Cangemi v. United States, No. 19-1076 (2d Cir. 2021)
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Property owners in the Town of East Hampton appeal from two separate decisions of the district court concerning their claims that the jetties abutting Lake Montauk Harbor have caused significant erosion on their properties. First, the district court dismissed plaintiffs' Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) claims against the Untied States for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on sovereign immunity grounds, citing the FTCA's discretionary function exception. Second, the district court granted judgment as a matter of law to the Town on plaintiff's state-law private nuisance and trespass claims.
The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment in both decisions, concluding that the district court correctly concluded that plaintiffs' claims against the United States are barred by sovereign immunity. In this case, neither the FCSA nor the 3x3x3 Paradigm prescribes a specific course of action abridging the USACE's broad discretion in carrying out the LMH Study, and that study and the Lake Montauk Harbor FNP are clearly susceptible to policy analysis. The court also held that, under New York law, the Town's ownership of the land beneath the jetties, standing alone, did not give rise to a duty to mitigate any erosion caused by the jetties. The court concluded that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiffs' state-law claims; the district court properly granted the Town's renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law; and the law of the case doctrine did not compel denial of the Town's motion for judgment as a matter of law.
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