The federal 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a civil lawsuit by a federal judge in Texarkana stemming from the deaths of 20 campers who lost their lives at Albert Pike Recreation Area during a June 2010 flood.
Like U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas, the 8th Circuit ruled that the Arkansas Recreational Use Statute protects the government from liability for the deaths. Twenty people, including adults and children from Texarkana, were killed in the early hours of June 11, 2010.
A heavy storm created a catastrophic flooding situation for campers, many of whom were sleeping and unaware of the danger presented by the rapidly rising river. The waters rose more than 20 feet in a matter of hours.
In the aftermath of the flood, 11 lawsuits were filed in federal courts in Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana against the goverment and eventually were consolidated into one action in Hickey's court. Hickey granted a motion to dismiss the case in March 2017.
The 8th Circuit issued an opinion Friday affirming Hickey's ruling. The Arkansas Recreational Use Statute protects landowners, in this case the government, from being sued for allowing public use of their property. Exceptions to the statute are triggered if the landowner knew of an "ultra-hazardous" situation and didn't warn about it or if the landowner charged a fee to come on to the property.
The higher court's opinion notes that camping near water in a 100-year flood plain is a relatively common occurrence and that the government couldn't have known that a historic, 500-year flood was imminent.
While campers did pay a fee, it was not an "entrance" fee as defined by the Arkansas Recreational Use Statute, the opinion states. Rather, visitors to the campground can enjoy the land and some of the facilities without ever paying a fee. When fees are paid for services available after coming onto a landowner's property, such as for use of an RV hookup, the exception to the law is not triggered, according to the higher court's opinion.
"The flooding of the Little Missouri River was a devastating tragedy. We must resolve the claims arising from that tragedy by determining the extent of federal immunity under the Federal Tort Claims Act and the Arkansas Recreational Use Statute," the opinion states. "Because we conclude that under Arkansas law a private landowner would be immune from plaintiffs' claims, we affirm the district court's dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction."