By David Porter – The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday May 30, 2010 16:27:56 EDT

GARFIELD, N.J.  – A federal judge found the Navy 80 percent negligent in the training death of Seaman Freddie Porter Jr. when it awarded $1.25 million to his mother, Cassita Massiah, last December.

As it stands, it won’t be the Navy paying Massiah. Instead, a company found to be 20 percent negligent – the owner of the tugboat that overran Porter’s small Navy vessel more than two years ago – has been ordered to pay the total damages.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. has spawned a legal battle that could alter how the government defends itself in similar lawsuits.

The seeming inequity stems from long-held legal precedent of sovereign immunity that protects the government from lawsuits – in this case, by military personnel injured or killed in the course of service. The government can be sued by a third party  – a product manufacturer, for example – to contribute to a damage award, but those suits rarely succeed, according to Daniel Rose, an attorney representing Massiah.

Full Article

Tags: 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Coast Guard, government negligence, National Transportation Safety Board, U.S. Navy

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