Update: Court dismisses Katrina Levee Breach cases under FTCA – In re Katrina Canal Breaches Litigation, 696 F.3d 436 (5th Cir.(La.) 2012)
Additional cases and commentary
The 5th Circuit just affirmed the lower court decision in the Katrina Levee Breaches Litigation. The Court basically rejected Flood Control Act immunity unless the “damages result from waters released by flood control activity or negligence therein.”
If this case is not overruled en banc, or by the Supreme Court, it will have a devastating effect on coastal wetlands. As I argue in the article linked below, this ruling will force the Corps into building levees everywhere that hurricane surge might threaten a populated area. These barriers will prevent wetlands from migrating inland as the ocean rises, leaving major sections of the coast with the ocean breaking against a levee and no coastal wetlands.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2004679