Wilder v. US, Civ. A. No. 88-9-VAL (WDO).
| Decision Date | 15 July 1988 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 88-9-VAL (WDO). |
| Citation | 688 F. Supp. 1541 |
| Parties | Donna H. Chauncey WILDER, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Georgia |
Randall P. Harrison, Macon, Ga., for plaintiff.
Jack Hood, Macon, Ga., for defendant.
Plaintiff, Donna H. Chauncey Wilder, brings this Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) claim, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671-2680, seeking to recover from defendant, the United States of America, damages allegedly resulting from certain acts of medical malpractice by medical personnel at the Moody Air Force Base Hospital, in Valdosta, Georgia. At the time of this alleged malpractice, Ms. Wilder had been working as a sales clerk at the Moody Air Force Base Main Exchange. She had gone to the Base hospital in order to seek medical treatment for a back condition that had either been caused or aggravated by her work as a sales clerk.1 The government has filed a motion to dismiss Ms. Wilder's complaint, or in the alternative for summary judgment, based upon the fact that Ms. Wilder has been compensated for her injuries under the Longshoremen's & Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), 33 U.S.C. §§ 901-950, and, thus, she is barred from bringing the instant action under the FTCA. The parties have been given time to fully brief the questions raised by the government's motion, and the court is now prepared to render a decision.
Under the terms of 5 U.S.C. § 8171, employees of non-appropriated fund instrumentalities, including employees paid from non-appropriated funds of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, 5 U.S.C. § 2105(c), qualify for compensation provided by the LHWCA when their injuries arise out of and in the course of their employment. In addition, 5 U.S.C. § 8173 states that the liability of the United States under this scheme of compensation is exclusive, i.e., non-appropriated fund employees whose injuries are covered have no other remedies against the government. Since Ms. Wilder was an employee of the Moody Air Force Base Main Exchange during the relevant time periods, she cannot maintain this federal tort action unless it can be determined that her alleged injuries occurred outside the scope of her employment. See Vilanova v. United States, 802 F.2d 440 (1st Cir.1986); and Martin v. United States, 566 F.2d 895, 897 (4th Cir. 1977).
Based upon the undisputed evidence that Ms. Wilder was suffering from an injury to her back that was either caused or aggravated by her job duties, and that it was this job-related injury that required her to seek treatment at the Moody Air Force Base Hospital, the government has shown, as a matter of law, that Ms. Wilder's alleged injuries arose, if at all, out of and in the course of her employment. This conclusion stems from the fact that independent acts of negligence in the treatment of work-related injuries are not so unforeseeable as to break the chain of causation, and thus, employers can be held liable under the relevant workers' compensation statutes for these aggravated injuries. See 1 A. Larson Workmen's Compensation Law 3-414 § 13.21 (1985) and Vol. 2A § 72.61(c) (1985). Because the government can be held liable for all subsequent injuries that arise out of and in the course of treating an employee for a work-related injury, regardless of whether that treatment was negligent, injuries that allegedly resulted from the alleged malpractice of the Moody Air Force Base physicians while treating Ms. Wilder's work-related injuries are deemed to be injuries that arose out of and in the course of her employment. As such, her exclusive remedy is under the LHWCA. Martin, 566 F.2d at 897.
Furthermore, Ms. Wilder is voluntarily accepting payments under the LHWCA that she would not otherwise be entitled to unless her injuries resulted out of and in the course of her employment with the government. Because she has not voluntarily attempted to repudiate these benefits, nor has she presented any evidence to demonstrate her intent to waive the compensation remedy under the LHWCA, the court finds she is estopped from arguing that her injuries stemming from any alleged malpractice did not arise out of and in the course of her employment. See Martin, 566 F.2d at 898; and Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91...
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Wreath v. US
...851 F.2d at 5. The second alternative is indirectly suggested by the government. In its brief, the government cites Wilder v. United States, 688 F.Supp. 1541 (M.D.Ga.1988), vacated, 873 F.2d 285 (11th Cir.1989), in support of its contention that Wreath, as an employee of a nonappropriated f......
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Wilder v. U.S., 88-8674
...the district courts exclusive jurisdiction over actions against the United States. The district court, in a published opinion, 688 F.Supp. 1541 (M.D.Ga.1988), concluded that the aggravation of Wilder's injuries through the alleged negligence of hospital personnel was compensable under the L......