Opinion ID: 1315172
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Course of the Litigation

Text: Originally, suits were brought by and on behalf of various of the injured and deceased employees against the United States and Thiokol jointly. In Massey v. Thiokol Chemical Corp., 368 FSupp. 668 (S.D. Ga. 1973), Thiokol's motion for summary judgment was granted on the ground that Thiokol's employees were covered by workers' compensation insurance. Under Georgia law, the existence of workers' compensation coverage excludes all other remedies against the employer. Code Ann. § 114-103 (Ga. L. 1972, pp. 929, 930); e.g., Allied Chemical Corp. v. Peacock, 151 Ga. App. 278 (259 SE2d 681) (1979). Thiokol employees then brought suit against the United States government under the Federal Tort Claims Act. This Act waives federal governmental immunity from suit on claims against the United States, for money damages, accruing on and after January 1, 1945, for injury or loss of property, or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred. In their respective suits the Thiokol employees are seeking to hold the government liable for their injuries on the ground that independent acts of negligence chargeable to federal contract procurement officials constituted a proximate cause of the explosion. The Thiokol employees seek an aggregate amount of $717,526,391 in damages. All of the employees' suits were consolidated for the liability phase of a bifurcated liability-damage trial in federal district court. Following the liability trial, the federal district court issued an opinion in Aretz v. United States, 503 FSupp. 260 (S.D. Ga. 1977), concluding that the United States government is liable to the Thiokol employees under the tort law of Georgia. The plaintiff Aretz' case became the test case in which to conduct a trial on the question of damages. The other suits have been stayed pending the outcome of this suit, although the other Thiokol employees have joined as appellees in this appeal. At a jury trial, Aretz was awarded $594,272 in damages. Initially, the judgment was affirmed by a three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Aretz v. United States, 604 F2d 417 (5th Cir. 1979). However, the Court of Appeals granted the petition for rehearing en banc. Aretz v. United States, 616 F2d 254 (5th Cir. 1980). Subsequently, the Court of Appeals issued an opinion finding that this case involves determinative questions or propositions of law of the State of Georgia on which there appears to be no clear, controlling precedent in the decisions of this court. Aretz v. United States, 635 F2d 485 (5th Cir. 1981). Accordingly, the Court of Appeals has certified these questions of state law to us for instructions concerning them based on the facts found by the federal district court.