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01-10-2008, 05:26 AM
Katrina victim sues U.S. for $3 quadrillion
Federal government hit with 489,000 damage claims after hurricane
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22571349/?GT1=10755
NEW ORLEANS - 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.
The total number — $3,014,170,389,176,410 — is the dollar figure so
far sought from some 489,000 claims filed against the federal
government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls
following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.
Of the total number of 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.
Federal government hit with 489,000 damage claims after hurricane
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22571349/?GT1=10755
NEW ORLEANS - 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.
The total number — $3,014,170,389,176,410 — is the dollar figure so
far sought from some 489,000 claims filed against the federal
government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls
following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.
Of the total number of 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.