Injured Airman to Petition SCOTUS to Overturn Feres, Ensure Equal Court Access for Military Servicemembers and Their Families

BALTIMORE, April 30, 2024 (Newswire.com)
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When a botched back surgery performed by doctors at a military hospital left Air Force reservist Ryan Carter paralyzed, his family did not expect they would be denied legal recovery based on his honorable military service. Now, with the help of their attorneys at Brown & Barron, LLC, Carter and his wife intend to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit and overturn Feres v. United States, a 70-year-old case that broadly restricts military servicemembers’ access to the nation’s courts.

Feres bars civil lawsuits against the federal government and military by millions of active duty servicemembers and their families—including claims for medical malpractice incurred in military facilities. Indeed, among the 20,000 medical malpractice lawsuits filed in the U.S. each year, practically zero are brought against military health care providers. Feres also makes it nearly impossible for sexual assault survivors in the enlisted ranks to seek civil relief. 

Advocacy groups have long fought to gain equal access to the civil justice system for military personnel and their families. They are joined by a growing chorus of judges, who object to Feres but are bound to enforce it until a majority of the Supreme Court decides otherwise.

“Denial of relief to military personnel and distortions of other areas of law to compensate … will continue to ripple through our jurisprudence as long as the Court refuses to reconsider Feres,” wrote U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 2019. Two years later, he reiterated: “[I]f the Feres doctrine is so wrong that we cannot figure out how to rein it in, then the better answer is to bid it farewell.” 

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was also a frequent critic of the doctrine. “Feres was wrongly decided, and heartily deserves the widespread, almost universal criticism it has received,” he wrote in 1987. 

Servicemembers who dedicate their lives to protecting this nation deserve the full legal protections enjoyed by civilians. In the coming months, the U.S. Supreme Court will have yet another opportunity to revisit and overturn Feres and ensure equal court access for military servicemembers and their families.

If your publication is interested in covering the Carter family’s story to raise awareness about the legal challenges faced by military servicemembers or your organization is interested in filing an amicus brief in support of the Carter family’s petition to overturn Feres, please contact Chris Casciano at ccasciano@brownbarron.com for more information.

Brown & Barron, LLC is a civil justice law firm with a proven track record of success representing catastrophically injured plaintiffs in state and federal court. Their mission is to restore lives and to restore justice.

Source: Brown & Barron, LLC