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Seven victims of the New Year’s Day terror attack on Bourbon Street have filed a lawsuit against the City of New Orleans, Hard Rock Construction, and Mott MacDonald, LLC, citing negligence in preventing the tragedy. The lawsuit, submitted in Orleans Parish Civil District Court, claims the defendants ignored repeated warnings about security risks to pedestrians in the French Quarter. Loyola University Law Professor Dane Ciolino says it’s an interesting angle.
“This lawsuit targets contractors of the city who allegedly did not take reasonable measures to protect the public while the new bollards were being constructed.”
They argue that stronger protections could have prevented the incident, which caused severe injuries and trauma. Ciolino says that targeting private contractors instead of police officers could be successful.
“This is an effort that may prove fruitful to avoid the immunities that would make negligence lawsuits against the police dead on arrival.”
The lawsuit seeks accountability for the oversight and damages to cover medical expenses, pain, and suffering endured by the victims. Ciolino says there is a lot of litigation to be done in these cases.
“Well, they are no doubt going to file exceptions of “no cause of action” alleging that they should be beneficiaries of the immunities that the city would otherwise get.”
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