Orleans Breaking News

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

The people v. Hurricane Katrina
Storm-related lawsuits spring up in courts

By Mark Schleifstein
Staff writer

Class-action lawsuits stemming from Hurricane Katrina are beginning to pile up in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, as lawyers jockey to stake a claim in what could be a years-long series of legal battles over who to blame for damages stemming from the storm.

Plaintiff's attorney Daniel Becnel Jr. of Reserve has filed what amounts to a placeholder suit aimed at assigning blame for the failure of the 17th Street Canal levee wall, initially naming Boh Bros. Construction Co. of New Orleans and a small Florida construction company as defendants.

In a class action, lawyers file suit on behalf of a group of individuals who are representative of those injured by an action. Such suits ask the court to include all others who are similarly affected.

Becnel said there's a good chance Boh Bros. will be dropped from the canal levee lawsuit, as company officials have said it was hired only to dredge the bottom of the 17th Street Canal. The company that built the east levee wall along the canal will be added to the suit when it is identified, Becnel said.

Becnel's suit, filed on behalf of residents of Orleans and Jefferson parishes, names Gulf Coast Inc. as a defendant, but the company described in the lawsuit actually is Gulf Group Inc. of Panama City, Fla., which built a "hurricane-proof" bridge on Old Hammond Highway across the canal.

The lawsuit contends that during construction of the bridge, the company "placed construction vehicles and other heavy equipment on the levee, which eventually failed, while constructing the bridge. It is believed that the placement of these heavy vehicles and/or other heavy construction equipment on the 17th Street Canal levee caused and/or contributed (to) the above-mentioned breach in the levee and/or floodwall."

Becnel said the lawsuit may be expanded to include other levee wall collapses in the city that occurred during and after Katrina.

Becnel also has filed suit against Murphy Oil Co., asking for damages resulting from the leaking of oil from a storage tank on its Chalmette refinery site into neighboring homes. Appended to the lawsuit is a request that a federal Oil Pollution Act trust fund reimburse residents $1 billion for damages caused by the spill.

That trust fund, paid for with a tax on oil production, was set up after the huge Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989.

Murphy spokeswoman Mindy West said 85 percent of the oil released in the spill has been either removed or evaporated and that the company's cleanup efforts will continue.

"Class-action lawsuits involving this are almost inappropriate, given the enormity of the storm that hit us and this area," she said.

West said the company has neither offered to buy the homes from those affected by the oil spill nor offered cash settlements to homeowners. She said rumors of both actions by the company have spread through St. Bernard Parish in recent days.

A group of lawyers led by Philip Bohrer of Baton Rouge also has filed a class-action lawsuit against Shell Pipeline LLC and Shell Pipeline Co. LLC for damages associated with the rupture of a crude oil pipeline in lower Plaquemines Parish.

Shell Pipeline officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Staff writer Mark Schleifstein can be reached at mersmia@cox.net.