05-CV-4182 Katrina Canal Breaches Litigation
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.