Smart v. United States
| Decision Date | 05 November 1953 |
| Docket Number | No. 4691.,4691. |
| Citation | 207 F.2d 841 |
| Parties | SMART v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Paul Dudley, Oklahoma City, Okl. (J. B. Dudley, Oklahoma City, Okl., on the brief), for appellant.
Benjamin Forman, Washington, D. C. (Warren E. Burger, Asst. Atty. Gen., Robert E. Shelton, U. S. Atty., B. Andrew Potter, Asst. U. S. Atty., Oklahoma City, Okl., Paul A. Sweeney, Attorney, Department of Justice, and T. S. L. Perlman, Attorney, Department of Justice, on the brief), for appellee.
Before PHILLIPS, Chief Judge, and HUXMAN and PICKETT, United States Circuit Judges.
This was an action under the Federal Tort Claims Act1 for injuries sustained by appellant at the hands of one Ralph Edward Dungan, a mentally incompetent veteran, shortly after his release from a Veterans' Administration Hospital at Marion, Indiana, on a trial visit to his home. The appeal is from the judgment of the trial court entering a summary judgment of dismissal.
The complaint so far as material in substance alleged that the Government's agents and employees in charge of the hospital were negligent in releasing Dungan from custody and that such negligence was the proximate cause of appellant's injuries.
The undisputed facts are these. Dungan was admitted to the veterans' hospital as a mental patient. Under treatment his condition improved. In a few months he was quartered in an open building and allowed the freedom of the grounds. On May 2, 1951, his physicians, after a staff conference, recommended his release on a 90 day trial visit to his home. Before his release became effective, his condition changed and he became violent and was transferred from an open building to a ward. When his proposed visit was cancelled, the staff advised his parents of his relapse and that he would be unable to come home on a trial visit.
By August 8, 1951, he had improved to the extent that he was allowed ground privileges. On October 14, 1951, the veteran's father wrote, requesting his release and stating that a job would be waiting for him in Phoenix, Arizona. By reply the authorities advised that his condition had improved and that a trial visit would be arranged. The father executed and returned to the hospital a Veterans' Administration Form 2832, formalizing his request for a trial visit, assuming responsibility for the patient's care, treatment and conduct while in his custody, and agreeing to return him to the hospital at the end of the visit. Upon execution of this form, Dungan was released, given $141.23, and sent unaccompanied on a 90 day trial visit to his home in Phoenix, Arizona. While on the journey there, he stole an automobile in Oklahoma City and, while driving recklessly, injured appellant.
The liability of the Government under the Federal Tort Claims Act has been stated in many decisions and it is not necessary to set out the statute in detail here. It is sufficient to say in...
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Chambers v. United States
...not hesitated to deny recovery, whether the discretion was regarded as properly, improperly or negligently exercised. Smart v. United States, 10 Cir., 1953, 207 F.2d 841; Chournos v. United States, 10 Cir., 1951, 193 F.2d 321, certiorari denied 343 U.S. 977, 72 S.Ct. 1074, 96 L.Ed. 1369; Co......
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Blessing v. United States
...complaining of recurrent fevers psychiatric test), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 855, 85 S.Ct. 106, 13 L.Ed.2d 58 (1964); Smart v. United States, 207 F.2d 841 (10th Cir. 1953) (failure to supervise psychiatric patient); Fahey v. United States, 153 F.Supp. 878 (S.D. N.Y.1957) (psychiatric diagnosis......
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Beins v. U.S.
...to weigh public as well as medical considerations, in which event a different result may be warranted. See, e.g., Smart v. United States, 207 F.2d 841, 842-843 (10th Cir.1953); compare White v. United States, 317 F.2d 13, 17-18 (4th Cir.1963).32 See Rise v. United States, supra note 31, 630......
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Hendry v. United States, 490
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