Bohrmann v. Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co. Case Brief Summary | Law Case Explained

Bohrmann v. Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co. | 926 F. Supp. 211 (1996)

A defendant commits the tort of battery by intentionally touching a plaintiff in a harmful or offensive manner, resulting in injury. Does this mean that the defendant must intend to injure the plaintiff? The court addressed this question in Bohrmann versus Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company.

Eric Bohrmann was a student at the University of Southern Maine. Bohrmann and a group of his chemistry classmates went on a tour of a nuclear power plant owned by the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company. Two weeks earlier, there’d been a radioactive gas leak at the plant. As part of the leak repair, Maine Yankee needed to flush out certain hot spots in its demineralizer, a process the company knew would release radioactive gas. Maine Yankee chose to conduct this repair during the students’ tour. The students spent thirty to forty minutes in the affected area of the plant. During this time, tour guides led them through a plume of unfiltered radioactive gas. At the end of the tour, Bohrmann and several of his classmates tested positive for radiation exposure, but Maine Yankee employees falsely assured them that the kind of radiation they’d been exposed to wasn’t harmful. The students didn’t realize they’d been exposed to harmful radiation until several days later when they read a newspaper report about the incident. Bohrmann experienced a significant reduction in his white blood cell count, and the other students suffered stress and anxiety.

Bohrmann and his classmates sued Maine Yankee for battery in federal district court. Maine Yankee moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that it was insulated from liability because it complied with federal safety standards.

#casebriefs #lawcases #casesummaries