CRISIS/TEXAS: “The plaintiffs’ lawyers lined up shoulder to shoulder on a recent Friday in a Houston courtroom, filling every available bench, jury box and table. All had come to hear how they could get a piece of sprawling litigation emerging from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey…
The lawyers have coalesced around a corner of eminent domain law they hope will lead to big payouts from the federal government. Dozens of lawsuits filed so far seek compensation for the damage homeowners say was caused when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released water from two area reservoirs in the days after a Category 4 hurricane and historic rainfall flooded Houston in late August.
With an estimated 10,000 homes or more affected by the reservoirs, the litigation has the potential to reach into the billions of dollars. But convincing a judge the controlled release counts as an improper ‘taking’ of private property under eminent domain law could face challenges in court, and a payout isn’t a sure thing…
The government said in a court filing the flooding was a 1,000-year event and that the release of water to relieve the Addicks and Barker dams doesn’t qualify as a taking under the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. A ‘single flood—as opposed to an inevitably recurring flooding caused by the Government—is not a taking as a matter of law,’ the filing says.
The Justice Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.”
-Sara Randazzo, “In Harvey’s Wake, a Rush to the Courthouse,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 23, 2017 07:00am