In this story from the Contra Costa Times the possibility of a lawsuit wending its way through the courts, though not given much chance of success, regarding levee failures is examined.
Here is an excerpt.
Taxpayers could be liable for levee failures
State officials trying to convince railroad firm to drop lawsuit that would set precedent of obligation to finance repairs
By Mike Taugher
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Taxpayers could be on the hook for millions of dollars when levees fail if a lawsuit succeeds in establishing a precedent for public liability.
To avoid that, state officials are trying to persuade a railroad company to drop a lawsuit that claims the state is responsible for $13.5 million in damage from a Delta flood two years ago.
If the case goes forward and the state loses, it could dramatically escalate taxpayers' liability for failures on hundreds of miles of fragile and increasingly vulnerable levees at a time when the state is already facing mounting costs to maintain them.
State officials say BNSF Railway Co., formerly known as the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, has little chance of success. But the lawsuit has the potential to set a very expensive precedent.
"I don't think we can afford to lose this," said Nancy Saracino, the acting chief deputy director of the state Department of Water Resources.
The lawsuit names the state and a local reclamation district as defendants.
Concern over this case stems from a California appeals court decision three years ago. The court surprised state water and flood control officials by ruling the state owed compensation to victims of a 1986 levee failure near Marysville. The state was forced to pay $500 million and the state treasury was exposed to potential liability in future floods.
Partly in response to that ruling, as well as the devastating flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, lawmakers on May 19 approved spending another $500 million to shore up eroding levees.
But those expenditures are focused on the 385 miles of "project" levees on the periphery of the Delta that often protect homes. The 2003 appeals court decision said that since the state agreed in 1953 to operate the Sacramento River Flood Control Project levees, it assumed responsibility if they failed.
