[Vision2020] Katrina Lawsuit Seeks $3,014,170,389,176,410

[Tom Hansen]

>From the Sun Herald (Charlotte, Florida) at:

http://www.sun-herald.com/floridanews.cfm?id=1882

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Katrina lawsuit seeks $3,014,170,389,176,410

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Hurricane Katrina's victims have put a price tag on their
suffering and it is staggering - including one plaintiff seeking the
unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion. 

A whopping $3,014,170,389,176,410 is the dollar figure so far sought from
some of the largest claims filed against the federal government over damage
from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005,
hurricane. 

Of roughly 489,000 total claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it
has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3
quadrillion. 

"That's the mother of all high numbers," said Loren Scott, a Baton
Rouge-based economist. 

For the sake of perspective: A mere $1 quadrillion would dwarf the U.S.
gross domestic product, which Scott said was $13.2 trillion in 2007. A stack
of one quadrillion pennies would reach Saturn. 

Some residents may have grossly exaggerated their claims to send a message
to the corps, which has accepted blame for poorly designing the failed
levees. 

"I understand the anger," Scott said. "I also understand it's a negotiating
tactic: Aim high and negotiate down." 

Daniel Becnel, Jr., a lawyer who said his clients have filed more than
60,000 claims, said measuring Katrina's devastation in dollars and cents is
a nearly impossible task. 

"There's no way on earth you can figure it out," he said. "The trauma these
people have undergone is unlike anything that has occurred in the history of
our country." 

The corps released zip codes, but no names, for the 247 claims of at least
$1 billion. The list includes a $77 billion claim by the city of New
Orleans. Fourteen involve a wrongful death claim. Fifteen were filed by
businesses, including several insurance companies. 

Little is known about the person who claimed $3 quadrillion. It was filed in
Baker, 93 miles northwest of New Orleans. Baker is far from the epicenter of
Katrina's destruction, but the city has a trailer park where hundreds of
evacuees have lived since the storm. 

Katrina, which is blamed for more than 1,600 deaths in Louisiana and
Mississippi, is considered the most destructive storm to ever hit the U.S.
It caused at least $60 billion in insured losses and could cost Gulf Coast
states up to $125 billion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. 

Most of the claims were filed before a deadline that coincided with
Katrina's second anniversary, but the Corps is still receiving them - about
100 claims have arrived over the past three weeks - and is feeding them into
a computer database. 

The Corps said it isn't passing judgment on the merits of each claim.
Federal courts are in charge of deciding if a claim is valid and how much
compensation is warranted. 

"It's important to the person who filed it, so we're taking every single
claim seriously," Corps spokeswoman Amanda Jones said.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If I wanted to overhear every tedious scrap of brain static rattling around
in your head, I'd read your blog."

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