United States Fourth Circuit

In plaintiff's suit against an independent contractor hired by FEMA to reassess flood elevation maps of an area, alleging professional malpractice and other claims for designating a large portion of plaintiff's property as part of the floodway, district court's order dismissing plaintiff's second amended complaint with prejudice is affirmed as the National Flood Insurance Act (NFIA) preempts plaintiff's state law claims under a theory of obstacle preemption where state law tort claims against FEMA's independent contractors would be an obstacle to the accomplishment of the primary purposes of the NFIA and section 4104.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/27/2009
• Decided 05/12/2010
• Published 05/12/2010

Judges

• Before MOTZ and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and JANE R. ROTH, Senior Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, sitting by designation.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED: Manton McCutchen Grier, Haynsworth, Sinkler & Boyd, PA, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellant. Sharon Swingle, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the United States of America, Amicus Supporting Appellee; James F. Lee, Jr., Lee & McShane, PC, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF:Hamilton Osborne, Jr., James Y. Becker, Sarah Michaels Montgomery, Haynsworth, Sinkler & Boyd, PA, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellant. Jonathan P. Rolfe, Lee & McShane, PC, Washington, D.C.; Francis M. Mack, David A. Anderson, Mason M. Summers, Richardson Plowden & Robinson, PA, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee. Gregory G. Katsas, Assistant Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., W. Walter Wilkins, United States Attorney, Columbia, South Carolina, Michael Jay Singer, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the United States of America, Amicus Supporting Appellee. E. Duncan Getchell, Jr., Robert L. Hodges, Jeffrey S. Shapiro, Erin M. Sine, McGuirewoods, LLP, Richmond, Virginia, for American Council of Engineering Companies, American Council of Engineering Companies of Metropolitan Washington, American Society of Civil Engineers, Amici Supporting Appellee. David K. Mears, Vermont Law School, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, South Royalton, Vermont; Jon Kusler, Associate Director, Association of State Wetland Managers, Berne, New York, for Association of Floodplain Managers, Amicus Supporting Appellee.