Administrative: FEMA – Exhaustion Of Remedies – New Technical Information

Great Rivers Habitat Alliance v. Federal Emergency Management Agency, et al. (MLW No. 61065/Case No. 09-3183 – 9 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Riley, C.J.)

Where appellants challenged a decision by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to revise a flood insurance rate map, the case was properly litigated under the National Flood Insurance Act, rather than the Administrative Procedure Act, because moving land from one zone to another is a flood elevation determination, so dismissal of appellants’ APA claim was proper, and the district court properly dismissed the NFIA complaint because the appellants failed to exhaust their administrative remedies because they did not file an appeal within the meaning of the act since they did not supply new scientific or technical information.

Judgment is affirmed.

Great Rivers Habitat Alliance v. Federal Emergency Management Agency, et al. (MLW No. 61065/Case No. 09-3183 – 9 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Riley, C.J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, Noce, J. (Bruce Alan Morrison, St. Louis, argued for appellant; Kathleen G. Henry and Edward L. Dowd III appeared on the brief) (Jane Rund, St. Louis, argued for appellee).

Click here to read the full text of this opinion.