§6324 Contractor liability for injury or loss of property arising out of atomic weapons testing programs

Summary

Gives people the same way to sue the United States for injury, loss of property, illness, or death caused by exposure to radiation from a contractor’s actions or mistakes while carrying out atomic weapons testing under a U.S. contract. Those federal remedies are the only civil way to decide who is responsible for such harm. Workers of those contractors are treated as federal employees for these suits, and the cases go forward like lawsuits against the United States and follow the same limits and exceptions. A contractor must quickly give any court papers it gets to the U.S. Attorney General. If the Attorney General says the case falls under this rule, the case can be moved from state court to federal court without a bond before trial, and that certification proves the person was a contractor. The rule applies to cases pending on November 5, 1990, or started after that date. If a case that was pending on that date was dismissed because the plaintiff did not file a required administrative claim, the plaintiff then has 30 days from dismissal or two years from when the claim arose, whichever is later, to file the administrative claim. The word “contractor” covers contractors and cost-reimbursement subcontractors at any level who took part in the U.S. atomic weapons testing program for the Department of Energy or its predecessors (including the Manhattan Engineer District, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Energy Research and Development Administration), and also covers facilities that did research on the health effects of ionizing radiation under those contracts.