Stanley Forman Reed

“ We said:
'One obvious shortcoming in these claims is that plaintiffs can point to no liability of a 'private individual' even remotely analogous to that which they are asserting against the United States. We know of no American law which ever has permitted a soldier to recover for negligence, against either his superior officers or the Government he is serving. Nor is there any liability 'under like circumstances,' for no private individual has power to conscript or mobilize a private army with such authorities over persons as the Government vests in echelons of command. ”

“ Liability of governments for the failure of lighthouse warning lights is as unknown to tort law as, for example, liability for negligence in fire fighting excluded by the Dalehite ruling. Lighthouse keeping is as uniquely a governmental function as fire fighting. There is at least some uncertainty and ambiguity as to what Congress meant by making the United States liable in circumstances where it would be liable 'if a private person'. That uncertainty should not lead us to accept liability for the United States in this case. ”

“ In dealing with this enlarged concept of federal liability for torts, wisdom should dictate a cautious approach along the lines of Feres and Dalehite.
The Act says that the United States shall be liable in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred. § 1346 (b) . This alleged tort occurred in Louisiana. Under the Louisiana law a municipal corporation is not responsible for injury sustained as a result of negligence on the part of the employees of a city in the maintenance of traffic lights. [8] Street traffic lights are a close analogy to navigation lights. ”