After being denied wrongful death claim, family files lawsuit alleging failures to prevent suicide, sexual assault at Air Force Academy

The death of a young Air Force officer could have been prevented had the service’s academy properly investigated an allegation of sexual assault and implemented regulations meant to protect cadets, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court by the officer’s family.

“These failures directly caused severe psychological trauma and preventable death of 2nd Lt. Cailin Renee Foster,” stated the federal lawsuit, filed July 13 in Colorado by her parents and estate. The lawsuit also alleges that when Foster arrived at her first duty station, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, she faced bullying from her supervisor.

Foster, 22, died by suicide Nov. 7, 2021, after graduating six months earlier from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. After her death, Foster’s parents learned she had been the victim of sexual assault at the academy. She had reported the assault to the cadet who was first in her chain of command, but it was not investigated, according to the lawsuit.

Leadership had also received information that Foster had expressed thoughts of suicide, which were also not handled appropriately, according to the lawsuit.

“The U.S. Air Force Academy has no comment on ongoing litigation,” a spokesperson for the academy said in a statement Friday.

Gary and Colleen Foster, the officer’s parents, filed the lawsuit pro se — meaning without an attorney — after the Air Force denied their wrongful death claim filed through the Federal Tort Claims Act. They are concerned that the lawsuit will face legal barriers, but increasing interest in Congress to allow for lawsuits related to military sexual trauma gave them hope to push forward.

Gary Foster, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and academy graduate, said he owes it to his daughter to push for accountability regardless of obstacles. He also spent part of his career working at the academy.

“We need people to stand up and be heard, to join the fight, for change, reform and system accountability,” he said in a statement.

Service members and their surviving family members or estates are typically barred from suing the military for wrongs that are considered “incident to service.” The legal doctrine, known as the Feres Doctrine, has been used to block lawsuits for wrongful death, medical malpractice and military sexual trauma.

Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., introduced a bill last month that would carve out an exception to the Feres Doctrine to allow service members to seek justice where the government is proven to have failed to prevent or investigate sexual misconduct or otherwise committed a negligent act that contributed to it.

The Military Sexual Trauma Accountability Act was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Congress passed a similar law in 2019 to carve out exemptions for medical malpractice.

When the Air Force denied the Foster family’s wrongful death claim, it cited the Feres Doctrine as the reason.

“I cannot begin to imagine the pain they have experienced through this ordeal,” Bradford Hunt, chief of general torts branch for the claims and litigation division of the Air Force, wrote in the denial letter. “I am grateful for Lt. Foster’s dedication and service to our nation, and for [the Fosters’] desire to improve the Air Force culture for all current and future service men and service women.”

Walter Munyer, the attorney representing Cailin Foster’s estate, said he sees this lawsuit as an opportunity for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to revisit its previous rulings on the Feres Doctrine and sexual assault in the context of the military. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2022 that sexual assault could not conceivably serve any military purpose.

“I would like the court to consider [the academy’s] response not only to the sexual assault by a multiple offender who remained on campus but also its failure in addressing the psychological issues brought on by the resulting isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as Cailin’s loss of a close fellow cadet due to suicide. Her medical records are scant and unremarkable given the traumas she endured,” Munyer said.

The Fosters said that over the four years that Cailin Foster attended the Air Force Academy, they could see her change. When they suggested she seek help from her leadership or counselors at the academy, she told them no one would listen.

“[The academy] broke her,” Gary Foster said. “We just want to prevent the next Cailin from being victimized.”

Gary and Colleen Foster live near the Air Force Academy and through his own work, Gary Foster said he knew exactly where the policy failures happened regarding his daughter. He tried to meet with academy leadership before taking the legal route but said “they have just pushed our hand.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, submitted questions to the academy on the Fosters’ behalf and learned in 2022 that an internal review following Cailin Foster’s death found some changes were needed to policy and operating procedures.

Munyer, a retired Air Force colonel, said Cailin Foster’s “experience and treatment challenges my faith in the Air Force to always do right by its troops.”

“I always felt and was convinced that the Air Force believed that the mission comes first. And, in the mission coming first, foremost was the need to take care of ‘our’ people,” he said. “I’d like to see the Air Force admit its failures, seek steps to better protect personal dignity and security, and just do the right thing by Cailin and the Fosters.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, dial 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention and Crisis Hotline.