Monday, October 10, 2005
Interesting that Gulf Group Inc.'s reply only speaks of the bridge they built, yet their Army Corps contract specifially mentions the building of floodwalls.
Times-Picayune Sept. 28: "[...]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.[...]
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.
[...]
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.
----- 
From Associated Press Tue, Oct. 04, 2005: "
[...]The affected area is 300 yards from the bridge we built," Gulf Group vice president Sam Stone said Monday. "The only thing that's still standing out there is that bridge we built."
Stone called the suit "frivolous" and said Becnel is known for filing baseless claims.
"This is the typical lawyer that gives lawyers a bad name," he said.
Becnel said he hopes to expand the litigation with other defendants, possibly including the Army Corps of Engineers, after further research. He said the levee's base material was not sunk deeply enough when it was built and recent dredging weakened it.
The suit has been filed as a class action on behalf of people affected by flooding after the levee failed.
"I have more victims than I know what to do with, and they're just furious," Becnel said.
----- Labels: Katrina .....---
.....| Posted at 04:26 | PERMA-LINK |
|
FEED
TOTAL411 PODCAST
SELECTED VIDEO ]