Pearce v. United States

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

O’CONNOR, District Judge.

This case presents a complex question mentioned but not answered by the Supreme Court in Aldinger v. Howard, 427 U.S. 1, 18, 96 S.Ct. 2413, 49 L.Ed.2d 276 (1976): in an action properly filed in federal court under the Federal Tort Claims Act, does the doctrine of pendent jurisdiction give the court power to hear plaintiff’s claim against an additional, private defendant, as to whom no independent basis of jurisdiction exists.

I

Plaintiff, a citizen of Kansas, was involved in an automobile accident on May 19, 1975, as a result of which he suffered…