Case Citator › Indian Towing Co. v. United States

Indian Towing Co. v. United States

Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.

Limited by some courts
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Citation
350 U.S. 61
Decided
Confirmed treatments
1
Flagged citations read
38 of 38
Citing cases (total)
38
Treatment dates
1958
Limited by some courts
At least one reviewed court has limited this case’s holding to narrower facts or a narrower rule. No reviewed court has overruled it. Indian Towing Co. v. United States remains authoritative on negligent performance of a government undertaking, with 1 historical limitation listed below. All 38 flagged citing opinions have been read.
More on how this was screened

In 1958, the Eighth Circuit declined to extend its FTCA reasoning to federal prisoners, but the Supreme Court later allowed prisoner negligence suits in United States v. Muniz (1963) and cited Indian Towing in support. Later courts continue to apply Indian Towing’s rule that operational negligence is not exempt merely because the activity is governmental.

Every treatment on this page is written from the citing opinion itself, with a verbatim quote, never copied from a commercial citator. A citation flagged by our screen but not shown here was read and found not to weaken this case.

38 later cases cite Indian Towing Co. v. United States; 38 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.

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This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.

Treatments

Limited

  • The Eighth Circuit declined to extend Indian Towing’s FTCA reasoning to a federal prisoner’s negligence claim, treating Feres as the closer precedent.

    Lack v. United States · Eighth Circuit · filed

    It is our best judgment that the present case falls somewhere between the Feres situation and those prevailing in Indian Towing Co. and Rayonier. We are inclined to think that Feres is the closest precedent. Private persons can fight forest fires and could conceivably be authorized to operate lighthouses. It is far less likely that private persons could operate armies or prisons.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

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