HURRICANE KATRINA DISCUSSION

[NYBob]

Judge ends Katrina flooding lawsuits against feds

The Associated Press
Posted: 12/28/2013 12:50:55 PM CST


FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2005, file photo, residents...
((AP Photo/David J. Phillip, Pool, File))

NEW ORLEANS—Dozens of lawsuits seeking damages from the federal
government for Hurricane Katrina-related levee failures and
flooding in the New Orleans area are over.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. has dismissed the cases.
The move comes more than a year after a federal appeals court
overturned his ruling that held the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers liable for flooding caused by lax maintenance of a
shipping channel.

Duval has also dismissed a parallel lawsuit against a
contractor.
It claimed excavation work weakened flood walls in New Orleans'
Industrial Canal.
Duval entered the orders to dismiss the cases on Dec. 20.

More than 500,000 residents, businesses and governments filed
claims against the Corps.
People in southern Louisiana have long taken for granted that
the flooding in the wake of the 2005 storm was a man-made
disaster—one caused specifically by the corps—and they have
wanted the agency to pay up for lost homes and property.

The corps claimed immunity from suits related to decisions on n
flood-control projects, including most levees,
based on a 1928 federal law.
But lawyers tried to get around that by claiming the agency had
been negligent in maintaining navigation channels,
including the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet.

That channel, dug in the 1960s and closed after the hurricane,
funneled Katrina's storm surge into parts of the city.
Overall, thousands of homes were destroyed, about 1,400 people
died in the flood and much of the city was left under water.

Duval had ruled in 2009 that the corps was liable for the
flooding of New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward neighborhood and St.
Bernard Parish because the agency failed to properly maintain
the channel, allowing protective marshland to wash away.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals initially agreed with that
decision in March 2012.
But in September, a three-judge panel reversed its earlier
opinion, saying the new ruling "completely insulates the
government from liability."

The ruling could make it extremely difficult to force
the government to pay damages for future mishaps.

Under federal law, the government cannot be sued over actions
based "on considerations of public policy," the appeals panel
wrote.
The corps' decisions regarding the shipping channel fall under
that protection, the judges wrote.

http://www.grahamleader.com/nationalnews/ci_24808162/judge-ends-katrina-flooding-lawsuits-against-feds