Overwriting untracked working tree files (when identical)

I was using git earlier today and got the familiar error:

 	"Untracked working tree file 'filename’ would be overwritten by merge"

As it happens, I know that filename in my local filesystem and filename in the remote git branch have the same contents.

Would it make sense for git to check for this possibility, and if the working tree file is the same as the file being merged in with that filename, allow the overwrite?

(I received the message with "git pull," so I imagine it was emitted by the recursive merge driver.)

-- Asheesh.