Huffman et al v. United States of America
Filing
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ORDER AND OPINION granting 54 Motion for Summary Judgment. Signed by Honorable J Michelle Childs on 9/5/2018.(asni, )
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA
COLUMBIA DIVISION
Nola Huffman, Marilyn Bradshaw, Charles
Bradshaw, Uma, LLC, Thakker, LLC, Paul Webb,
Sandra Webb, James Reid, Herbert Stokes, Pizza
Cake, L.L.C., Gloria Wilson, Inez Fowler and
Louis Fowler,
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Plaintiffs,
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v.
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United States of America,
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Defendant.
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Civil Action No. 3:16-cv-03071-JMC
ORDER
Plaintiffs1 above-named collectively filed this action alleging claims for negligence,
trespass, and nuisance against Defendant United States of America (the “Government”) for the
destruction caused to Plaintiffs’ homes by flood water released when the Semmes Lake Dam at
Fort Jackson was breached in October 2015. (ECF No. 15.)
This matter is before the court on the Government’s unopposed Motion for Summary
Judgment against All Pro Se Plaintiffs pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure. (ECF No. 54.) In support of its Motion, the Government asserts that “[b]ecause the
pro se Plaintiffs require expert testimony in order to prove that any negligence related to the
maintenance of the Fort Jackson dams caused their damages, and no expert testimony supports
that conclusion, those Plaintiffs cannot establish negligence as a matter of law, and summary
judgment must be entered in favor of Defendant.” (ECF No. 54-1 at 3.) The Government further
asserts that in contrast to its expert, Mark Woodbury, who is able to show “water levels at
After the filing of a Stipulation of Dismissal with Prejudice (ECF No. 34), the remaining
Plaintiffs in this action are Inez Fowler and Louis Fowler. The Fowlers are pro se.
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individual properties and the amount of water each property would have received if the spillway
capacity of the Semmes Lake dam had been increased” (id. at 7), “[n]o pro se Plaintiff has
provided an expert report or expert disclosure to Defendant’s counsel and . . . have all failed to
timely identify expert testimony supporting causation.” (Id.) Plaintiffs did not file a response to
the Government’s Motion for Summary Judgment.
Upon review, the court observes that, to survive summary judgment, Plaintiffs’ claims for
negligence, trespass, and nuisance require evidence demonstrating that the Government’s actions
proximately caused their injuries. E.g., Bishop v. S.C. Dep’t of Mental Health, 502 S.E.2d 78, 82
(S.C. 1998) (“To establish a cause of action in negligence, three essential elements must be
proven: (1) duty of care owed by defendant to plaintiff; (2) breach of that duty by a negligent act
or omission; and (3) damage proximately resulting from the breach of duty.”) (citing Rickborn v.
Liberty Life Ins. Co., 468 S.E.2d 292 (S.C. 1996)); Snow v. City of Columbia, 409 S.E.2d 797,
802 (S.C. Ct. App. 1991) (“To constitute an actionable trespass, however, there must be an
affirmative act, the invasion of the land must be intentional, and the harm caused must be the
direct result of that invasion.”) (citation omitted); Home Sales, Inc. v. City of N. Myrtle Beach,
382 S.E.2d 463, 469 (S.C. Ct. App. 1989) (“In order to constitute an actionable nuisance, a
wrongful act of the defendant must be shown and the maintenance of the nuisance must be the
natural and proximate cause of the injury suffered by the plaintiff.”). The court further observes
that the record does not contain any admissible evidence that the Government proximately
caused the flooding which damaged Plaintiffs’ property in October 2015. In this regard, the
court agrees with the Government that Plaintiffs’ failure to submit their own expert testimony is
catastrophic to their ability to prove causation as to their pending claims. Therefore, upon
consideration of the entire record and the unopposed arguments of the Government, the court
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hereby GRANTS the United States of America’s Motion for Summary Judgment. (ECF No.
54.)
IT IS SO ORDERED.
United States District Judge
September 5, 2018
Columbia, South Carolina
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