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Dolan v. FEMA — 10th Cir. (Sep 17, 2026)

No. 25-2102 Argued September 17, 2026 Published September 26, 2026

The Tenth Circuit hears two consolidated appeals about compensation after New Mexico's Hermit's Peak and Calf Canyon Fire. Federal prescribed burns started the fire, which destroyed homes. Tobin Dolan says the fire took his house, his mother's, and his grandmother's. The Dolan and Lands claimants seek compensation for distress and inconvenience as well as property loss. Congress created a FEMA-run claims program, but FEMA's rules exclude these non-economic harms. A district court held that the statute permits them, and FEMA appealed. The judges must decide how the Act's promise of actual compensatory damages fits with its list of property, business, and financial losses. Sovereign immunity normally protects the federal government from damages claims, so the judges also ask whether Congress clearly made an exception here.

Dolan v. FEMA (No. 25-2102) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, argued September 17, 2026.

Sources
Argument audio — Tenth Circuit (public domain, 17 U.S.C. § 105):https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/files/oralarguments/25-2102.mp3
Argument listing — Tenth Circuit:https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/oralargument/search-results?field_oa_hearing_date_value%5Bmin%5D%5Bdate%5D=08%2F01%2F2026&field_oa_hearing_date_value%5Bmax%5D%5Bdate%5D=09%2F26%2F2026
Dolan appellate docket and counsel — Tenth Circuit:https://dockets.justia.com/docket/circuit-courts/ca10/25-2102
Lands companion docket — Tenth Circuit:https://dockets.justia.com/docket/circuit-courts/ca10/25-2103
District court opinion — Dolan and Lands:https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-nmd-1_23-cv-00908/pdf/USCOURTS-nmd-1_23-cv-00908-0.pdf
Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act — Congress:https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-117publ180/html/PLAW-117publ180.htm
FEMA final compensation rule — Federal Register:https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-08-29/pdf/2023-18457.pdf
Federal sovereign-immunity rule — Supreme Court:https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/604us2r21_6kh7.pdf
Tobin Dolan's account of the fire — KOB 4:https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/4-investigates-the-prescribed-burns-that-started-the-calf-canyon-hermits-peak-fire/

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