Autery
Autery v. United States
Opinion
Opinion
King, J.
Numerous individual and corporate victims of a large wildfire in southeastern Washington State appeal the district court’s dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction of their suit brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346 (b), 2671-80. The suit sought substantial damages, alleging, among other things, negligence against the United States in not maintaining firebreaks. The district court dismissed based upon the FTCA’s independent-contractor and discretionary-function exceptions.
We agree with the district court that relevant decisions regarding fire prevention were encompassed in the government’s contracts with Fluor Daniel Han-ford, Inc., a.k.a. Fluor Hanford, Inc., (Fluor) and Fluor’s corresponding subcontract with DynCorp Tri-Cities Services, Inc. (DynCorp). The action is therefore barred by the independent-contractor exception to the FTCA. See 28 U.S.C. § 2671 (“As used [in the FTCA] the term ‘Federal agency’ ... does not include any contractor with the United States”). Because we affirm on that ground, we do not reach whether the suit is also barred by the discretionary-function exception in 28 U.S.C. § 2680 (a).