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September 5, 2008 10:33:49 PM CDT

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Katrina Victims Can't Sue Army Corps

Posted Jan 30, 08 10:19 PM CST in US 

(Newser) –  A federal judge ruled yesterday that thousands of New Orleans homeowners affected by devastating levee breaches after Hurricane Katrina can't sue the Army Corps of Engineers, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Judge Stanwood Duval called the case "heart-wrenching" but said a 1928 law gives the Corps immunity from such suits. The failures of three levees caused 80% of the flooding after Katrina.

The judge noted that millions of dollars had been "squandered" by the Corps on inadequate flood protection, but he said the court had no power to address those wrongs. "It is hopefully within the citizens of the United States power to address the failures of our laws and agencies,'' Duval said in his ruling. "If not, it is certain that another tragedy such as this will occur again.'' The ruling will be appealed.

Source Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

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The London Avenue Canal floodwall that was breached after Hurricane Katrina, in New Orleans, is shown in this 2005 file photo. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval threw out a key class-action lawsuit Wednesday,...   (Associated Press)
A tow boat moves through the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal under the Claiborne Avenue bridge in New Orleans, Wednesday, June 20, 2007. The canal, a 5-mile waterway that divides New Orleans in half,...   (Associated Press)
Water is pumped around the floodgates and into Lake Pontchartrain by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the 17th Street Canal in New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 27, 2007. The pumps are used to move water...   (Associated Press)
An aerial view of the levee wall that is under repair after Hurricane Katrina caused it to fail on the 17th Street Canal in the Lakeveiw area, downtown seen at top in New Orleans, Tuesday June 26, 2007....   (Associated Press)
NEW ORLEANS, LA-- Surveyor John Gremillion, working with a crew under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers, surveys a reinforced levee on London Canal from the top of a flood-demolished home.   (KRT Photos)
NEW ORLEANS, LA-- A break in a levee, left side of photo, is shown along the 17th Street Canal in New Orleans, Louisiana, Tuesday morning, August 30, 2005.   (KRT Photos)
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