KATRINA CASE SUMMARY
The case against the U.S. Federal Government agency the Army Corps of Engineers is a case brought under Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). Unlike most mass actions involving thousands of plaintiffs, each FTCA claim must be filed as an administrative claim. Six months after filing an administrative claim, a lawsuit may be filed in federal district court.
A lawsuit was filed on selected Katrina cases in the Eastern District of Louisiana. These cases were taken to trial in an effort to establish the liability of the Government for every single other case. The acts and omissions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were the basis of the trial in Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr.’s court in the Eastern District of Lousiana.
The court ruled that the failure of the United States Army Corps of Engineers to maintain and operate the MRGO properly was a substantial cause of the some of the flooding. The court ruled that the Federal Government was not entitled to immunity or protection of the due care, discretionary function, or misrepresentation exceptions of the FTCA.
The court ruled that some of the plaintiffs, based on the location of their property, were entitled to damages. You can find the court’s full opinion here that was filed on 11/18/2009. For a more detailed summary of the trial court action, please visit the Eastern District of Louisiana’s canal cases page.
Even though the trial court found the Government liable, the United States Federal Government appealed Judge Duval’s ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The case is currently pending before the Fifth Circuit court of appeals.
On November 9, 2011, parties argued before a three judge panel of the fifth circuit on the merits of the case. You can listen to the oral argument here. It will still likely be months before the panel releases their opinion.
Even after releasing the opinion, the losing party or a dissenting judge may request en banc hearing of all active judges on the Fifth Circuit. On especially complex cases the court has been known to request an en banc hearing on its own motion. If this happens, parties will be required to submit additional written arguments and may even have to orally argue before the entire court. Finally, the en banc court will issue their own opinion.
Each step of this process could potentially take months. Depending upon the complexity of the case, an appeal before the Fifth Circuit could take years to resolve. After the Fifth Circuit finishes, the losing party has the right to appeal their case to the United States Supreme Court.
FOLLOW KATRINA CASE ON PACER
You can follow the progress of the Katrina case yourself. Unfortunately, there are no free services that allow the public to follow the case. The PACER system is a judicial network that allows you to follow the case at the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Fifth Circuit. The PACER system charges users $0.08 for every page they view on the internet. Once you view a page, you may also print it.
- You can sign up for PACER here.
- Once you have registered, you can visit the Fifth Circuit PACER webpage here or the PACER website for the District Court for the Eastern District of Lousiana here.
After logging in, you can follow the individual cases by searching for their docket number. In the Fifth Circuit, the Katrina case docket number is 10-30249. In the Eastern District of Louisiana, the Katrina case docket number is 2:05-cv-04182-SRD-JCW.
