The Downwinders and Judge Jenkins

U.S. District Judge Bruce S. Jenkins shares in this episode recorded in 2023 his recollections at age 95 about the most important case he ever worked on—the hard-fought Utah “Downwinders” lawsuit.  

 The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) conducted above-ground testing of nuclear devices in 1953 in southern Nevada. Ranchers living southern Utah, downwind of the Nevada nuclear testing filed five lawsuits against the United States government in 1955-56, seeking damages for harm to their sheep herds from exposure to radioactive fallout. In the lead case, U.S. District Judge Sherman Christensen rejected the claims, ruling the plaintiffs failed to prove the government was negligent.  Bulloch v. United States, 145 F.Supp. 824 (D. Utah. 1956).

 Judge Christensen reopened the case more than 20 years later after evidence of AEC deception in 1956 came to light in 1979 congressional hearings, but the Tenth Circuit reversed that decision, and the Supreme Court declined to review the case.. See Bulloch v. United States, 95 F.R.D. 123 (D. Utah 1982), and 763 F.2d 1115 (10th Cir. 1985) (en banc), cert denied, 474 U.S. 1086 (1986).

 Meanwhile, in 1979 a group of nearly 1,200 plaintiffs filed a new lawsuit called Irene Allen v. United States, challenging their exposure to the downwind radiation from the AEC testing.  After a remarkable 13-week bench trial, Judge Jenkins issued a 225-page decision finding in favor of claims by 24 “bellwether” plaintiffs against the federal government. 588 F.Supp. 247 (D. Utah 1984). The trial transcript spans over 7,000 pages, with more than 54,000 pages of exhibits.  Judge Jenkins spent 17 months preparing his written decision.

 The government appealed Judge Jenkins’ ruling to the Tenth Circuit, which reversed, holding that the government could not be sued for such claims because of sovereign immunity concepts, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.  816 F.2d 1417 (10th Cir. 1987), cert denied, 484 U.S. 1004 (1988). Judge Jenkins’ ruling nevertheless prompted Congress to pass the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990 to create a trust fund to compensate Downwinders.

 In this podcast episode Judge Jenkins reflects on the complex trial testimony in Allen, and on scientific uncertainty and the evolution of scientific knowledge. He also discusses how he approached learning about the scientific concepts the Allen case required him to consider. Judge Jenkins also comments on the Tenth Circuit’s reversal of his decision, which paradoxically prompted Congress to act to provide reimbursement to the injured downwinders.