George W. Cadwalder, Mary Kathleen Cadwalder v. United States

BRUNETTI, Circuit Judge:

In this case, we allowed an interlocutory appeal of the district court’s order granting plaintiff-appellee’s motion for joinder. The underlying action involves the voluntary assignment of a tort claim against the United States, and implicates both the Assignment of Claims Act and the Federal Tort Claims Act. Because the district court’s ruling in this case contravenes both the language and purposes of these two statutes, we reverse.

BACKGROUND

In July 1985, the Savage Creek fire, which originated in the Payette National Forest in Utah, spread to a ranch then owned by the…