Breaking on Rachel - NOLA Citizens win

[malaise]

District court Judge rules in favor of NOLA citizens against the Army Corp of Engineers. Thanks Rachel.

[babylonsister]

1. I see lawsuits! nt

[malaise]

7. Link

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-11-18-katrina-flood-laws_N.htm
<snip>
A federal judge has ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast in 2005.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval late Wednesday ruled in favor of residents who alleged the Army Corps' shoddy oversight of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet led to the flooding of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish.
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Justice is coming!!! This is great news.

[Hepburn]

2. Woooooooooot!!!! KNR...n/t

[waiting for hope]

3. Whoo Hoo!

:woohoo:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. Somewhere, a Chimp just said "heck of a job, Army"

[Bobbie Jo]

5. Just heard it.

:applause:

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. So can this then be blamed on Chimpy for cutting the funding?

Or because the people who should have fixed the levees were wasting their time (and lives) in Iraq?

[malaise]

10. Don't know but both of those would be nice

Searching for more links with details.

[spanone]

8. k&r

[Dennis Donovan]

9. Katrina's devastation of NOLA was MAN-MADE!

Not that we didn't already know this, but it's a good thing for those who didn't get insurance $$$ because the insurance scums refused to pay out because of flood clauses (at least I think it is, isn't it?:shrug:)

[malaise]

13. I remember watching all those hearings

and weeping with the families.

I'll be watching Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke again this weekend.
Where are SwampRat and BOSSHOG?
Bravo Louisiana DUers!! Bet this makes it all the way to the Supreme Court.

[Dennis Donovan]

16. Me too - it was like the cruelty didn't end with the storm or the Superdome...

:(

[EFerrari]

11. This makes me so happy.

:kick:

[malaise]

14. Yep this is a great moment for all the DUers

who covered Katrina before it reached NOLA. Justice is coming at last - I am delighted.

[EFerrari]

17. We thought the night Katrina hit was bad. Little did we know

the worst was still ahead.

[malaise]

18. That was a frightening experience

I'll never forget it

[pleah]

12. K&R

[Feron]

15. Good! Victims of the federal flood might actually...

get some much needed justice.

[bluedigger]

19. Meh.

We already knew that the ACE were negligent. What has been won? Legal responsibility for the flooding of New Orleans can now be placed, pending the government's probable appeal. What remedy are the citizens of New Orleans asking for, anyways?

[malaise]

21. Rachel is about to discuss this

now

[bluedigger]

22. I watched.

Still would like to see the proposed remedy. I hope it isn't just more lawsuits.

[malaise]

24. Fascinating

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2009/11/post_16.html
<snip>
The decision by U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. could result in the federal government paying $700,000 in damages to three people and a business in those areas, but also sets the stage for judgments against the govenment for damages by as many as 100,000 other residents, businesses and local governments in those areas who filed claims with the corps after Katrina.

If successful, the damage claims could total billions of dollars.

Duval ruled, however, that WDSU-TV anchor Norman Robinson and his wife were not entitled to damages because the corps' dredging of the MR-GO did not affect the levee system that protects eastern New Orleans from hurricane storm surge. That probably means eastern New Orleans residents also would not be able to collect on claims they've filed against the corps, said attorneys representing plaintiffs in the case.

"The people of this city have been vindicated," said attorney Joseph Bruno, a leader of the large team of lawyers who represented the plaintiffs. "They didn't do anything wrong and it's time they be compensated."

"Judge Duval exposed 40 years of the Army Corps of Engineers' gross malfeasance with regard to the operation and maintenance of the MR-GO," said Pierce O'Donnell, a Los Angeles-based attorney and co-leader of the plaintiff's legal team. "His decision is an extreme condemnation of the lack of concern for the safety of New Orleans and St. Bernard residents."
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add

[bluedigger]

25. Well, they are certainly going down a rabbit hole!

A Justice Department spokesman was not immediately available late Wednesday to respond to the ruling, but the government is expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and then to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

The corps has estimated that it received more than 490,000 claims forms in the aftermath of Katrina and Hurricane Rita in 2005, but those forms include many from areas not covered by this decision.

"Until such time as the litigation is completed, including the appellate process up to and through the U.S Supreme Court, no activity is expected to be taken on any of these claims," corps spokesman Ken Holder said.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2009/11/post_16.html

So in five to, what, 15 years from now they will start to identify injured parties by this decision. How long did it take for the Exxon Valdez settlement to result in damages paid? I looked it up. Twenty years after the spill and still attempting to recover damages.

Well, one battle is won. :shrug:

[lonestarnot]

20. Wooooooodamnwhoo! Pays to fight people!

[malaise]

23. Report - Thanks Suich

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2009/11/post_16.html

[malaise]

28. Yep

even if it will take decades to collect.

[rocktivity]

26. Wasn't the Corps undermined

by Bush diverting their money to the Iraq invasion?

:headbang:
rocktivity

[malaise]

27. No doubt

Bottom line - someone will be paying for this mess.

[bluedigger]

29. Here's a two year old article on USACE.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2007/08/broken-army-corps-engineers

Still relevant. Bush is accountable for failing to react to the flooding, etc. but USACE's problems are more systemic. There is no way he could have prevented the flooding itself, I don't think. It was a disaster 40 years in the making for New Orleans.