Katrina lawsuit tossed

By R. Neal / January 31, 2008

Katrina lawsuit vs. Army Corps dismissed

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled Wednesday that the Corps should be held immune over failures in drainage canals that caused much of the flooding of New Orleans in August 2005. He cited the Flood Control Act of 1928, which protects the federal government from lawsuits when flood control projects like levees break.

There is a silver lining, though. There is now a court ruling on the record about what the Corps of Engineers knew and how they failed to act on it:

The judge issued a stinging condemnation of the Corps, saying the agency "cast a blind eye" in protecting New Orleans and "squandered millions of dollars in building a levee system ... which was known to be inadequate by the Corps' own calculations."

The judge said "it is not within the Court's power to address the wrongs committed. It is hopefully within the citizens of the United States' power to address the failures of our laws and agencies."

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