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Acuna v. Brown & Root, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Civil Procedure

Civil ProcedureRemovalFederal JurisdictionCase ManagementDiscoveryPrice-Anderson Act42 U.S.C. § 2210(n)(2)nuclear incident

Facts

Plaintiffs sued numerous companies for personal injuries allegedly caused by uranium mining and processing activities in Texas. Some plaintiffs claimed direct workplace exposure, while others claimed exposure through family members or environmental pathways such as wind and groundwater. After removal, the district court entered pre-discovery orders requiring expert affidavits identifying, for each plaintiff, the injury, the causative material and source facility, the circumstances of exposure, and the scientific and medical basis for the opinion. Plaintiffs submitted largely generic affidavits that did not provide plaintiff-specific information, and the district court dismissed the actions.

Issue

Whether the Price-Anderson Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2210(n)(2), gave the federal court removal jurisdiction over state-law tort claims arising from uranium mining and processing activities, and whether the district court properly required plaintiff-specific expert affidavits before discovery and dismissed the cases for noncompliance.

Rule

Under 42 U.S.C. § 2210(n)(2), federal courts have exclusive original jurisdiction over any public liability action arising out of or resulting from a nuclear incident, and that term is not limited to singular catastrophic accidents, facilities covered by separate indemnification provisions, or incidents in states lacking their own uranium regulation. In mass tort litigation, a district court has broad discretion under Rule 16 to issue Lone Pine-type pre-discovery orders requiring plaintiffs to provide basic, plaintiff-specific evidentiary support for their claims, and dismissal may be warranted for failure to comply.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

Four hundred residents of western Colorado sue Mesa Verde Minerals and other operators in Colorado state court, alleging cancers and lung disease from years of exposure to radioactive dust and tailings released during uranium milling near Grand Junction. The complaint pleads only state-law negligence and strict liability claims and seeks damages for personal injury.

If the defendants remove to federal district court under 42 U.S.C. § 2210(n)(2), what is the strongest argument for federal jurisdiction?

Explanation. The majority held that § 2210(n)(2) provides exclusive federal jurisdiction over any public liability action arising out of or resulting from a nuclear incident, and a nuclear incident includes occurrences causing personal injury from the hazardous properties of atomic or byproduct materials. The court specifically rejected efforts to limit the statute to sudden catastrophic accidents or to cases expressly pleaded under federal law. (Derived from Acuna v. Brown & Root, Inc. (n.d.).)