. The District Judge found no negligence on the part of the United States and dismissed the suit.
Cecil W. Porter, the father, was a sergeant in the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The Porter family lived in a rented house located about a mile from the Fort in a civilian settlement which included a trailer camp and a number of houses occupied by civilian and Army personnel. The area had been part of a military reservation during the war, but seven years before the accident it had been turned back to private ownership and control and the occupation of the Army was confined to the Fort.
There was no public system of garbage disposal for the residents of the area, and the practice grew up of dumping garbage and household trash on the land along the roads or in the open country beyond the Porter home. There was evidence that military trucks also dumped trash and stuff occasionally in the area, but no evidence that they dumped ordinance material at any time.
In March, 1954 Mrs. Porter and a young son came across some items of military origin in the dump about 300 yards from their home. This incident was reported to Army authorities by Sergeant Porter and an investigation was...
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