LSU, state spent nearly $1M defending van Heerden case

LSU and the state of Louisiana spent just less than $1 million defending its decision to fire former Hurricane Center deputy director Ivor van Heerden. Documents obtained today by Levees.org indicate the university paid the Baton Rouge law firm of Kantrow Spaht Weaver & Blitzer more than $457,000 over two and a half years to handle the case. That’s on top of the $435,000 settlement the Louisiana Office of Risk Management paid to van Heerden last month. Levees.org notes the $892,000 total doesn’t include any amounts LSU paid its own staff to comply with court orders, respond to subpoenas and appear for depositions. Van Heerden alleges he was fired for statements in his post-Katrina levee failure investigation funded by the Louisiana Department of Transportation, namely that the Army Corps of Engineers’ faulty levees caused the flooding during Katrina. The Association of American University Professors censured the university in 2011 for firing van Heerden. “LSU has chosen to hound a faculty member, to engage in secrecy and cover-up tactics, and to try to save face by engaging in a quixotic legal quest that it rightly lost,” LSU Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope told the New Orleans-based organization. “[This] leaves one wondering how many more millions will pass through the courtrooms before reaching the classroom.” In a statement regarding van Heerden before the Levees.org report, LSU System President and Interim Chancellor William Jenkins wrote further debate “is no longer relevant, warranted or appropriate.” —Penny Font