Katrina victim sues U.S. for $3 quadrillion

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Syrch

Diamond Member
May 21, 2004
3,382
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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.
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"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.
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speechless
 
A

Argo

Lifer
Apr 8, 2000
10,045
0
0
The goverment should use the money they were using to rebuild the levies to pay off the lawsuit.
 
meltdown75

meltdown75

Lifer
Nov 17, 2004
37,548
7
81
so anyway to quote that kid in Die Hard 4, did it really take FEMA 6 days to get water to the Superdome?
 
Slacker

Slacker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,623
33
91
Three Quadrillion fourteen trillion one hundred seventy billion three hundred eighty nine million one hundred seventy six thousand four hundred ten dollars
 
polarmystery

polarmystery

Diamond Member
Aug 21, 2005
3,888
8
81
Originally posted by: Syrch
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.
Story continues below ?advertisement

"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.
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speechless
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I laughed at that line...Great Depression, Civil War, WWII, Vietnam anyone?

 
D

Dacalo

Diamond Member
Mar 31, 2000
8,778
4
76
Originally posted by: Syrch


"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."
Click to expand...

Right, and I guess the Civil War, slavery, the Great Depression, all the World Wars, Vietnam, Korea and segregation were a walk in the park. Dumbass lawyers, trying to exaggerate shit. Don't get me wrong, Katrina victims suffered a lot but to make "unlike anything that has occurred in the history?" Please...
 
compman25

compman25

Diamond Member
Jan 12, 2006
3,767
2
81
Originally posted by: Slacker
Three Quadrillion fourteen trillion one hundred seventy billion three hundred eighty nine million one hundred seventy six thousand four hundred ten dollars
Click to expand...

I don't think my wallet's big enough for that kind of cash, sorry.
 
meltdown75

meltdown75

Lifer
Nov 17, 2004
37,548
7
81
Originally posted by: eaj0010
I laughed at that line...Great Depression, Civil War, WWII, Vietnam anyone?
Click to expand...
actually that line makes sense. three of those were wars and one of them was neither a war nor a natural disaster. so it is really nothing like any of the events you mentioned.
 
D

datwater

Senior member
Jan 29, 2004
710
0
0
Hi. There is a CAT 5 hurricane expected to make landfall in 5 days. Evacuate now.

Hi. There is a CAT 5 hurricane expected to make landfall in 4 days. Evacuate now.

Hi. There is a CAT 5 hurricane expected to make landfall in 3 days. Evacuate now.

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Hi. Hurricane busted up my house. I want 4 quadrillion.

Screw you. Be thankful for all the help you already get.

I lived in the south during CAT 5 hurricane evacuations, and the number of people who chose to stay in their homes and "ride the storm out" was always staggering to me. Knew people on my street who died because they said - aww it's just a hurricane - no big deal. Oops ... it is a big deal. You were warned. GTFO.
 
polarmystery

polarmystery

Diamond Member
Aug 21, 2005
3,888
8
81
Originally posted by: meltdown75
Originally posted by: eaj0010
I laughed at that line...Great Depression, Civil War, WWII, Vietnam anyone?
Click to expand...
actually that line makes sense. three of those were wars and one of them was neither a war nor a natural disaster. so it is really nothing like any of the events you mentioned.
Click to expand...

As far as natural disaster I will agree, but the article sounds like nothing ever bad has happened to the country that made people upset like Katrina...
 
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