"Are there special circumstances when a civilian is in a car accident with a solider?" JOE: Well, it depends. If the solider’s on active duty they’re considered an employee fo the government. If you want to bring a claim against the soldier, you have to bring it under…
"Are there special circumstances when a civilian is in a car accident with a solider?"
JOE: Well, it depends. If the solider's on active duty they're considered an employee fo the government. If you want to bring a claim against the soldier, you have to bring it under the federal torte claims act – that's one of those special laws that you're going to need a lawyer for. There are all sorts of special procedures. That's one of the reasons active duty soldiers also can't sue the government because they're employees so to speak – but when they're retired and if they have a claim for example, against a V.A. hospital, then they can bring claims under that same federal torte claims act. In fact, that does happen on a regular basis and you're seeing a lot of that in the news these days.
