Opinion ID: 389247
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Definition of a Contractor

Text: 17 The statute nowhere defines the term contractor. The legislative history of the FTCA is also barren of any direct reference to this exception. 14 However, throughout the tortuous history of the Act, one theme continuously echoes: (t)he liability of the United States will be the same as that of a private person under like circumstance, in accordance with local law, except that no punitive damages and no interest prior to judgment may be recovered. S.Rep.No.1400, 79th Cong., 2d Sess. 32 (1946). See also S.Rep.No.1196, 77th Cong., 2d Sess. 6 (1942); H.R.Rep.No.2245, 77th Cong., 2d Sess. 9 (1942). The Supreme Court has read that statement to indicate that the 'contractor' exemption from the definition of 'Federal agency' in § 2671 ... adopt(s) the common-law distinction between the liability of an employer for the negligent acts of his own employees and his liability for the employees of a party with whom he contracts for a specified performance. 15 Logue v. United States, supra, 412 U.S. at 526-27, 93 S.Ct. at 2218-19. Relying on both the modern common law as reflected in the Restatement of Agency 16 and the law of Texas, 17 the Court concluded in Logue that the distinction between the servant or agent relationship and that of independent contractor turn(s) on the absence of authority in the principal to control the physical conduct of the contractor in performance of the contract. Id. at 527, 93 S.Ct. at 2219. The law of the District, like the law of Texas, adopts the Restatement's control-of-physical-conduct test to distinguish between employees and independent contractors. 18 18