Hencely v. Fluor Corp. · ¶25

To assess preemption of that suit, the Court first identified a “ `uniquely federal' interest” in the “the civil liabilities arising out of the performance of federal procurement contracts.” Id., at 505–506. After all, the Court reasoned, in Yearsley v. W. A. Ross Constr. Co., 309 U. S. 18 (1940), the Court had rejected “an attempt by a landowner to hold a construction contractor liable under state law” for eroding land in the course of constructing dikes for the Government. Boyle, 487 U. S., at 506 (citing Yearsley, 309 U. S., at 20–21). There was “no basis for a distinction,” Boyle explained, between a contractor's fulfllment of a performance contract like the one in Yearsley and a contractor's faithful execution of a procurement contract for helicopters. 487 U. S., at 506.

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