Posted on 02/02/2007 2:23:29 PM PST by Niuhuru
NEW ORLEANS - Residents whose homes were flooded during Hurricane Katrina can sue the Army Corps of Engineers over claims the agency ignored warnings about defects in a nearby navigation channel, a federal judge ruled Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The residents should first sue the city.
This is going to be interesting.
Geez razz that pit already and call designate another national park called Failed Liberalism Monument.
We should be able to sue the reidents of new orleans for being pimples on the ass of society. The day of katrina I got in trouble here for pointing out that new orleans needed a good cleaning. I was right.
I agree. Having lived in La. almost all of my life, I've always heard that it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. And the city/state was given the proper funding to prevent this years ago, but the corrupt La. politicians always managed to steer the money towards their own pockets.
Why should anyone be sued? It was a natural disaster.
The Corps said we had category 3 protection, but we really didn't. I would imagine a lot of the money needed for materials ended up in certain people's pockets
Yes, it was a natural disaster and no one is at fault for a natural disaster but if the levies were constructed correctly, warnings were reacted to, and the state and federal levels spoke to one another, the disaster would have been on a lesser scale. If anything, it would have helped what people thought of "Bush's" response.
The flodds in New Orleans were caused by faulty levees, bot the hurricane itself.
Wrong.
L
IMHO, this will not stand. Another activist judge attempts to write law.
I suggest your post says it all - nothing more needs to be said. End of story.
Sorry for the typos--I'm typing in the dark!!! I guess it's time to turn on the lights lol!!
This is a Clinton Judge.
I totally agree, as maybe they can find where all of the Fed funds that were supposed to repair these levees during the 90s wound up. As crooked as the La. state and local governments are, I cannot believe they want to shine a legal light on this. Let the fun begin!
?????
It's a matter of record that the footings of the 17th Street Canal levee were placed, not in clay as was directed, but into peat. These levees were built by the Army Corps of Engineers, which was created to prevent disasters like this.
Racism is a ridiculous subject to raise here. Nobody's claiming the Army Corps of Engineers violated their civil rights.
Negligence is the issue. If it gives you some kind of satisfaction to observe that a black man was in charge at some point, please take that type of talk elsewhere.
Racial prejudice has no place on Free Republic.
If I were the Army Corps of Engineers I would halt ALL work in the state of La. until this farce is dismissed.
LOL. If a government agency refused to do its job, the person who ordered that would be terminated for cause.
Gen. Ballard is a fine man and one of the best Chief of Engineers the Corps has had. The people of NO have consistently charged that race (theirs) was the reason they didn't get the quality repairs they needed. My point is that argument will be much more difficult to make given the leadership at the time.
Maybe the flodds were caused by faulty levees... but the disaster in NOLA was caused by its state and local governments and its citizens. You can't fix stupidity and greed through a government program... and you certainly shouldn't reward it with a bogus, lawsuit settlement.
This is a Clinton Judge.
Regardless of the subject, if it's a screw-ball ruling, I just *know* it was a Klintoon or Carter judge 90% of the time. Mom Nature doesn't have pockets, so go after the ACOE. Scummy lawyers...
We're talking about Louisiana...of course it did!
I remember a few years ago, I was working on a pipe line laying job up in Boston, and in listening to one conversation amongst the local guys complaining about the corruption with their local gov't, I interrupted them, saying "I'm from Louisiana, as far as corruption goes, you guys are amateurs!"
They all readily agreed.
"The people of New Orleans" there ain't no such animal.
Yes, there are people in NO who claim race is behind every adversity.
I grew up in New Orleans, went to college there, my kids were born there, I have friends and family who lost their homes and some lost their lives due to Katrina.
Nobody I know has ever said one damned word about race. They're disgusted with the incompetence of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bush Administration, the Blanco Administration, the Nagin administration, Homeland Security, that twerp Brown, equal opportunity disgust for people who did not do the things they were paid to do.
That is what I said. I am sure a lot of money meant for the levees went into certain people's pockets.
You are right, the Corps built the levees and failed to maintain them as they were responsible. However, it seems this decision only refers to the breach in the Intercoasal Canal Levee and not the 17th St Canal Levee.
Those levees were designed to give category 3 protection. Katrina was a Cat 5 hurricane. The levees held until Katrina was well past Cat 3 strength.
Thus you got exactly what you were told you got.
What caused the levees to fail was the residents of NO turning a blind eye to the rampant corruption in the Levee Districts that went on for a generation.
If you want to know who is at fault for the 'failure' of those levees go take a good hard look in the mirror.
L
The misplacement of the 17th Street Canal footings was due to clerical error.
The soil sample showed where the clay level was, but when that test result was put in the blueprints, the person who drew up the blueprint made a mistake.
That's not corruption, that's just plain incompetence.
I haven't read the lawsuit, but if one has been allowed to go forward about the ICC, why not 17th Street Canal?
Katrina was not even a category 3 storm when it hit Louisiana.
You're just making that up. It's well known that when Katrina hit NO, it was already a weak Cat 3. Going over the land to the South weakened it, as is normal for hurricanes.
"Wrong."
Nope. She's correct. The levees were not built to specifications and the ACE admitted this a while ago. The 17th levess were leaking for many weeks before the storm for example and nothing was done by the ACE to inspect and repair it. If the levees had been built to specs, they only would have been overtopped in a few areas and the disaster would never have occurred.
As a conservative, you should be outraged that contracted work for the govt was this shoddy. It wasn't the fault of people living there who were explicitly told by the ACE and others that the levees would never fail, but they might be overtopped by a Cat3+ storm (which Katrina was not).
"If I were the Army Corps of Engineers I would halt ALL work in the state of La. until this farce is dismissed."
They admit it was there mistake.
we could give NO all our money and let us give want they want back to us, if any.
Yes indeed it was. In their infinite wisdom the City Fathers of NO and the Legislature of LA decided that a Harrahs Casino would protect their city far better than any levee improvement possibly could.
Now they can sue the Federal Government for not 'protecting' them from themselves.
NO is a sewer and not one more dime should be allocated for 'aid'.
Not one.
L
And that's going to be the fun part of this "trial".
The news item is misleading. The "victims" are suing
the taxpayer, not the agency. Most people when asked on
the street about just compensation in Govt VS person-do not realize they
will pay the compensation.
"Katrina was a Cat 5 hurricane."
Katrina was not a Cat 5 hurricane over NO. Not even close. Please don't make up nonsense and stick to the facts.
"Why should anyone be sued? It was a natural disaster."
For years the Army Corps told New Orleans that a disaster can happen. For years money was allocated to do the work to fix the known problem. For years the corrupt pols of New Orleans chose to do nothing.
Which means for years the corrupt of NO put the lives of their citizenry at risk. The Corps isn't responsible. The pols in NO are, especially Nagin and Blanco because they represent NO.
Amen! And I want my money back I gave to those Ingrates! LOL.. Never Again!
Maybe a bit of both?
I went to N.O. once in my life. Only place I've been robbed. What struck me the most was how filthy dirty the entire town was. It was a joke. People complain about California being a bunch of commies, but seesh, we can still clean a street decades into our socialism.
Note: I was there just before Mardi Gras, you'd think that yearly event would require a clening before it started. But heck no, let the tourists see the trash left over from the prior year's Mardi Gras.
And the residents of that town stood by and let it happen for decades.
They have no one to blame but themselves.
I for one have completely run out of sympathy for New Orleans.
L
I see, this suit isn't about levees or ICC, it's really about MRGO. Others are still pending, but this ruling should clear the way.
Well, the reasoning is the same. Congress ordered the Corps to prevent flooding after the terrible 1927 flood.
This isn't a "discretionary function," thus, after complying with the Federal Tort Claims Act, the plaintiffs have the right to sue.
Whether they win will be another story, with dueling experts, but a Louisiana jury.
If nothing else, this should make the Corps take better care in future.
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