Lake v. State5/27/1997
Submitted October 22, 1996.
The plaintiffs, Dorothy J. Lake and Mary Jo Hodik, individually and as personal representatives of the estates of Charles Edward Lake and James D. Hodik, commenced separate actions in the District Court for the First Judicial District in Lewis and Clark County to recover damages for personal injuries to and the wrongful deaths of their deceased husbands, whom they claim were injured while working on property owned and controlled by the defendant, State of Montana, through its Department of Military Affairs. After the cases were consolidated by the District Court, the State moved the court to dismiss plaintiffs' complaints by summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56, M.R.Civ.P. After considering the arguments of the parties, the District Court concluded that both claims were barred by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Feres v. United States (1950), 340 U.S. 135, 71 S.Ct. 153, 95 L.Ed.2d 152, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in Stauber v. Cline (9th Cir. 1988), 837 F.2d 395, cert. denied (1988), 488 U.S. 817, 109 S.Ct. 55, 102 L.Ed.2d 33. The District Court granted the State's motion to dismiss both complaints with prejudice. Both plaintiffs appeal from the District Court's order. We reverse the judgment of the District Court.
We consider the following issue dispositive:
Can a person who is allegedly injured by the negligence of the State of Montana, acting through its Department of Military Affairs, while in the course of his employment as a civil service technician employed by the United States Army, sue the State of Montana to recover damages for those injuries?
STANDARD OF REVIEW
Summary judgment is governed by Rule 56(c), M.R.Civ.P., which provides, in relevant part, as follows:
The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.
Rule 56(c), M.R.Civ.P.
This Court reviews an order which grants summary judgment de novo and applies the same criteria as the district court. Fenger v. Flathead County (1996), 277 Mont. 507, 509-10, 922 P.2d 1183, 1184.
In this case, the District Court's order is based on its conclusions of law. We review conclusions of law to determine whether they are correct. Carbon County v. Union Reserve Coal Co. (1995), 271 Mont. 459, 469, 898 P.2d 680, 686.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Plaintiffs alleged by complaint that their deceased spouses, Charles Edward Lake and James D. Hodik, were injured on June 7, 1989, while testing M-1 Abrams tanks when those tanks collided on a test track at Fort Harrison near Helena, Montana. Hodik died from his injuries on the same date. Lake survived for a period of time, but subsequently died as a result of his injuries on August 9, 1991.
Plaintiffs alleged that at the time of the collision which caused their husbands' deaths, both Lake and Hodik were employed by the United States Department of Defense as civil service technician-mechanics, and had been employed to operate the tanks owned by the Department of Defense during a fielding program designed to test the tanks' mechanical performance before turning over ownership of the tanks to the State of Montana and its Department of Military Affairs.
Finally, the plaintiffs alleged that pursuant to its agreement with the Department of Defense, the State of Montana had a duty to provide a safe and suitable test area, but that it negligently f
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