Posted on 01/30/2008 4:41:01 PM PST by SmithL
New Orleans (AP) -- A federal judge threw out a key class-action lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over flooding from a levee breach after Hurricane Katrina.
U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the Corps should be held immune over the failure of a wall on the 17th Street Canal that caused much of the flooding of New Orleans in August 2005.
The suit led to 350,000 separate claims by businesses, government entities and residents, totaling billions of dollars in damages against the agency.
The fate of many of those claims was pinned to that lawsuit and a similar one filed over flooding from a navigation channel in St. Bernard Parish. It was unclear how many claims could still move forward.
The ruling relies on the Flood Control Act of 1928, which made the federal government immune when flood control projects like levees break.
Throughout the court proceedings, plaintiffs lawyers knew they faced a daunting task because the canals were, over time, used as flood control projects by the Corps.
"I knew we had an uphill battle. But we had to do it," plaintiffs lawyer Joseph Bruno said. "It's an outrage. Read the opinion: The judge reads through all the negligence by the Corps, but says he had to rule the way he had to."
Bruno said the plaintiffs would appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but he conceded that overturning Duval's ruling would be difficult.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Is this the 3 Tetrazillion law suit?
The plantiffs should sue the old liberal federal judge, if still alive, that blocked a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood-gate system for Lake Pontchutrain way back in the 70s.
Looter guy family is suing?>
Who knew???
Thanks for the post.
Stanwood Duval is a name right out of a steamy New Orleans dime novel.
I love it !
Funny thing about the law...
Who do you think would pay those billions of dollars in claims?
Not the judge. Not the Corps of Engineers.
The taxpayers.
I’m not sure why I should pay my money to people who insist on living below sea level and voting for corrupt local politicians who divert the money for flood protection to pet projects like casinos.
Rant off.
“That is how they see Justice, as a matter of convenience, plus they always have their own agendas. Isn’t it wonderful to be so free”
Ahh lets see, they were free to live there, they were free to buy a house, and they were free to not buy flood insurance despite living UNDER sea level.
Anytime there was money available for the levees the local politicians grabbed it for golf courses. Sue those people.
Good point!
You may not have noticed, but all judges are paid by one government body or another, from municipal traffic court to USSC. That doesn’t stop them from making my tax dollars pay one outrageous claim after another.
perhaps a Judge is not a good way of dispensing Justice, and a jury would be best since they would be “impartial”, however, I wasn’t thinking about YOUR tax dollars, I was considering what would be right....as a matter of fact I am sorry I even made the post so dont bother with a reply.
Americans support New Orleans for the same reason Americans support earthquake fault tolerant people in California who keep throwing their electoral college votes to the Democrat candidate for POTUS since 1992.
Presumably the same reason we are presently providing insurance subsidies to those who are lining the entire coast of Florida with 10,000 SF homes. All the 1500 SF homes built in the 50s and fishing shacks built in the 30s and 40s are being torn down and replaced with giant eyesores.
“Ahh lets see, they were free to live there, they were free to buy a house, and they were free to not buy flood insurance despite living UNDER sea level.”
The breech that flooded the city, and that was the fault of the army corps of engineers, destroyed the homes of people with AND without insurance. This suit was not about insurance, but about culpability. Had the levees been built to the proper specifications by the corps, the city would not have been devastated.
CORPS CHIEF ADMITS TO ‘DESIGN FAILURE’
Thursday, April 06, 2006
By Bill Walsh
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON — In the closest thing yet to a mea culpa, the commander of the Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged Wednesday that a “design failure” led to the breach of the 17th Street Canal levee that flooded much of the city during Hurricane Katrina.
Lt. Gen. Carl Strock told a Senate committee that the corps neglected to consider the possibility that floodwalls atop the 17th Street Canal levee would lurch away from their footings under significant water pressure and eat away at the earthen barriers below.
“We did not account for that occurring,” Strock said after the Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. “It could be called a design failure.”
http://www.nola.com/frontpage/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1144306231230500.xml
I guess they will either have to get jobs now, or wait for President HillMcObama to get into office so more Federal Funds can be sent their way. The sore on the nation's a$$ that is N.O. isn't going away anytime soon.
“The breech that flooded the city, and that was the fault of the army corps of engineers, destroyed the homes of people with AND without insurance. This suit was not about insurance, but about culpability”
Everyone in this country knew the levees wouldn’t hold up. Everyone also knew that the government in New Orleans and Louisiana is incompetent and corrupt.
The Army Corp of engineers is usually forced to use contractors to complete the work. Those contractors are usually those with ties to the government reps.
The attitude of entitlement in New Orleans just wants another payday instead of taking responsibility for themselves.
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