Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group

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Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group
Seal of the United States Supreme Court.svg
Argued March 20, 1978
Decided June 26, 1978
Full case nameDuke Power Company v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc., et al.
Citations438 U.S. 59 ( more )
98 S. Ct. 2620; 57 L. Ed. 2d 595; 1978 U.S. LEXIS 38; 11 ERC (BNA) 1753; 8 ELR 20545; 8 ELR 20545
Case history
PriorCarolina Envtl. Study Grp., Inc. v. U.S. Atomic Energy Comm'n, 431 F. Supp. 203 (W.D.N.C. 1977); probable jurisdiction noted, 434 U.S. 937(1977).
Holding
The Price Anderson Act does not violate equal protection by treating victims of nuclear accidents differently from the victims of other industrial accidents.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William J. Brennan Jr.  · Potter Stewart
Byron White  · Thurgood Marshall
Harry Blackmun  · Lewis F. Powell Jr.
William Rehnquist  · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
MajorityBurger, joined by Brennan, White, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell
ConcurrenceStewart
ConcurrenceRehnquist, joined by Stevens
ConcurrenceStevens
Laws applied
Price Anderson Act; Fourteenth Amendment

Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, 438 U.S. 59 (1978), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court overturned the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina's decision that the Price Anderson Act violated equal protection by treating victims of nuclear accidents differently from the victims of other industrial accidents. [1]

Contents

Background

Several groups filed suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, regarding the Price Anderson Act. The suit challenged it on two grounds; it violated the Fifth Amendment because it did not ensure adequate compensation for victims of accidents, and it violated the Fourteenth Amendment because it treated nuclear accidents differently from other accidents. [2]

Decision

The Court found that the differential treatments of industrial victims did not constitute a violation of equal protection, based on the reasons Congress gave for liability limitations: "There is no equal protection violation, since the general rationality of the Act's liability limitation, particularly with reference to the congressional purpose of encouraging private participation in the exploitation of nuclear energy, is ample justification for the difference in treatment between those injured in nuclear accidents and those whose injuries are derived from other causes."

The court summarised the circumstances leading up to the act:

The court also concluded:

See also

References

  1. Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, 438 U.S. 59 (1978).
  2. Carolina Envtl. Study Grp., Inc. v. U.S. Atomic Energy Comm'n, 431F. Supp.203 ( W.D.N.C. 1977).
  3. Duke Power Co., 438 U.S. at 63-64.
  4. Duke Power Co., 438 U.S. at 83.
  5. Duke Power Co., 438 U.S. at 84.
  6. Duke Power Co., 438 U.S. at 88.
  7. Duke Power Co., 438 U.S. at 87.
  8. Duke Power Co., 438 U.S. at 90-91.