Memorandum Opinion and Order

On August 5, 1999, plaintiffs were injured when their personal water crafts went over the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam on the Ohio river.  The dam is operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and is owned by the United States.  Although unfamiliar with the section of the river on which they were traveling, plaintiffs had not consulted any navigation charts, chartlets, maps, publications, or other navigational aids.  As they traveled towards the dam, plaintiffs failed to see any of the warning signs posted along the river.  They contend that the signs failed to signal the danger of the dam to watercraft traveling the middle of the river channel, and that some of the warning signs were obscured by bushes and trees.