Marvin R. Ray v. United States

Ray received devastating injuries for which, under Georgia law, a Georgia landlord would have been liable. A liability of the Government under the Tort Claims Act is deniéd, not because a landlord similarly situated would have been free from liability, but on the perfectly astounding doctrine that since an employee of a Georgia landlord would not have been liable to a third person (Ray) for failure properly to maintain the premises, the Government goes scot free. This is but a variation on its favorite theme, in major and minor key, that the simple words of the statute imposing liability, “in…