Judicial Opinions Arising from Emergency Preparedness Response and Recovery Activities

The authors reviewed judicial opinions related to disasters that occurred in the United States between September 11, 2001, and December 31, 2015. The most prevalent emergency response activities at issue were disaster mitigation (29.3%), disaster clean-up (21.9%), a defendant’s duty to plan (14.4%), evacuation (12.6%), and conditions of incarceration (12.1%). They found that medical services or triage during an emergency are discussed in only 7 cases (3.3%) out of the 215 they included, but note that “this does not imply that litigation arising from health care provided during an emergency is not an area of concern.”