Christ Haginikitos v. United States

OPINION OF THE COURT

This appeal by the government from an award of damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1346 et seq. requires us to decide whether the district court’s finding of negligence was “clearly erroneous.” Wiseman v. United States, 327 F.2d 701 (3 Cir. 1964).

The plaintiff-appellee was an employee of an independent contractor which had contracted with the Department of the Army to paint certain buildings at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. While painting the outside frame of a second story window having parallel vertical bars to which two horizontal angle irons…