Judge to hear Hurricane Katrina liability case

Los Angeles Times

ATLANTA — A federal judge in New Orleans will hear what attorneys call “the last case standing” today against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its reported failure to protect New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters nearly four years ago.

The civil-negligence lawsuit originally was filed in April 2006 by five New Orleans-area residents. They are limited to relatively small damages from the government if they win. But a victory could result in a deluge of settlements for tens of thousands of New Orleans residents who have filed claims for personal injury, property damage and wrongful death since the epic flood Aug. 29, 2005.

In 2008, Justice Department officials determined that the federal government could be forced to pay as much as $100 billion in damages for Katrina-related claims and court cases. Any such payouts would come on top of the more than $34.5 billion in federal rebuilding aid that has either been spent or promised for Louisiana, including billions in Road Home grants to rebuild damaged homes.

At the heart of the suit is a widely derided navigational channel built and operated by the Corps called the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal.

The plaintiffs claim that faulty construction and maintenance of the channel were key causes of the flooding in three of the hardest-hit neighborhoods — the Lower 9th Ward, New Orleans East and St. Bernard Parish.