Government’s motion to dismiss in Harvey flood lawsuits is not granted
The government asked the Judge to throw the upstream cases out of court, by filing what is called a “motion to dismiss.” The Judge held a hearing on the motion in Houston federal court on May 16, 2018, and issued an Order on May 24. In that order, the judge declined to throw the upstream cases out of court at this time. Here are some quotes from the Order:
- “The dams could impound water to flood thousands of additional acres of private property.”
- “The Corps appears to have been long aware that its management plans could result in the flooding of private property.”
- “The Addicks and Barker Reservoirs flooded 3,973 acres and 3,081 acres of private property.”
- “The government acted when it built and then modified the dams in such a way that they could and did impound storm water behind the dams on both government and private property.”
- Addressing the government’s legal argument about “frequency” – “the government is mistaken.”
- “The Corps appeared indifferent to the risk to nearby private property owners, taking no action to reduce that risk or to obtain authorizations from those owners to impound water on their land.”
The Judge concluded his Order by stating he is deferring any ruling on the motion to dismiss until trial. We continue to feel very good about our position that the cases should not be thrown out of court.
Click here to read the Order.