{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T00:21:44Z","timestamp":1777681304852,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,1]],"date-time":"2019-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1559347200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Health Security"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Legal Perspectives<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">is aimed at informing healthcare providers, emergency planners, public health practitioners, and other decision makers about important legal issues related to public health and healthcare preparedness and response. The articles describe these potentially challenging topics and conclude with the authors' suggestions for further action. The articles do not provide legal advice. Therefore, those affected by the issues discussed in this column should seek further guidance from legal counsel. Readers may submit topics of interest to the column's editor, Lainie Rutkow, JD, PhD, MPH, at lrutkow@jhu.edu.<\/jats:italic>\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>This article describes and analyzes the body of emergency preparedness, response, and recovery litigation that has arisen since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Search terms were developed to identify judicial opinions related to emergency preparedness, response, and recovery activities. Using the Thomson Reuters Westlaw legal database, searches were conducted to collect judicial opinions related to disasters that occurred in the United States between September 11, 2001, and December 31, 2015. An electronic form was used for data abstraction. Cases that did not directly involve emergency response, preparedness, or recovery activities were excluded. Data were summarized with descriptive statistics. We identified 215 cases for data abstraction. Many of the cases stemmed from preparedness, response, and recovery activities related to hurricanes (57.7%) and terrorist attacks (16.7%). 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%). Although it can be anticipated that litigation will arise out of all phases of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, policymakers can anticipate that the most litigation will result from pre-event mitigation and post-event recovery activities, and allocate resources accordingly.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1089\/hs.2018.0118","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,17]],"date-time":"2019-06-17T14:51:45Z","timestamp":1560783105000},"page":"240-247","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Judicial Opinions Arising from Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Activities"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Alexander D.","family":"McCourt","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Alexander D. McCourt, JD, PhD, is an Assistant Scientist, and Lainie Rutkow, JD, PhD, is a Professor; both in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Gregory Sunshine, JD, is a Public Health Analyst, Public Health Law Program, Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gregory","family":"Sunshine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Alexander D. McCourt, JD, PhD, is an Assistant Scientist, and Lainie Rutkow, JD, PhD, is a Professor; both in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Gregory Sunshine, JD, is a Public Health Analyst, Public Health Law Program, Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lainie","family":"Rutkow","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Alexander D. McCourt, JD, PhD, is an Assistant Scientist, and Lainie Rutkow, JD, PhD, is a Professor; both in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Gregory Sunshine, JD, is a Public Health Analyst, Public Health Law Program, Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_2_2_2","unstructured":"National Hurricane Center. Costliest U.S. tropical cyclones tables updated. January 26 2018. https:\/\/www.nhc.noaa.gov\/news\/UpdatedCostliest.pdf. Accessed April9 2018."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_3_2","unstructured":"Transformation and Innovation in the Wake of Devastation: An Economic and Disaster Recovery Plan for Puerto Rico. Preliminary Draft. July 9 2018. http:\/\/www.p3.pr.gov\/assets\/pr-draft-recovery-plan-for-comment-july-9-2018.pdf. Accessed August16 2018."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1748-720X.2008.00327.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_5_2","unstructured":"State v. Severin 958 So.2d 21 (La. Ct. App. 5th Cir. 2007)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_6_2","unstructured":"Freeman v. State 982 So.2d 903 (La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 2008)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_7_2","unstructured":"Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled v. Bloomberg 980 F.Supp.2d 588 (S.D.N.Y. 2013)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_8_2","unstructured":"Serou v. Touro Infirmary 115 So.3d 688 (La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 2013)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_9_2","unstructured":"Castille v. Lafayette City\u2013Parish Consolidated Government 896 So.2d 1261 (La. Ct. App. 3rd Cir. 2005)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_10_2","volume-title":"Public Health Law Research: Theory and Methods","author":"Wagenaar AC","year":"2013","unstructured":"Wagenaar AC, , Burris S, eds. Public Health Law Research: Theory and Methods. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2013."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_11_2","unstructured":"Disaster Types. DisasterAssistance.gov. https:\/\/www.disasterassistance.gov\/. Accessed February6 2018."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_12_2","unstructured":"Department of Homeland Security. Creation of the Department of Homeland Security. September 24 2015. https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/creation-department-homeland-security. Accessed February7 2018."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_13_2","unstructured":"City of Muncie ex rel. Muncie Fire Dept. v. Weidner 831\u2009N.E.2d 206 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_14_2","unstructured":"Alfonso v. U.S. 752 F.3d 622 (5th Cir. 2014)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_15_2","unstructured":"LaCoste v. Pendleton Methodist Hospital 966 So.2d 519 (La. 2007)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_16_2","unstructured":"Cooley v. Acadian Ambulance 65 So.3d 192 (La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 2011)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_17_2","unstructured":"Spotts v. United States 613 F.3d 559 (5th Cir. 2010)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_18_2","unstructured":"Federal Emergency Management Agency. OpenFEMA Dataset: Public Assistance Funded Projects Summaries - V1. https:\/\/www.fema.gov\/openfema-dataset-public-assistance-funded-projects-summaries-v1. Accessed June26 2018. Cost was determined by aggregating Federal Obligated Amount by FEMA Disaster Number to view the total amount of Public Assistance grant funding obligated for each event."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_19_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2017.303947"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_20_2","unstructured":"42 U.S.C. \u00a7\u00a7 247d-6d 247d\u20136e."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_21_2","unstructured":"See eg Freeman v. U.S. 556 F.3d 326 (2009)."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_22_2","unstructured":"See eg Benzman v. Whitman 523 F.3d 119 (2008)."}],"container-title":["Health Security"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1089\/hs.2018.0118","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1089\/hs.2018.0118","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1089\/hs.2018.0118","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T08:39:33Z","timestamp":1777451973000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1089\/hs.2018.0118"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,1]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1089\/hs.2018.0118"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1089\/hs.2018.0118","relation":{},"ISSN":["2326-5094","2326-5108"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2326-5094","type":"print"},{"value":"2326-5108","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,1]]}}}