A federal magistrate has once again recommended dismissal of a suit filed by the Lafayette City-Parish Government in the controversial spoil banks case.
There are two parties trying to get the LCG claims against them dismissed: St. Martin Parish Government and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The most recent recommendation from the magistrate, dated August 11, concerns the Corps' Motion to Dismiss. That recommendation now goes to the federal judge overseeing the case for a final decision. If you want to read it for yourself, scroll down.
Last fall the court gave LCG "one final attempt" to fix the problems in its claims against St. Martin Parish; despite those efforts, in March the magistrate again recommended that that part of the lawsuit also should be dismissed. The judge hasn't decided on that recommendation yet, records show.
At issue is a project that LCG already has completed in St. Martin Parish, which removed decades-old levees on property partially owned by LCG. St. Martin Parish officials said that LCG did the project in the dark of night, and without permits from either the parish or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. LCG already had filed for a permit at a different location with the Corps; that permit application was withdrawn after St. Martin told the Corps that no parish permits for it would be granted.
At first, LCG filed suit in state court, asking a Lafayette judge to rule that the project was done properly. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had the suit removed to federal court.
In July 2022, the federal judge granted St. Martin's Motion to Dismiss the LCG claims against it. To read about the dismissal of LCG's claim against St. Martin Parish, click here. The day after that suit was dismissed, St. Martin Parish then filed suit against LCG in state court, asking a judge to order LCG to restore the spoil banks it removed. To read about that, click here.
LCG then filed a Motion asking the federal judge to reconsider the dismissal of their claim against St. Martin, which was granted, and LCG was allowed to try to fix the problems in the lawsuit. But after reviewing their arguments, the magistrate again recommended that the suit be dismissed, and that is the decision that is pending.
The Corps filed their own Motion to Dismiss, and that's the Motion that the magistrate is recommending be granted.
New information did come out in these various motions; in the Corps' Motion to Dismiss, they revealed that they had called in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to investigate "flagrant, wilful violations" in the project. We reached out to the EPA, who told us the agency has "received this case and is currently reviewing it."
The Corps also stated that they had "issued a Cease-and-Desist Order to Plaintiff confirming (Clean Water Act and Rivers and Harbors Act) violations." To read that story, click here.
The Current has posted several stories about the process surrounding the project, including the contract - which cost $3.7 million but was never publicly bid because LCG used a $390,000 "as-needed excavation" contractor to do the work. To read that story, click here.
We also reached out to LCG for any comment they might have and will update this story with whatever we receive.
Here's a copy of the recommendation:
