Gross negligence: the U.S. government’s liability for failed levees

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Nov. 20, 2009

A federal court judge rules that the Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the levee breaches which left much of the city of New Orleans underwater after Hurricane Katrina. The decision has the potential to leave the government venerable to billions of dollars in claims from victims. The judge gave the corps a lambasting claiming they had a “myriad” of ways to protect the Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward but showed “insouciance, myopia and shortsightedness” along with “gross negligence” in opting not to do so. The lead plaintiff’s attorney says Katrina was not a natural disaster but a disaster caused by the Army Corps of Engineers—and apparently, the judge agreed.

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Guests:

Pierce O’Donnell, partner in O’Donnell & Associates PC and lead attorney for the plaintiff

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