Evans
Evans v. United States
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
LEWIS D. EVANS, and CARLA S. Case No. 1:19-CV-826 JLT BAM
EVANS,
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S Plaintiffs, MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT 13 v. (Doc. 28)
UNITED STATES,
15 Defendant.
Lewis Evans and Carla Evans filed a complaint, on June 13, 2019, seeking recovery for property damage to their Kings Canyon Lodge located in the Sierra National Forest. (Doc. 1 at ¶ 1, 8.) The property damage resulted from a wildfire, known as the Rough Fire. (Id.) Plaintiffs claim the United States Forest Service acted negligently in the efforts to contain and suppress the Rough Fire and seek recovery under the Federal Torts Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2671, et seq. On September 16, 2019, the Government responded that the discretionary function exception bars recovery and raises questions of subject matter jurisdiction. (Doc. 8 at 7.) The parties conducted discovery limited to the discretionary function exception. (See Doc. 12 at 1-2.) The Government then…