A Tangipahoa Parish man has a filed a lawsuit against the state and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, blaming the construction of Interstate 12 for severe and repeated flooding in his parish.
Levi E. Robertson filed the lawsuit today in Baton Rouge federal court on behalf of himself and other “similarly situated persons,” with intentions to set up a possible class action suit. It marks the second claim of its kind against the state and DOTD.
DOTD spokesman Brendan Rush tells Daily Report the department does not comment on active litigation.
In his lawsuit, Robertson alleges the state constructed a section of I-12 across the Tangipahoa floodplain, near the town of Robert, that created a dirt embankment with only three small and inadequate openings for water to flow through.
“The defendant constructed this section of Interstate Highway I-12 even though no hydrologic studies were done to determine the backwater effect or to determine the return frequency of any rainfall event and resulting runoff discharge for this location,” the lawsuit says.
Robertson also alleges the state knew about design flaws in the section of highway in the 1960s and was warned as early as 1973 that the dirt embankment caused upstream flooding, even after minimal rainfalls.
The situation, he says, was particularly dire in August 2016 when properties in the parish were inundated with floodwaters.
“The flooding caused by the defendant’s actions was so severe and repetitive that it has damaged and condemned the property, both real and personal, of these persons resulting in a governmental taking,” the lawsuit says.
His lawsuit is the second such suit filed against the state and DOTD since severe flooding in August engulfed wide swaths of southeast Louisiana.
The cities of Denham Springs and Walker, along with others, filed a class action suit in January blaming the highway’s median for acting as a barrier that prevented rainwater from flowing during the August flood.
Robertson’s lawsuit claims that damages are estimated to be in excess of $100 million. The plaintiff class is entitled to compensation for emotional and property damage, as well as remediation and court costs and other relief, the lawsuit says. He has requested a jury trial.
—Alexandria Burris
