Anna Carlyle, Guardian of the Estate of Henry Robinson, Jr. v. United States of America, Department of the Army

JOHN W. PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.

The facts of this case are distressing and lamentable. On December 1, 1975, plaintiff’s ward was standing on the public sidewalk outside the Sheraton Cadillac Hotel in Detroit. He was hit by a bench thrown from a sixteenth floor window by two U.S. Army recruits who were staying at the Hotel in anticipation of their enlistment examinations as a result of arrangements made for them by the Army. The Plaintiff’s ward suffered permanent disabling injuries leaving him incompetent.

In a civil action in state court plaintiff took a default judgment for damages…