Court Opinion

ID: 9499685
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:55:21.53933+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:40.215781
License: Public Domain

SMITH, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I join in its entirety the excellent opinion of my esteemed colleague, Judge Diamond. In light of the purposes of the doctrine as well as its application by the Supreme Court and several courts of appeals — including this Court — the majority has aptly shown why we will apply intra-military immunity to bar the damages claims presented here. I write separately only to note that this Court, again and again, has dutifully applied the Feres doctrine in spite of perceived injustice and possibly in opposition to the actual text of the FTCA, but noting that we are bound to do so unless and until the Supreme Court or Congress tells us otherwise.6
*159The tension between the decision in Feres and the FTCA is obvious. As Justice Scalia stated in his oft-cited United States v. Johnson dissent, the exception in § 2680© illustrates that “Congress specifically considered, and provided what it thought needful for, the special requirements of the military. There was no proper basis for [the Supreme Court] to supplement — i.e., to revise — that congressional disposition.” 481 U.S. 681, 693, 107 S.Ct. 2063, 95 L.Ed.2d 648 (1987) (Scalia, J., dissenting); see 28 U.S.C. § 2680© (excluding, under the FTCA, “[a]ny claim arising out of the combatant activities of the military or naval forces, or the Coast Guard, during time of war”) (emphasis added). In the five-plus decades since the Feres decision, the Supreme Court has expanded the doctrine of intra-military immunity in a variety of circumstances. See, e.g., Chappell v. Wallace, 462 U.S. 296, 103 S.Ct. 2362, 76 L.Ed.2d 586 (1983) (Feres doctrine used to bar claims that were not even against the United States or based on the FTCA); United States v. Shearer, 473 U.S. 52, 105 S.Ct. 3039, 87 L.Ed.2d 38 (1985) (barring an FTCA claim of a soldier kidnapped and murdered when off-base and off-duty by another soldier).
The doctrine of intra-military immunity remains ripe for reconsideration by the Supreme Court in light of the questionable foundation upon which it stands. Prior panels of this Court, of other courts of appeals, and numerous commentators have questioned the soundness of the Feres doctrine. A long line of Supreme Court cases, beginning with Feres v. United States, have been decided in seeming opposition to Congress’ clearly expressed intent in the FTCA as to the scope of intra-military immunity. Feres and its progeny ought to be reexamined.

. See Richards v. United States, 176 F.3d 652, 657 (3d Cir.1999) ("It is because Feres too often produces such curious results that members of this court repeatedly have expressed misgivings about it.”); Richards v. United States, 180 F.3d 564, 565 (3d Cir.1999) (Ren-dell, J., dissenting from a denial of a petition for rehearing en banc) ("I urge the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and revisit what we have wrought during the nearly fifty years since the Court’s pronouncement in Feres .... ”); O’Neill v. United States, 140 F.3d 564, 566 (3d Cir.1998) (Becker, C.J., statement sur denial of the petition for rehearing) (“I urge the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and reconsider Feres.”); Loughney v. United States, 839 F.2d 186, 188 (3d Cir.1988) ("We, like the district court, are constrained by the decisions of the Supreme Court and must adhere to the view that Court has ex*159pressed.”); Estate of Martinelli v. United States, Dep't of Army, 812 F.2d 872, 874 (3d Cir.1987) (stating that “any relaxation in the Feres doctrine must come from Congress”); Heilman v. United States, 731 F.2d 1104, 1112 (3d Cir.1984) ("The existence of a system by which soldiers, veterans, and their families could receive some compensation for harm they suffered in the service of their country clearly influenced the original decision to preclude suits of the sort before us on review. There is reason to believe that this system has broken down.” (citation omitted)); Hinkie v. United States, 715 F.2d 96, 97 (3d Cir.1983) (conceding that "we have no legal authority, as an intermediate appellate court, to decide the case differently”); Mondelli v. United States, 711 F.2d 567, 568 (3d Cir.1983) (stating that "we acknowledge the result to be a harsh one,” but nonetheless barring suit under the doctrine of intra-military immunity); Jaffee v. United States, 663 F.2d 1226, 1239 (3d Cir.1981) (en banc) ("This is a difficult and troubling decision.”); Thomason v. Sanchez, 539 F.2d 955, 957 (3d Cir.1976) ("We previously expressed reservations about the continuing validity of the broad Feres doctrine. Upon reconsideration we reiterate that concern; as we noted there, however, we are powerless to jettison Feres or to dislodge it sufficiently to create an exception for vehicular collisions involving servicemen.” (citation omitted)); Peluso v. United States, 474 F.2d 605, 606 (3d Cir.1973) (per curiam) (questioning the logic of the Feres decision but applying it to the facts of the case). It is no wonder that Justice Scalia in his Johnson dissent bluntly stated that “Feres was wrongly decided and heartily deserves the 'widespread, almost universal criticism' it has received.” United States v. Johnson, 481 U.S. 681, 700-01, 107 S.Ct. 2063, 95 L.Ed.2d 648 (1987) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (quoting In re "Agent Orange” Product Liability Litigation, 580 F.Supp. 1242, 1246 (E.D.N.Y.1984)); see also Costo v. United States, 248 F.3d 863, 869 (9th Cir.2001) (reluctantly concluding that "until Congress, the Supreme Court, or an en banc panel of this Court reorients the [Feres ] doctrine, we are bound to follow this well-worn path”); id. at 869 (9th Cir.2001) (Ferguson, J., dissenting) (challenging the constitutionality of the Feres doctrine on equal protection and separation of powers grounds).