Peter P. Troglia, Jr. v. United States

Peter P. Troglia, Jr. appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California (Honorable Philip C. Wilkins, District Judge), entered December 2, 1976, granting a motion for summary judgment in favor of the defendant United States of America. Troglia had filed a complaint seeking damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346 (b), 2671-2680 (1976) (hereinafter “FTCA” or “the Act”), for personal injuries suffered in an automobile accident. The United States based its motion for summary judgment on the argument that Feres v. United States, 340 U.S. 135 , 71 S.Ct. 153 , 95 L.Ed. 152 (1950), barred any recovery under the FTCA.

The salient facts alleged are that plaintiff, an Air Force Technical Sergeant assigned to Beale Air Force Base, California, on December 13,1973 was driving his car on Vassar Lake Road, Yuba County, California, where his car was struck head on by a motor vehicle driven on the wrong side of the road by Karl Beck; that Beck was intoxicated as a result of having been sold intoxicating beverages at the Base’s NCO Club by its employees when they knew or should have known Beck was intoxicated; that the NCO Club…