[StBernard] A case against the Army Corps over Katrina flooding to be heard in court

[Westley Annis]

A case against the Army Corps over Katrina flooding to be heard in court
CAIN BURDEAU  Associated Press
First Posted: December 12, 2011 - 4:31 am
Last Updated: December 12, 2011 - 4:31 am

NEW ORLEANS - A lawsuit alleging the Army Corps of Engineers ruined property
in St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward after it built a shipping
channel that turned into a conduit for storm surge during Hurricane Katrina
is to be heard in court this week.

A trial starts Monday in New Orleans. The suit was filed in 2005 in the U.S.
Court of Federal Claims in Washington and argued that the government
effectively took residential and commercial property when the Mississippi
River-Gulf Outlet shipping channel was built. The suit argues that residents
in St. Bernard and the Lower 9th Ward deserve to be compensated for the
government's taking of their property.

The suit is one of several legal attacks filed against the Army Corps after
Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005.