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Judge gives go-ahead to MRGO suit - NOLA.com

He clears way to hear case against corps

Saturday, March 21, 2009

By Susan Finch
Staff writer

A federal court judge in New Orleans cleared the way Friday for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to face trial next month in a lawsuit that claims the agency's failure to heed environmental laws in building and maintaining the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet caused environmental damage that led to massive flooding in New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish during Hurricane Katrina.

The case, which Judge Stanwood Duval is scheduled to hear without a jury starting April 20, was filed by WDSU-TV news anchorman Norman Robinson and five other plaintiffs whose homes or businesses in eastern New Orleans, the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish were swamped during the August 2005 storm .

"We are pleased to have overcome this final hurdle to securing the first trial for Katrina victims and to holding the Army Corps accountable," said Los Angeles lawyer Pierce O'Donnell, the plaintiffs' lead trial counsel in the nearly three-year-old case. "Battling the federal government with its own army of lawyers and unlimited resources has been a daunting ordeal."

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Jonathan Andry, one of several attorneys for the plaintiffs, said the essence of their case is, "Once the corps decided to build the MRGO, it was under an obligation, just as any private citizen, to maintain the MRGO in such a way as not to injure others and have it pose a threat to human health or the environment."
He said that if the plaintiffs prevail at trial and on appeal, the stage would be set for thousands of additional Katrina flood victims in eastern New Orleans, the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard to seek compensation from the federal government.
New Orleans lawyer Joseph Bruno, the plaintiffs' court-appointed liaison counsel, said the upcoming trial will get down to Duval's deciding whether the flooding that prompted the case was caused by what the corps failed to do.

O'Donnell signaled Friday, as he did when the case was filed nearly three years ago, that the plaintiffs' side will seek help in Washington, D.C., for all Katrina flooding victims if they win the case.

"Before and after his election, President Obama promised that he would make rebuilding New Orleans a top priority," O'Donnell said. "We are looking to the White House for leadership in expeditiously resolving the claims of Katrina victims in a fair and equitable manner. The continued stonewalling of Katrina victims is a national disgrace."
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Susan Finch can be reached at sfinch@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3340.
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Blogger NOTICE:
This is the FIRST lawsuit allowed, naming the Army Corps of Engineers as Defendant.
They are being sued for destroying the wetlands, which in turn ALLOWED the huge tidal swelling, which in turn caused the levees to breach. The suit names 5 New Orleans plaintiffs who sufferred great loss. This paves the way for a class action and reparitions for the government culpability with at least negligent homicide. I have seen evidence of malice aforethought. Manslaughter, eugenics and genocide come to mind. (See Edwin Blacks book in the margin links list and Amazon ad)
Profiteers have made $trillions$ at the expense of human lives.
Are you seeing the pattern yet?