On September 19, 2005, the first case, Berthelot, et al. v. Boh
Bros. Construction, et al., C.A. No. 05-4182 was filed in the
Eastern District of Louisiana. This case began the stream of complaints
that have been filed as a result of damages arising out of all levee
breaches which occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
This matter was transferred to the Honorable Stanwood R. Duval, Jr.
on February 23, 2006. (Doc. 47) It was subsequently determined by the
en banc court of the Eastern District of Louisiana that in order to
avoid conflicting decisions among the various sections of the Court, the
proper approach would be to consolidate all such filings for purposes of
pretrial discovery and motion practice. As such, what is now captioned "In
re: Katrina Canal Breaches Consolidated Litigation," C.A. No.
05-4182, has become the umbrella for all cases which concern damages
caused by flooding as a result of breaches or overtopping in the areas
of the 17th Street Canal, the London Avenue Canal, the
Industrial Canal, and the Mississippi Gulf River Outlet. The common
factor among all of the claims in this umbrella is that the recourse
sought involves a determination as to whether the failing of a specific
levee or levees was caused by negligent design, construction or
maintenance. A corollary to this issue is whether the water damage
exclusion in all-risk insurance policies apply to these damages.
There are six sub-categories established by Protocol No. 1 (Doc. 790)
and Protocol No. 2 (Doc. 1403). They are: Levee, MRGO, Insurance,
Responder, St. Rita and Dredging Limitation. The liaison counsel
designates the type of case each consolidated matter concerns and
documents are electronically docketed with that reference in each
e-mail. Orders are entered pertaining to a particular case or cases, a
particular group, or all cases. You should review those protocols for a
fuller understanding of the organization of this litigation.
This website has been created to attempt to provide quick access to
important decisions and scheduling matters in this litigation.
Obviously, for complete information, you are urged to ECF/Pacer for the
complete docket sheet and information which is contained therein.
