Abstract
On May 10, 1984, United States District Court Judge Bruce Jenkins handed down his order in the historic case of Allen v. United States.1 Allen involves a group of plaintiffs who lived downwind of the national domestic atomic test site located in southeastern Nevada. The plaintiffs brought their tort action against the United States government in 1979 after learning that they had been involuntarily exposed to excessive amounts of lowlevel radiation from atmospheric atomic testing during the 1950's. Jenkins' landmark opinion held the United States government liable for injuries and deaths resulting from exposure to low-level radiation produced during nuclear testing. The 215-page document is massive both in volume and scope. It reviews basic principles of radiation, nuclear physics, nuclear fallout and health physics. "This case," wrote Jenkins, "is concerned with atoms, with government, with people, with legal relationships, and with social values."
Recommended Citation
Monson, Scott Gibbs
(1985)
"Allen v. United States: Discretion Defined
Downwind,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 1985:
No.
2, Article 5.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol1985/iss2/5