Louis J. Rodrigue, Administrator of the Estate of William J. Rodrigue v. United States

BAILEY ALDRICH, Senior Circuit Judge.

This declaratory judgment action, 28 U.S.C. § 2201, involving the death of a serviceman raises at the outset a question of subject matter jurisdiction. Because Airman William Rodrigue’s death occurred out of the country, relief lay not in the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), but in the Military Claims Act (MCA), 10 U.S.C. §§ 2731 et seq. Unlike the FTCA, where prior administrative denial is but a condition precedent to suit, 28 U.S.C. § 2675, the MCA, 10 U.S.C. § 2735, provides as follows:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the settlement [ 1 ] of a…