| The Army Corps of Engineers is being sued by New Orleans in the
record $77 billion lawsuit. Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans
is claiming the damages of levees and flood walls were due to the
faulty construction design by the Army Corps of Engineers, - the
company which were contracted to do the installations. The broken
levees caused the flooding of over 80 percent of the city during the
Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005.
It's interesting to note that out of the claimed $77 billion
amount, only one billion will go to the restoration of damaged city
infrastructure, and the other $76 billion are claimed for the damaged
city "image" and negative effect on the tourist industry in the area.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin say that they have looked into all issues
involved and have piled everything up to have this total lump-sum amount. The Mayor said their lawyers advised them to file the law suit
with these aggressive numbers and go from there. This is a serious
damage caused by design faults and requires serious
compensation, said Nagin.
The city of New Orleans is filing this suit together with thousands of
real estate owners and businesses residing there, who requiring this
massive compensation from the corps for the losses incurred.
The attorneys for the city did not give specific documentation on estimates how
they came up with $77 billion lawsuit figures but rather claimed it's
bulk sum which takes into amount all the physical damages and losses the city
suffered because of the faulty levee design. This includes the losses
in business revenues, tax collections, tourism activity, and most
importantly the moral damage of the city's image which accounts for
the biggest part in the $77 billion figure. The 43 page lawsuit papers
provide little support for the numbers except the above statements
from the lawyers. |
New Orleans has filed a $77 billion lawsuit against
the Army Corps of Engineers, claiming poor design which led to
failure of the flood walls and levees during 2005 Hurricane Katrina.
However only $1 billion of the suit money will go to the city reconstruction, while the
remaining $76 billion are claimed as a compensation for the city's
tarnished image. The suit was filed by the New Orleans Association of
Looters.
