Opinion ID: 61659
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Element of Causation

Text: With the parameters of the political question doctrine and the nature and elements of the Plaintiffs' tort claims in mind, we focus on the element that is the most critical element for political question analysis  causation. The parties in their briefs appear to agree that this element presents the greatest potential for implicating the political question bar. This element is critical because we must analyze appellant's claim as it would be tried, to determine whether a political question will emerge. Occidental, 577 F.2d at 1202. We must look beyond the complaint, considering how the Plaintiffs might prove their claims and how KBR would defend. Nonetheless, a court must satisfy itself that political question will certainly and inextricably present itself. Id. We recognize that the district court was not presented with a focused argument regarding the significance of the causation element. Much more was presented below. For example, in the suit brought by Fisher's survivors, KBR initially moved to dismiss on the grounds that the Defense Base Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1651-1654, and the Federal Tort Claims Act barred the Plaintiffs suit. Later KBR renewed its motion to dismiss, arguing that it was immune from suit under the doctrines of official immunity, derivative sovereign immunity, impact-on-the-federal-treasury immunity under Land v. Dollar, 330 U.S. 731, 67 S.Ct. 1009, 91 L.Ed. 1209 (1947), and the Defense Production Act of 1950, 50 App. U.S.C. § 2061 et seq. KBR also re-urged its Defense Base Act defense and argued for the first time that the Plaintiffs' claims were nonjusticiable under the political question doctrine. However, only in a third motion  a reply to the Plaintiffs' opposition to KBR's motion to dismiss  did KBR begin to focus its argument on the difficulty of proving causation without second-guessing military actions and decisions. The Plaintiffs responded (in a six-page surreply) by arguing that only KBR's actions needed to be examined in order to determine direct and proximate cause. These motions were filed only three weeks prior to the district court's final order dismissing the Plaintiffs' claims under the political question doctrine. Only after the district court's final judgment has the broader array of defenses been laid aside, permitting the parties to sharpen their appellate arguments regarding the importance of the causation element in any political question analysis of these claims. We regret that the district court did not benefit in the first instance from these arguments, but we cannot ignore their import on appeal. Invocation of the political question doctrine implicates the district court's jurisdiction. We are duty-bound to examine the basis of subject matter jurisdiction sua sponte, even on appeal. Union Planters Bank Nat'l Ass'n v. Salih, 369 F.3d 457, 460 (5th Cir.2004) (reversed on jurisdictional challenge not raised until appellate reply brief). Our analysis has the benefit of arguments not presented to the district judge, which because of the nature of the issue does not invoke considerations of waiver that often would apply. We are only seeking to determine, based on all that we may consider, whether there is a plausible set of facts that supports the claim and would justify relief. Twombly, 127 S.Ct. at 1965-66. KBR argues that no determination as to causation can be made without examining whether the Army fulfilled its contractual duty to provide force protection for the KBR convoys. Assuming that Plaintiffs could establish all other elements of their claims, they must still demonstrate that the acts or omissions of KBR  as opposed to those of the Army or Iraqi insurgents  proximately caused their injuries. KBR has made clear that, were a trial to be held, its defense would involve the alleged inadequacy of the Army's intelligence gathering, route selection and defensive response to the attacks that actually occurred. In other words, KBR would make the case that Plaintiffs' injuries were not caused by KBR's actions or inactions, but by the insurgents' attack and the Army's failure to provide adequate protection of the convoy. The Plaintiffs counter KBR's argument by pointing to a familiar theory of tort law that permits recovery even though another actor or cause intervenes to be the direct cause of injury. See RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS §§ 448-449 (1965); PROSSER AND KEETON ON THE LAW OF TORTS § 44, at 303-06 (W. Page Keeton et. al., eds., 5th ed.1987). According to the Restatement, [i]f the likelihood that a third person may act in a particular manner is the hazard or one of the hazards which makes the actor negligent, such an act whether innocent, negligent, intentionally tortious, or criminal does not prevent the actor from being liable for harm caused thereby. REST. (2D) TORTS § 449. Texas courts have applied this theory of liability in previous cases. See Nixon v. Mr. Prop. Mgmt., 690 S.W.2d 546, 549 (Tex.1985); Kimbriel Produce Co. v. Mayo, 180 S.W.2d 504, 507 (Tex.Civ.App.1944); see also Engle v. Dinehart, No. 99-10087, 2000 WL 554942, -12 (5th Cir. April 19, 2000) (unpublished) (noting that Texas courts have adopted the causation theory embodied in Sections 448 and 449 of the Restatement); cf. Sheridan v. United States, 487 U.S. 392, 398, 108 S.Ct. 2449, 101 L.Ed.2d 352 (1988) (interpreting Federal Tort Claims Act) ([I]n at least some situations the fact that an injury was directly caused by an assault or battery will not preclude liability against the Government for negligently allowing the assault to occur.). The comments to Section 449 elaborate on this theory of causation: The happening of the very event the likelihood of which makes the actor's conduct negligent and so subjects the actor to liability cannot relieve him from liability. The duty to refrain from the act committed or to do the act omitted is imposed to protect the other from this very danger. To deny recovery because the other's exposure to the very risk from which it was the purpose of the duty to protect him resulted in harm to him, would be to deprive the other of all protection and to make the duty a nullity. REST. (2D) TORTS § 449, cmt. b. [8] Although couched in terms of negligence, this theory of causation is applicable to intentional torts as well. Id. at § 870, cmt. l. Applying the Restatement approach to the events leading to the Plaintiffs' injuries and bearing in mind our standard for reviewing a Rule 12(b)(1) dismissal, we cannot say that all plausible sets of facts that would permit the recovery from KBR would also raise a political question. The Plaintiffs and KBR were not strangers in Iraq, possessing no duties to each other. The Plaintiffs were in Iraq as employees of KBR and, more particularly the Plaintiffs allege, because KBR had drawn them there with explicit representations of safety. Assuming, as we must, that Plaintiffs' allegations are true, KBR might be seen as making representations as to safety knowing it likely that the Government could not provide the assured risk-free environment. Causation would exist if KBR's misrepresentations were a cause in fact of the Plaintiffs' ultimate injuries. See Nixon, 690 S.W.2d at 549 (Cause in fact denotes that the negligent act or omission was a substantial factor in bringing about the injury and without which no harm would have been incurred.). Under this theory of causation, the district court may be able to resolve the Plaintiffs' fraud and negligence claims under Texas tort law without second-guessing the acts and decisions of the Army. The court would be asked to determine whether KBR made assurances to the Plaintiffs about conditions in Iraq which KBR knew or should have known were untrue. This determination may very well require a review of the information KBR received from the Army, understanding also when it was received. The question would be what KBR did after receiving the information, not how ably the military gathered or interpreted it. The Plaintiffs do not allege that the Army guaranteed their safety; they allege KBR did. Therefore, the court may not have to inquire into the adequacy of the Army's intelligence and planning to determine whether, based on the information it possessed, KBR made misrepresentations or breached a duty to its employees. For example, the Plaintiffs might prove that, based on the intelligence provided to KBR by the military and collected by KBR's own employees, that KBR knew or should have known at the time that it was recruiting the Plaintiffs to work for KBR in Iraq that the situation was likely to be so hostile that KBR could not reasonably believe that its employees would be 100% safe. Similarly, later in Iraq when the April 2004 convoys were about to roll out, KBR might be shown to have known of the likelihood of danger and that KBR had assumed a duty to its employees not to proceed in such circumstances. The evidence may instead reveal that, based on the information available to KBR, it did not make any fraudulent misrepresentations or that it did not have any duty to the Plaintiffs that was breached. Under either scenario, the cases might be triable without raising a political question because the court could assess KBR's liability by simply being aware of the information the military provided to KBR, not second-guessing that information. Proving KBR's negligent breach of a duty in Iraq not to allow a convoy to proceed if conditions were too dangerous will involve rather different evidence than would proof of misrepresentations made during hiring or later about safety. Though the causation analysis applies to both issues, at some point the political question analysis between the two will likely diverge. The Plaintiffs' negligence allegations move precariously close to implicating the political question doctrine, and further factual development very well may demonstrate that the claims are barred. However, like the fraud claims, we cannot say at this point that negligence claims necessarily implicate the political question doctrine. Distinguishable from political question concerns is the fact that a trial might require the use of classified information. As the district court in this case has already demonstrated, federal courts are capable of evaluating sensitive or privileged information in camera and providing other needed protections.