It seems that a devastating event that at one time could have quickly been classified as a natural disaster can no longer be as easily identified. A closer look at one of the most devastating events in US history, Hurricane Katrina, reveals the contribution of outside factors in this disaster. Courts have been evaluating the viability of claims involving these outside factors and recent decisions are giving Katrina victims hope of some sort of compensation for their losses and bring attention to the devastation of “man made” disasters.
On October 16, 2009, the 5th Circuit in New Orleans ruled that residents and landowners along the Mississippi Gulf Coast have standing to sue various oil and coal companies for emitting greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to global warming, which in turn, contributed to Hurricane Katrina’s ferocity. These plaintiffs are now permitted to bring forward their claims against oil and coal companies for the losses they suffered during Hurricane Katrina. Although far from a resolution, this decision represents corporate accountability and gives Katrina victims one avenue to recover for their losses.
In addition to giving Katrina victims standing to bring certain claims, Judge Duval went a step further in his decision on November 18, 2009, where he found that the United States Army Corps of Engineer’s failure to maintain and operate the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet properly was a substantial cause of the levee breaches. In that decision, Judge Duval decided that the Corps demonstrated negligence and indifference, and that despite the opportunity to fix the levees on numerous occasions, they failed to do so. The Judge’s decision rejected the government’s immunity arguments and opens the door for judgments for thousands of other residents who were in the area covered by this decision.
Reading these decisions it is hard not to think what would have happened in August of 2005 if the destruction of Hurricane Katrina could just have been limited to that of a natural disaster instead of a man-made one.
