The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) can be held generally liable for personal injury claims that arise out of the transit company’s commercial activity.

The petitioner, Gary Thacker, suffered severe head injuries and the death of a companion while participating in a fishing tournament in the Tennessee River when TVA workers accidentally dropped a power line into the water. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that TVA was shielded from liability under the discretionary-function exception of the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA).

The Supreme Court, in reversing and remanding the Eleventh Circuit’s decision, differentiated between the commercial and governmental activities in which the TVA engages:

So to determine if the TVA has immunity here, the court on remand must first decide whether the conduct alleged to be negligent is governmental or commercial in nature. For the reasons given above, if the conduct is commercial—the kind of thing any power company might do—the TVA cannot invoke sovereign immunity.