Four years on, and finally some good news for the victims of hurricane Katrina. A judge has ruled that the US federal government was to blame for much of the , paving the way for billions in payouts.
The US government cannot be sued for the failure of flood protection measures, but this case concerns a shipping channel called the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) 鈥� nicknamed 鈥淗urricane Highway鈥� 鈥� which the plaintiffs claimed exacerbated flooding.
On 18 November, Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that negligent maintenance and operation of MRGO by the (USACE) 鈥渄oomed the channel to grow to two to three times its design width鈥�. This destroyed the channel鈥檚 banks and increased the severity of its waves, leading to disastrous flooding in St Bernard parish and the lower Ninth ward. 鈥淪cience defined the case, this really was a battle of experts,鈥� says Pierce O鈥橠onnell, lead attorney for the plaintiffs.
Advertisement
Duval awarded damages of around $700,000 in total to the four plaintiffs who lived or did business in these neighbourhoods. 鈥淲e were thrilled with the verdict,鈥� says O鈥橠onnell. He adds that the ruling paves the way for a class action lawsuit that could result in tens of billions of dollars in federal payouts.
USACE now has about 50 days to decide whether to appeal. This would hold up the class action suit, and could even mean the case eventually goes to the Supreme Court. Charlie Miller, spokesman for the US Department of Justice, which is representing the corps in the case, says: 鈥淭here鈥檚 been no determination as yet as to what the government鈥檚 next step will be.鈥�
O鈥橠onnell says: 鈥淲e are overjoyed with the victory but resigned to the fact that we might have to continue the litigation for years. It鈥檚 a case of slow-motion justice.鈥�
