Katrina Flooding Lawsuit Against Corps Dismissed

Jan 31, 07:44 AM

By Cain Burdeau and Michael Kunzelman

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS

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 lawsuit 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, such as 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.

Plaintiffs lawyer Joseph 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.

(c) 2008 Virginian - Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. Katrina Flooding Lawsuit Against Corps Dismissed
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