Estate of William F. McAllister Deceased Sharon McAllister Sean McAllister and Lori McAllister Individually v. United States
Opinion
Opinion
O'Scannlain, J.
The estate and heirs of William McAllis-ter appeal from the district court’s dismissal of their wrongful-death action under the Feres doctrine. See Feres v. United States, 340 U.S. 135 , 71 S.Ct. 153 , 95 L.Ed. 152 (1950). We must affirm.
I
On New Year’s Eve five years ago, Private Leon Tarver attacked, stabbed, and killed Lieutenant Colonel William McAllister near the Post Exchange (“PX”) on the premises of the Presidio in San Francisco, California. “It is undisputed that [Lieutenant Colonel] McAllister was off duty and not under [the] compulsion of [military] orders at the time of his death. He was not performing any military duties, was on personal business, and [was] in the process of leaving the base.” Estate of McAllister v. United States, No. 89-6150 at 3 (D.Or. Dec. 6, 1989) (magistrate’s findings and recommendation), adopted by No. 89-6150 (D.Or. Dec. 28, 1989) (order of dismissal).
At the time of the killing, Private Tarver, on the other hand, was under the government’s care and supervision as a patient of the Letterman Army Hospital on the Presi-dio grounds. Tarver, who had been diagnosed while serving in Germany as a paranoid schizophrenic with potentially dangerous…