Cobb

Plaintiff as a resident of California seeks recovery from the United States under- the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 2671 to 2679, inclusive, as revised by Public Law 773, 80th Congress, 2nd Session, Chapter 646, for grievous personal injuries sustained in Okinawa on October 23, 1948. He was an employee of a private contractor engaged in military construction for the government on such island and on the evening- in question after working hours had been riding for recreation as a passenger in a Jeep which another employee of said contractor had been permitted to use for such occasion. The Jeep was returning about ten -or eleven o’clock that night on a military road known as Highway No. 24. Without negligence on the part of the driver of the Jeep and certainly without fault of plaintiff, the Jeep collided with a large crane belonging to the government and negligently left without lights or warning in the traveled part of said road. Plaintiff’s injuries were a result of such collision.

Defendant by its answer denied all essential allegations of plaintiff’s complaint. Included in its denials were any negligence on defendant’s part or that such highway was a thoroughfare.…