A federal district court judge has dismissed numerous lawsuits filed by New Orleans-area residents against the Army Corps of Engineers related to 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

The decision by U.S. District Court judge Stanwood Duval Jr. in New Orleans was seen as inevitable in the wake of a recent ruling by a panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed his 2009 decision holding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers liable for flooding caused by lax maintenance of a shipping channel.

Duval had ruled in 2009 that the corps was liable for the flooding of New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward neighborhood and St. Bernard Parish because the agency failed to properly maintain the channel, allowing protective marshland to wash away.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals initially agreed with that decision in March 2012. But in September, a three-judge panel reversed its earlier opinion.

The panel held that, under federal law, the government cannot be sued over actions that were based “on considerations of public policy.” The corps' decisions regarding the shipping channel fall under that protection, the judges held, saying the new ruling “completely insulates the government from liability.”

Duval signed the order dismissing the cases Dec. 20. He also dismissed a similar lawsuit against a contractor. It claimed excavation work weakened flood walls in New Orleans' Industrial Canal.

In the New Orleans cases, more than 500,000 residents, businesses and governments sought damages against the Corps. Residents of southern Louisiana argued that the flooding in the wake of the 2005 storm was a man-made disaster—one caused specifically by the corps—and they have wanted the agency to pay up for lost homes and property.

The corps claimed immunity from suits related to decisions on flood-control projects, including most levees, based on a 1928 federal law. But lawyers tried to get around that by claiming the agency had been negligent in maintaining navigation channels, including the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet.

As a result of Duval's decision, only one major lawsuit remains active in federal court that might result in payments to a large number of Katrina flood victims. That case is being heard in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. before Judge Susan Braden.

Special Reports /

Judge Dismisses Katrina Lawsuits Against Army Corps of Engineers

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