ELR Citation: ELR 20034
No(s). 08-3599 (N.D. Cal. Feb 3, 2009)

A district court dismissed a family's personal injury claims against the U.S. Army for exposing them to carbon tetrachloride while they resided on a former Army base. The discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act deprives the court of subject matter jurisdiction over their claims. All actions concerning the carbon tetrachloride groundwater plume were left to the Army's discretion. Moreover, the Army's investigation, remediation, and reuse decisions concerning the contaminated area implicate policy choices and decisions of the type that Congress intended to protect from judicial second guessing.