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November 20, 2009

Siding with Katrina Victims, Ruling Faults Army Corps for New Orleans Flooding
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Victims of Hurricane Katrina have won a major legal victory that could
lead to scores of lawsuits against the US government. A federal judge
has ruled “monumental negligence” by the Army Corps of Engineers led to
the severe flooding that ravaged New Orleans in the aftermath of the
storm. If the ruling is upheld, thousands of residents of the Lower
Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish would have grounds to seek
compensation. Appearing on CNN, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said he
hopes the ruling will result in more legal action.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin: “What this does, particularly for the
people in the Lower Ninth Ward—many of them did not get enough money
from the Road Home program, which were the federal grants. Many
businesses did not get enough help. And hopefully this ruling will open
up the floodgates, if you will, for those people to receive proper
compensation.”

The ruling was limited to assessing the Army Corps’ maintenance of a
navigation canal, not assessing the canal’s actual construction as
residents initially sought. The ruling marks the first time the
government has been held responsible for any of the flooding that
devastated New Orleans.



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