The United States filed its principal brief in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in its appeal of a May 2015 decision of the Court of Federal Claims holding the United States liable for a taking resulting from flooding in Louisiana during and after Hurricane Katrina. The Court of Federal Claims had concluded that federal construction of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO) navigation channel changed the environment in ways that increased storm surge during Hurricane Katrina, causing a taking. The United States argued that the Court of Federal Claims’ ruling “unmoors takings law from its traditional limits” and “threatens to impose vast and startling liability on the public for damage caused by natural disasters.” The United States further argued that the Court of Federal Claims had erred in concluding that MRGO caused the flooding and that the flooding was foreseeable.

Action by property owners in St. Bernard Parish and Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans seeking compensation for temporary taking of property caused by flooding during and after Hurricane Katrina.

St. Bernard Parish Government v. United States

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United States Appealed Takings Liability for Hurricane Katrina Flooding

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United States of America

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