Youngstrom v. Dunn
| Decision Date | 01 September 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 20694.,20694. |
| Citation | 447 F.2d 948 |
| Parties | Beverly J. YOUNGSTROM, individually and as administratrix of the Estate of Danny Cox, Deceased, Appellant, v. Kenneth D. DUNN, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Walter A. Newport, Jr., Davenport, Iowa, for appellant; Newport, Newport & Wine, Davenport, Iowa, of counsel.
Allen L. Donielson, U. S. Atty., and Claude H. Freeman, Asst. U. S. Atty., Des Moines, Iowa, for appellee.
Before JOHNSEN and ROSS, Circuit Judges, and HARPER, District Judge.
The suit is one for damages from the destruction of appellant's home by fire and the death in connection therewith of her minor son. The fire originated in or near its gas furnace. The house had been completed about two months before. The financing of its construction was by a Farmers Home Administration loan.
Liability on the basis of negligence was asserted jointly and severally against the general contractor, the maker of the prefabricated sections of the structure, the gas-furnace manufacturer, the installer of the furnace, the public utility gas-supplier, the Farmers Home Administration, and the FHA County Supervisor, who was the head of its local office.
Only the claim against the County Supervisor is here involved. It was made the subject of a summary dismissal by the court on the ground of official immunity. The judgment was granted on motion filed in the Supervisor's behalf by the Department of Justice, which had assumed the representation of him as a government officer. The disposition has by subsequent order been given a separable finality under the provisions of Rule 54(b), Fed.R.Civ.P., so as to entitle it to present review. We affirm the judgment.
The County Supervisor had made the loan and, in the language of the complaint, "was charged by * * * FHA with the responsibility for determining whether or not FHA's standard had been met in building plaintiff's home, and with approving or disapproving the said home", in the releasing by him of the loan funds to the general contractor. In substance, the complaint charged that the Supervisor had been negligent in the determination and approval which he had thus made; that there were defects and deficiencies in materials and workmanship which he ought not to have approved as meeting FHA standards and which he should have required the contractor to correct; and that this faulty performance of duty by him, acting "as the duly authorized agent of * * * FHA, and within...
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Manstream v. United States Dept. of Agriculture
...the defendants were performing discretionary functions. The Manstreams' claim is barred by 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a). See Youngstrom v. Dunn, 447 F.2d 948 (8th Cir.1971); United States v. Varig Airlines, 467 U.S. 797, 104 S.Ct. 2755, 81 L.Ed.2d 660 The Manstreams pursued the FmHA's compensation f......
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Coleman v. Block
...officials performing acts within their authority are not personally liable for damages resulting from those acts. Youngstrom v. Dunn, 447 F.2d 948, 950 (8th Cir.1971). However, the plaintiffs are not seeking to hold the individual defendants liable for damages and hence the above doctrine h......
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Midland Psychiatric Associates, Inc. v. U.S.
...make clearly represented what historically has been termed a discretionary function and not a ministerial one. Youngstrom v. Dunn, 447 F.2d 948, 950 (8th Cir.1971) (per curiam). A short description of a Medicare intermediary's duties demonstrates that they mirror those found worthy of immun......
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Weiss v. Lehman
...United States, 546 F.2d 1355 (9th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 432 U.S. 906, 97 S.Ct. 2950, 53 L.Ed.2d 1078 (1977); Youngstrom v. Dunn, 447 F.2d 948 (8th Cir. 1971) (per curiam); United States v. Delta Industries, Inc., 275 F.Supp. 934 (N.D.Ohio 1966). The FTCA provides that judgment in a tort......