George Swenson v. George P. Barrick and Allied American Mutual Fire Insurance Company

Barrick, the owner of a parked car-struck by an ambulance owned by the District of Columbia, sued Swenson, the driver of the ambulance, in the Municipal Court to recover for the damage done. The District of Columbia Employee Non-Liability Act, 1 which was adopted some 18 months after the accident but before trial, exempts employees from personal liability for negligent operation of a District-owned vehicle and, waiving governmental immunity, makes the District of Columbia liable—but, in the case of an emergency vehicle, only for gross negligence. The Act also provides that any judicial…