Robert F. Burns v. United States

The majority opinion raises one more unwarranted barrier to the affording of fair treatment to citizens injured by the actions of their government, one more unnecessary roadblock to the determination of cases on their merits in the federal courts. The majority holds that a brain damaged veteran who seeks assistance from the Veterans Administration in filing a claim relating to his injuries and who reasonably relies on a Veterans Administration caseworker to fill out the proper claim form on his behalf loses his right to sue the government for negligently performed surgery when the claim filed…