Tag: MR-GO

5th Circuit plays Grinch to $21M Levee Board settlement UPATED

“It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags” – and, thus far, all that can be found is this brief mention in the Sun Herald.

A federal appeals court has rejected a $21 million settlement of Hurricane Katrina damage claims that some plaintiffs had complained was unfair.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. in New Orleans approved last year’s settlement of class-action lawsuits against three Louisiana levee boards and their insurer.

But a three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the settlement isn’t fair because its proponents failed to show plaintiffs would benefit.

The Times Picayune, on the other hand,  is running $2.9 billion plan restores MR-GO’s environmental damage.  A coincidence, maybe?

The Army Corps of Engineers has unveiled a sweeping $2.9 billion plan to restore the environmental damage caused by the construction and operation of the now-closed Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, which includes a new freshwater diversion near Violet; restoration of cypress swamp in wetlands adjacent to the Lower 9th Ward, Algiers and Chalmette; protection of shorelines along the eastern New Orleans land bridge; and restoration or nourishment of wetlands along Lake Borgne.

Ashton, is that you I hear saying, “I told you so!”?

UPDATE:  As of mid-morning (naturally, after I checked), the  TP is running Appeals court rejects $21 million Hurricane Katrina settlement
:

Joseph Bruno, one of the lawyers who helped broker the settlement, expressed confidence that the deal can be reworked to satisfy the 5th Circuit’s objections.

“We are absolutely going back to the drawing board,” he said. “The only alternative is to give the money back to the insurance company and let them keep it. What’s the benefit of that?”

MR-GO: Judge Duval finds Corps’ mismanagement flooded lower 9th in New Orleans following Katrina

With the world watching what the spinmasters of the insurance industry called the great New Orleans Flood,  the preventable disaster delivered  a horror beyond words.

“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.”

"Duval said he was 'utterly convinced' that the corps' failure to shore up the channel doomed the channel to grow to two to three times its design width" (CainBurdeau)

Duval’s decision is also a fascinating read – all 189 pages of his Findings of Fact and the two-page Judgment.

Continuing with Mark Schleifstein, writing for the Times Picayune, the decision…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. Continue reading “MR-GO: Judge Duval finds Corps’ mismanagement flooded lower 9th in New Orleans following Katrina”

SLABBED welcomes Judge Susan Braden – Katrina’s Lady Justice gives MR-GO the go!

A federal judge in Washington ruled Monday that plaintiffs can go forward with a lawsuit charging the federal government with “taking” the value of their land in St. Bernard and the Lower 9th Ward through flooding caused by the building the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet.

Court of Federal Claims Judge Susan Braden, appointed by President George W. Bush, refused to dismiss the lawsuit, which federal attorneys contended was filed too long after the six-year statute of limitations in such cases should have run its course.

Mark Schleifstein had the story – Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet lawsuit can go on, judge says – for the Times-Picayune.  Glancing at reader comments on this and related stories shows some take exception to Judge Braden’s Republican connections.  However, her resume indicates no one should sell Susan Braden short:

In July 2009, Judge Braden was appointed as a Member of the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility-Judges Advisory Committee to the American Bar Association…  On February 14, 2007, Judge Braden was elected as a Member of the American Law Institute and is working on the Institute’s Restatement and Unjust Enrichment Project. From 2005-2008, Judge Braden was a Member of the Editorial Board of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.

Prior to joining the bench, Judge Braden litigated complex civil cases in private practice before both trial and appellate courts.

Courting Influence reports that from 1990-1992, Judge Braden was a partner in Anderson, Kill, Olick & Oshinsky.  Oshinsky, who has since left the firm, recently formed Gilbert Oshinsky and became a partner to August Matteis and Craig Litherland – the Rigsby qui tam lawyers!  Small world!

It will be interesting to see how far the cases goes with Braden’s “green ligh”. Continue reading “SLABBED welcomes Judge Susan Braden – Katrina’s Lady Justice gives MR-GO the go!”

MR-GO where you think you’re going?

Hurricanes don’t have any trouble following MR-G0, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, but following the related court and Corps action is an entirely different matter.

The Times-Picayune recently ran a story on the Corps’ proposal to rebuild the wetlands MR-Go destroyed. Expecting the decision had some relationship to or impact on the court case, Robinson v Corps of Engineering, I checked the case website but found little changed from that included in the case background posted on SLABBED.

Plaintiffs contend that because of the Corp’s negligence in designing, construction, maintenance and operation of MRGO, it caused the surge during Hurricane Katrina to be 3 feet greater than it would have been otherwise. Plaintiffs argue that the cause of that increase was that: (1) the loss of the surrounding wetlands with the creation of MRGO; (2) the failure of the Corps to armor the banks of the MRGO which caused further harm to those wetlands and (3) the “funnel effect” created the design of the MRGO and its relationship to other waterways surrounding the metropolitan New Orleans area.

The biggest surge to hit MR-Go since Katrina has to be the docket on the case in Judge Duvall’s court – a docket that from October 15 forward alone copies to 21 single-spaced, letter-sized pages because the MR-GO case is part of the larger Consolidated Canal Breaches Litigation!

Most of the October action has been on other of the consolidated cases.  Nonetheless, there were significant developments in the MR-GO case as you can tell from the time line in the case management Order issued on the 9th of October.

Continue reading “MR-GO where you think you’re going?”

MR-GO where you think you're going?

Hurricanes don’t have any trouble following MR-G0, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, but following the related court and Corps action is an entirely different matter.

The Times-Picayune recently ran a story on the Corps’ proposal to rebuild the wetlands MR-Go destroyed. Expecting the decision had some relationship to or impact on the court case, Robinson v Corps of Engineering, I checked the case website but found little changed from that included in the case background posted on SLABBED.

Plaintiffs contend that because of the Corp’s negligence in designing, construction, maintenance and operation of MRGO, it caused the surge during Hurricane Katrina to be 3 feet greater than it would have been otherwise. Plaintiffs argue that the cause of that increase was that: (1) the loss of the surrounding wetlands with the creation of MRGO; (2) the failure of the Corps to armor the banks of the MRGO which caused further harm to those wetlands and (3) the “funnel effect” created the design of the MRGO and its relationship to other waterways surrounding the metropolitan New Orleans area.

The biggest surge to hit MR-Go since Katrina has to be the docket on the case in Judge Duvall’s court – a docket that from October 15 forward alone copies to 21 single-spaced, letter-sized pages because the MR-GO case is part of the larger Consolidated Canal Breaches Litigation!

Most of the October action has been on other of the consolidated cases.  Nonetheless, there were significant developments in the MR-GO case as you can tell from the time line in the case management Order issued on the 9th of October.

Continue reading “MR-GO where you think you're going?”