Class Action Law Suit Against FEMA by Katrina Survivors
Hurricane Katrina survivors again moving forward with a class action lawsuit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over wrongfully denying them assistance for securing temporary housing.
Some of the nearly two dozen plaintiffs joining the class action suit have shared stories of hardship as they try to move on with a life shattered by the storm.
One man, forced to live with family after his home in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward was destroyed by floodwaters, said he was denied federal aid because too many people shared the address in which he was living.
FEMA officials haven’t been eager to discuss the matter. In an email statement to BlackAmericaWeb.com, FEMA spokesperson Nicol D. Andrews defended the agency’s post-Katrina performance.
Temple University civil procedure administration law law professor Craig Green said that the 63-page complaint filed last week appears to be well thought out and carefully put together by the public interest firms representing Katrina survivors.
“There is an explicit federal statute that says there can’t be any liability for discretionary action on the part of FEMA,” Green said. “It’s a matter of [federal agencies deciding] where to send the funds,” Green said, admitting that it is frustrating for many American citizens to learn that suing the government is not as cut and dried as one may believe.
“On one hand, [the statutes] allow the government to do its job without worry about being hauled in court,” Green said. “But on the other hand, legitimate plaintiffs are left out in the cold.”
“Civil litigation is very slow, and by the time they reach a final judgment, if it goes one way or the other, it’s going to be a very long from now,” Green said, adding that if the case makes it before a judge, it’s likely an uphill battle for the plaintiffs. That may be one reason, Green said, that people are now beginning to sue hospitals, private entities that are not as protected by statutes like FEMA.
“I don’t think they would actually win the lawsuit,” said Green. “If they did win, it would be so far down the road that it may not even be relevant.”
Filed under Class Action, General Law
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November 27th, 2005 at 8:57 pm
Lost my business because of the poor work done on the 17th st canal. PTC Petroleum & Ind’l Supplies Distributors , 2918 Toulouse St New Orleans PH 504 912-0570
December 2nd, 2005 at 12:35 am
It is really very sad to know this.
January 30th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
we were business owners as well as landlords in new orleans
we lost our business
please contact us at 504-628-4768 0r 504-228-1791
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:18 am
I feel sorry for you. Hope this will work.
March 7th, 2006 at 7:56 am
I’m from Biloxi and we are devastated. Why does it always have to be about New Orleans? I’m having problems trying to find a class action lawsuit for Katrina victims/survivors.
AND..I might add, it’s not always a ‘race issue’ that hurricane was no respector of persons. I’m sick of hearing about race issues in the matter.
Those levees were built in 1933, and administrative personnel KNEW they would not hold up to a violent storm and did nothing to repair or fortify them beforehand.
Mississippi gets little of the ‘donation’ money because most of it is going to New Orleans. Where’s the justice for us? Who will listen to our cries?
May 15th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
dear april,
these cries in New Orleans aren’t about the levee’s and the fact that they didn’t uphold. It is the devestation and the way we were handled while trying to get through the crisis. And it is about race as well, I am 19 and caucasian I was caught in Hurricane Katrina while on vacation, and I pray in the rest of the days I have on this earth to never see that foul of treatment and discrimination in my life.
July 7th, 2006 at 5:42 am
I have been writing FEMA for assistance for over a year and have not recieved any assistance. I lost everything that I own due to Katrina and I would like to know how I can join the Class Action Law Suite against FEMA.
Contact info:
8800 Laniner Dr
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301 847-0998
July 9th, 2006 at 5:48 am
We will try to give you detail information in this context.
July 14th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
My deceased husband and I were told that we qualified for FEMA assistance, and that FEMA would provide uu with a Camper for 18 months. My husband died of a Heart Attack going to and from Lake Charles (Hurricane Rita) to meet with FEMA Representatives, to show them were our House Boat was before the Hurricane destroyed our house boat. We had to live in the Pineville, Louisiana Red Cross Shelter for months before my husband made his final trip to Lake Charles to meet with a FEMA Contractor. After my husband died, I got a FEMA Camper, but have only lived in it for about six (6) months, now FEMA is saying that they are taking back all the FEMA Campers. Marilyn “Rushing” Cauthron, 664 Rock Hill Road, Bentley, Louisiana 71407 318-370-0989 or 318-899-3844