Abstract
There is an adage that states, “whatever that can go wrong will go wrong.” This idea leads emergency managers to develop ideas and programs which allow political entities to respond to and mitigate disasters. However, there will inevitably be situations where some loss is unavoidable. Ideally, lawyers are heavily involved before and throughout the response to improve these outcomes in a practice known as “litigation mitigation.”
Litigation mitigation has three goals: reduce exposure to legal claims, improve safety, and enhance property protection. One way to accomplish all three of these goals is to seek external assistance when a disaster is beyond a local political entity’s response capabilities. However, several potential problems must be considered when asking another political entity for help, i.e., loaning equipment, sending personnel, and allowing access to facilities. Somes states, like Nebraska, do not have a fully comprehensive system for local governments and political entities to request help within the state.
For the law to be used as an effective mitigation and prevention tool in these circumstances, Nebraska needs a codified Intrastate Mutual Aid Compact (“IMAC”) to respond effectively to disasters within its borders so that the most vulnerable populations are not left unprotected when first responders are overwhelmed. Further, first responders should not be primarily concerned about what will happen to them if they are injured while responding to others in need. This Comment will evaluate what Nebraska already has in place, what Nebraska lacks in litigation mitigation, and how a well-structured IMAC solves these problems.
Recommended Citation
Taylor Brown,
Codifying Murphy’s Law: The Necessity of a Statutory Intrastate Mutual Aid Compact (IMAC) in Nebraska,
102 Neb. L. Rev. 899
(2023)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nlr/vol102/iss4/7