The Divine Right of Chickenshit


From First Draft...

To be fair, it appears the decision to dismiss is based on sound legal, um, principles, despite the justified outrage.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the Flood Control Act of 1928 provides immunity to the corps and other federal agencies involved in building flood projects. He relied on 1986 and 2001 Supreme Court rulings that found the law "provides immunity where, as here, a flood control project fails to control floodwaters because of the failure of the flood control project itself."

Duval, however, issued a stinging condemnation of the corps and its actions in building the city's hurricane protection system.

"Here, the court must apply this broad immunity based upon the facts of this case," Duval said. "Often, when the King can do no wrong, his subjects suffer the consequences. Such is the case here."

"This story -- 50 years in the making -- is heart-wrenching," Duval, an appointee of President Clinton, said in his 46-page ruling. "Millions of dollars were squandered in building a levee system with respect to these outfall canals which was known to be inadequate by the corps' own calculations."

Duval's decision leaves the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board and Orleans Levee District as defendants in the lawsuit.

I'm not a lawyer--Dangerblond is, and I'm sure Kim can provide better analysis, but I've gotta believe that some sort of immunity will eventually apply to NOSWB and OLD too, leaving an Act of Congress as the only avenue of relief (i.e., Road Home or equivalents)...at least regarding levee failures on "flood control projects." According to the article, Judge Duval IS allowing action against the ACOE for MRGO defects because it's NOT a flood control project, but a navigation canal. Additionally, a case is pending in the US Court of Federal Claims regarding MRGO and its effect on property values in St. Bernard.

Anyway...again, I don't know the law, but I guess this is either ultimtely a question of sovereign immunity, or maybe some sort of statutory immunity that as best as I can tell is based on the same...which might be "the way things are," but sure as hell makes me think of the line, "something is rotten in the state of Denmark."