Archive for September 2nd, 2009
Servicemen Fight for Liability Rights at The U.S. Supreme Court
by Mike Skoler on Sep.02, 2009, under Uncategorized
Some of the soldiers who are fighting on the front lines to protect our rights now want a fight at the Supreme Court for theirs.
Right now, active duty military members do not have the right to sue the government . Two layers in Florida and some members of Congress are trying to change that and if they do, we at Sokolove will be ready to make sure our brave men and women can have their day in court!
Now as I’ve said many times I’m not a lawyer so I don’t want to go into a long analysis of the merits of sovereign immunity, but this seems pretty straightforward. If a government agent does something negligent and that negligence harms a member of the active duty military, the victim of that injury should be able to sue the government. It’s pretty straightforward.
Sounds simple enough, file the case, fight it out in court, and see what happens. Enter the Feres Doctrine. Based on the decision in Feres v. United States, 340 U.S. 135 (1950), the doctrine prevents enlisted servicemen/women from suing the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act for injuries resulting from the negligence of others in the armed forces.