Preferred Insurance v. United States

Appellee’s motion to dismiss Appellants’ complaints for lack of jurisdiction was heard and considered on the allegations of the complaints, an affidavit supporting the motion and a written stipulation of facts. The motion was granted and these appeals are from the judgments of dismissal.

At 10:00 p. m. on August 5, 1950 an Air Force B-29 airplane crashed at the Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base in California a few seconds after takeoff. The plane exploded near a trailer park on the Base extensively damaging 17 trailers and property therein owned and used for residence by enlisted men and officers in active duty status and assigned to the Base at the time. Appellant insurers in the several cases consolidated on this appeal, pursuant to the terms of insurance policies issued to the owners of the trailers, paid them a total of $49,661 for the damage to the trailers. The insureds had no uninsured losses with respect to the fully insured trailers; however, other property damage was suffered by the insureds as a result of the same crash for which claims were submitted to the Air Force under the Military Personnel Claims Act of 1945, 31 U.S.C.A. § 222c, and paid, except for the property…