STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION--EXTRA-TERRITORIAL APPLICATION OF FEDERAL STATUTES--APPLICATION OF FEDERAL TORT CLAIMS ACT TO CLAIMS ARISING IN FOREIGN AREAS LEASED TO THE UNITED STATES

• Main Author: Waterbury, Thomas L., S.Ed.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository 1950
• Subjects: plane crash; Harmon Field; Newfoundland; Court of Appeals; Fair Labor Standards Act; Eight Hour Law; territorial jurisdiction; foreign country; Jurisdiction; Torts
• Online Access: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol48/iss7/21; https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8164&context=mlr

Decedent, an airlines employee, was killed in a plane crash at Harmon Field, Newfoundland, a base leased to the United States by Great Britain for ninety-nine years. The plaintiff, decedent's administratrix, brought suit in a district court against the United States, relying on the Federal Tort Claims Act as a waiver of federal immunity from suit. Judgment for the United States was reversed by the Court of Appeals. On certiorari to the Supreme Court, held, reversed. The claim arose in a foreign country and the FTCA specifically retains federal immunity from suit on such claims. United States v. Spelar, 338 U.S. 217, 70 S.Ct. IO (1949).