[StBernard] Corps asks for protection from MRGO lawsuits

[Westley Annis]

NEW ORLEANS - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants a judge to grant it
immunity from legal action in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.. 
 
Attorneys and plaintiffs who filed suit in federal court seeking
compensation for damages, injuries and deaths caused by the surge of the
Mississippi River Gulf Outlet during Hurricane Katrina today denounced the
motion. 
  
Fourteen California, Florida and Louisiana law firms have filed suit seeking
reparations for the damages caused by MRGO, saying the inundation of the
Lower Ninth Ward, eastern New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish was caused by
glaring deficiencies in the construction, design, operation and maintenance
of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet by the Corps. 
  
Pierce O'Donnell of Los Angeles, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said
"the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet is a navigable waterway and, under
federal law, the Corps operations on the MRGO are liable to legal action." 
  
Attorneys for the Corps asked Federal District Court Judge Stanwood Duval
Jr. to throw out the "just compensation" lawsuit on the grounds the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers is immune from lawsuits, including those finding
fault with its work on the MRGO. 
  
"The motions by Corps' attorneys is just another attempt to cover up the
Army Corps' gross negligence and to avoid responsibility for the deaths of
hundreds of local citizens as well as the loss of hundreds and millions of
dollars of public and private property during Hurricane Katrina," O'Donnell
said. "The government's effort to secure immunity also seeks to delay just
compensation for the desperate victims of the MRGO whose lives were utterly
shattered by the totally preventable catastrophic flooding caused by the
MRGO." 
  
Joining attorneys and plaintiffs in denouncing the government's motion was
New Orleans City Councilmember Cynthia Willard-Lewis whose district was
flooded by the MRGO storm surge during Hurricane Katrina. 
  
"While St. Bernard Parish, eastern New Orleans and the Lower Ninth Ward
remain in ruins, tottering on the brink of bankruptcy, the federal
government plays games by filing frivolous motions that seek to exempt them
from their moral responsibility for what happened," said Willard-Lewis. 
  
Said Attorney John Andry, St. Bernard Parish native: "The government's
actions are outrageous, representing the same contempt for the public's
health and welfare that led to the catastrophic flooding caused by the Army
Corps' systematically flawed work in the design, construction and
maintenance of the MRGO." 
  
Plaintiff attorney Calvin Fayard of Denham Springs said the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in 1971 that the MR-GO is a navigable
waterway and not a flood control project, which therefore is not entitled to
statutory immunity. 
  
"Those of who lived and worked in St. Bernard, New Orleans east and the
Lower Ninth Ward want justice, not charity," said Tanya Smith, a resident of
St. Bernard Parish and a plaintiff. "We want reparations for the federal
government's destruction of our homes, jobs, churches, schools and
neighborhoods. We demand the immediate closure of the MRGO to large ships,
restoration of the wetlands and recognition that those who died in the
floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina were killed by the negligence of their own
government. There is no immunity from that either in the courts or in
American standards of moral conduct." 
  
The plaintiffs' opposition to the government's motion to dismiss will be
filed Aug. 7. A ruling is expected later in the month.