Katrina: The Jury Answers

by Don Wittig

  Julia smiled and resumed command. “Thanks, Marianne. Now let’s get back in order around the table. Jimmy, you’re next.” “Marianne is right. Can’t trust the government. Look at how they promised us all help after Katrina. How long did it take? I’ve got lots of friends who lost their houses and everything. We need to give them at least half a trillion. We already spent more than that in Iraq. Let’s bring the bacon home while we have a chance.”

  Maria Mouton took her turn. “I agree with Ms. Hebert. There’s a big bunch of blame to go around. We can’t reward the local levee boards for building marinas and putting TV cables in the levees. We need to find a middle course that pays attention to both sides. The Corps did plenty wrong, but so did everyone else—including the greens. The only one who wasn’t negligent was Dr. Lewis.” Mouton turned to her left and looked at Carrie Guidry.

  Carrie relished the moment when she could finally speak. “You know we all want to blame people. People didn’t fix the railroad floodgate. People put in TV cables. The Corps people didn’t properly inspect the levees. Did we ever think that Mother Nature had something to do with this? In California, they want to blame arsonists when most fires are started by lightning. Ninety-nine percent, I heard. You know why we like to blame people? If we blame things on people, then people can fix the problem. Some group of elitists can come up with a bunch of rules and regulations and cure everything. If nature causes something, we can’t control it or fix it. Nobody likes to admit that he or she can’t control everything. Like global warming. It’s been going on for eons. Guess what? We can’t control the sun, the tides, or even when the moon comes up.”

  Carrie was going to law school at night. She had written in “graduate school” on her jury questionnaire, afraid she would have been knocked off the jury if she had said she was going to law school. She never mentioned what her graduate studies were during the questioning of the jury. No one had asked. Carrie was excited about sitting on a jury in a mega trial like this. Still, she didn’t want the other jurors to know her future plan to be an attorney. She would continue to try to keep her mouth shut as much as possible and make every word count.

  Dominique took the floor. “I think Katrina caused ninety percent of the damage, and everyone else caused ten percent. So I would give them maybe one hundred or two hundred billion. No more. Why should we pay for people to build their houses eight feet below sea level? We all know there will be another Katrina someday. There’s not much we can do about it. You live in a swamp you gotta expect mosquitos and gators.”

  Tiashi interrupted. She didn’t like the direction of the conversation. “Remember what Dr. Lewis said the first day. This was a man-made disaster. Katrina was only a cat three. The levees were supposed to withstand that. Suppose if Katrina had been a cat five and made a direct hit on New Orleans. We wouldn’t be sitting in this expensive federal courthouse, would we? There is no doubt the Corps was negligent and the damages are huge. The only real question to me is the percentage of responsibility to split between the Corps and the local governments. Right now I am thinking ninety to one hundred percent.”

  Juror number eleven took her turn. “I really don’t know. It’s very confusing to me, all that information about the radiation from the sun. What about ocean currents? Don’t they cause hurricanes? The icebergs are melting. We all know the Earth is getting warmer. That’s what they say on TV almost every day. That makes the hurricanes worse. So when the Corps rebuilt the levees after Hurricane Betsy, how could they know what a stronger hurricane could really do? They should have made the levees stronger, but how could anyone predict?”

  Julia instinctively tensed a little, not knowing what to expect from the quiet, handsome man to her right. “Clarence, what do you think?”

  “The Corps did what Congress told them to do. They dammed up the Mississippi so we get more subsidence. Congress wouldn’t let the Corps put in a floodgate to stop the surge from going into Pontchartrain. Special interests wanted Mr. Go and guess what? We got Mr. Go. And remember what General Walker said. All the responsibility was turned over to the state and locals. Even if the Corps was at fault, they had zero responsibility. So the answer to question three is zero, nada.”

  Tiashi smiled in amusement. How could anyone be such a neocon nut?

  Clarence didn’t know what to make of her smile, but he knew he was going to find out.

  Little did the jury know at that moment that it would take them almost a week to reach a compromise consensus. Even after a week, the one Rush Limbaugh baby, Clarence T. Holmes, was not going to agree with the verdict to come. The Rush baby would emphatically argue that the Corps was not negligent at all, zero damages, and zero responsibility on the Corps. He repeated, “We must follow the evidence. You heard General Walker. All responsibility was turned over to the state and local authorities.” Clarence would be able to hold sway over two other jurors for the first three days. However, the tag team of Julia and Tiashi counterattacked and worked the group day by day, hour after hour.

  Julia resumed the reigns. She spoke deliberately. “I appreciate the opportunity to be your presiding juror. Judge Martin gave us some straightforward questions. I’m hopeful we can get out of here soon, maybe by tomorrow. For me, the Corps was clearly negligent. The damages were in the hundreds of billions. We mainly have to figure out what percentage of responsibility we assign to the Corps. Looks like all but a few of us want to put most of the cause on the Corps. I would like to see us come up with a responsibility number around eighty or ninety percent.

  “Looks like our lunch is here. Shall we adjourn to the kitchen?”

  The twelve took their first post argument break. The mood was light and optimistic.

  44 Deliberations Go On

  A FTER THE LUNCH BREAK, JULIA again took her place at the head of the elongated walnut conference table. The natural wood had been oiled so many times that it gave off a slightly musty smell punctuated by a lemon scent, now embedded in the aging grain. Julia looked at Clarence, who was wearing an intense stare, somewhat softened by his patented street grin. That friendly smile had helped Clarence rise from his poverty after being raised by a single mom and into a self-made slum lord. Sure, he lost a lot of houses because of Katrina, but unlike many of his kin, he was fully insured. More astute than some of his less-informed neighbors, he knew he had to have flood insurance over and above his homeowner’s fire and wind policies.

  Julia started her slow but sure work around Clarence. “Aside from Clarence, is there anyone here who does not think we should answer the first question about the Corps’ negligence ‘yes’? Even Mack seemed to concede the negligence question to O’Reilly. Everyone who agrees on ‘yes’ raise your hand.”

  Ten hands went up. Clarence flashed his full smile; he knew when he was outnumbered but also worried he was being out maneuvered. Clarence was joined by another man, juror number four, Frank, who wanted to keep the damages down and didn’t like the greens. There appeared to be a mysterious third ally, a young woman whom he couldn’t seem to figure out.

  “All right then, let’s go ahead and move to question two. How much in damages should we award?”

  The twelve seemed restless. As was her habit, Tiashi spoke up. “Like I said, we can’t give them enough money as far as I am concerned. My momma still doesn’t have a permanent home. The whole Ninth Ward was wiped out. You all see the trash and debris that is still in the streets today. How are we going to get this place fixed? A trillion dollars would be a good start.”

  This time Clarence smiled and shook his head. Tiashi didn’t know what to think about Clarence or his boyish grin.

  Julia seized the cue. “Let me just ask, how many of you feel like we should award the full damages, one trillion?” The word trillion rolled off Julia’s lips like it was chump change. “Everyone raise your hand if you agree.”

  Four hands went up. Julia didn’t raise her hand but voted with her eyes. “OK. Looks like about half of us. Clarence, what do you think?”


  “I think I would like to sell some of you some property I have in the Ninth Ward. It’s only eight feet below sea level and there are a few boards left. You can probably still use some of the water and sewer pipes. With just a little bit of work, the places could be good as new. I told you, all we need do is to follow the evidence. So I say zero.”

  Frank chimed in. “I agree. Zero is the answer I prefer, but I might be persuaded to go with what Mr. Mack suggested, one hundred million tops.”

  Around the table the jurors threw out different figures from one hundred million to nine hundred billion. Julia pulled herself up and postured. “Well, I’ve written down our numbers. Looks like the average is about seven hundred billion. How about question three? What percentage of the damages was caused by the Corps?”

  “Just a minute,” Clarence interrupted. “Looks to me like the average of the damages was more like five hundred billion. But it doesn’t matter. There are some of us who will never agree to any damages like that. And the next question, number three, responsibility, all the evidence says the state of Louisiana and the local boards assumed one hundred percent of the responsibility. That’s what General Walker said. And there was no evidence to the contrary.”

  “Of course there was,” Tiashi rejoined. “Over half the responsibility was the Corps’ just on the basis of their Mr. Go disaster. The Corps passed the levees in their inspections. The Corps designed and built most of the levees. They are one hundred percent responsible!”

  Julia queried, “How many agree with Tiashi that the Corps is one hundred percent responsible?”

  Only Tiashi raised her hand.

  Julia reluctantly joined her and raised her hand for the first time. She had to support her new friend. Julia instinctively knew she was in for a long fight. She had won the first round, but Clarence saw her game and momentarily took the momentum away from her. The fight was on.

  Julia pressed on. “Let’s try question three again a little differently. Let’s try this. Everyone tear off a page from your legal pad and write down how you think we should answer question three, responsibility.”

  Most of the jurors quickly tore off a page and wrote down a percentage. There were three zeros, two at ten percent, three at fifty percent, one at seventy-five percent, and two at one hundred percent. “OK. Who didn’t vote?”

  Ms. Hebert raised her hand. “I just don’t know what to do. Both sides have good points. I suppose around twenty or thirty percent. Put me down for that.”

  Julia quickly ran the numbers. “I’m going to ask the marshal to get us a couple of calculators, if that is all right with everyone?”

  “Sure, go ahead. Make sure you get lots of batteries.” Clarence laughed. No one else did. Even his best ally, Frank, didn’t like the attempt at humor. Frank had an anniversary coming up on the weekend and didn’t want to spend more than a day or two at the most in the deliberations.

  “Looks like our average on question three is thirty-nine percent. Shall we go back to question one and see if we can’t get at least ten of us to agree? The judge said we could reach a verdict with ten or more members of the jury.”

  In the meantime, the judge and attorneys got the word that the jury wanted calculators. Mack and company frowned. Defense counsel never liked to hear that a jury wanted calculators. Not a good omen.

  O’Reilly smiled. It’s usually a good sign that jurors want to tally up the damages.

  The jury ordered dinner in. They wanted to work late and try to wrap up a verdict by the next morning. However, the second round of deliberations showed little change. This time three said no negligence or fault on the Corps. The average of the damage figures was five hundred billion and the percentage of responsibility went down two points to thirty-five percent. Julia suspected that she and Tiashi would have to compromise with Frank and Ms. Hebert in order to get the ten jurors she needed in order to reach a verdict. The marshal came in to turn out the lights after the last juror left for home. It was after 11:00 p.m.

  45 Low Tide

  DELIBERATIONS SLOWED AND THEN STALLED. Tiashi’s team battled Clarence’s team. They repeated their arguments and went back over the testimony, witness by witness. Clarence was ready to fight as long as it was productive. Most of his slum property had been obliterated, but his pockets bulged with cash from multiple insurance settlements. He owed very little money to the bank when Katrina hit. Now, he was sitting on a pile of profits, waiting to see if New Orleans would or could come back. Time was on his side. He didn’t need insurance anymore because there was little to insure. As long as his real estate taxes were abated, he had no expenses. “Wait and see” was his investment strategy.

  He started a new argument. “Look, we heard all about the sun and its effects on the climate. But think about this. The Earth’s core is over thirteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit. That’s hotter than parts of the sun. So we are sitting like the meat on Texas toast. We’ve got heat below and heat above. It’s a wonder we can even survive. We all know over the centuries there have been several mass extinctions of almost all life on Earth. Three I think. One time everything cooks. Next time Earth turns into a snowball. It’s up and down with life on Earth, just like the tides. There’s not a scientist on Earth who knows what’s going to happen in a hundred years. Maybe too hot. Maybe too cold. Weather forecasters can’t even predict what’s the weather is going to be in three days. Look at the predictions about Katrina. I’ll bet if you add up all the predictions starting two weeks out before landfall, three-fourths of their guesses were wrong.

  “So now someone tell me how the Corps of Engineers knew Katrina would happen and that somehow they are responsible for the surges that came into Lake Borgne and Pontchartrain.”

  Tiashi smiled and calmly responded, “Clarence, you’re right. No one can predict the weather. However, you do remember Hurricane Betsy. Remember the devastation of this area. The Corps should have learned from Betsy. That’s why the Corps was supposed to build levees that could withstand a cat three hurricane. We know they didn’t do that. We are below sea level. We know there are hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Put two and two together. It’s not our fault the Corps didn’t do their job. And you know it’s not just the Corps. Logically they represent the federal government here. Even Mack said that. So the Corps is responsible for everything the feds did wrong before, during, and after Katrina. Talk about negligence. Look at how long it took FEMA....”

  Julia stepped into the breach. “Wait, Tiashi. Judge Martin told us we can’t consider what happened after the hurricane. We have to stay focused on what the Corps did or should have done before the storm hit.”

  Amused, Clarence smiled. Tiashi knew how to parry well. She was a dangerous adversary. Her counterpunch reminded the jurors about the FEMA disaster that Mack and the government lawyers tried so hard to avoid. Let’s try another tactic. “I just want us to be reasonable. We’re throwing around numbers of a half a trillion or a trillion dollars like it was play money. There’s no free lunch. Somebody has to pay the piper. In the end, it’s just you and me and tax man. Remember where the government gets its money. That’s who’s going to pay whatever you find.” Clarence came clean. He was not going to agree to any significant verdict for the complainants. He was doing his best to maneuver the group into something he thought was reasonable.

  After lunch Julia suggested a change of schedule. “Everyone seems to be a little tired. I suggest we go home early today and resolve to get this verdict done tomorrow.” The jury finally was unanimous on one thing. It was time for a timeout. Julia informed the marshal, and all headed their separate ways. Almost.

  Clarence caught Tiashi at the door. “Time for a sarsaparilla?” He grinned at Tiashi. She was befuddled by the charm of this curmudgeon. “I don’t know. I’m getting tired of this case. Maybe just one. Where do you have in mind?”

  “The Royal Orleans isn’t far. We can watch a few tourists and just relax a bit. Shall we just walk over?”

  “I need to get
my car out of security. Can I give you a lift?”

  “Sure. Mighty good of you.” Clarence smiled to himself. His mind quickly shifted gears from his role in holding the verdict down to finding out about this beautiful woman. He was happily surprised by her acceptance.

  At the hotel bar, Tiashi ordered a Cuba Libre. Clarence asked for a Modelo but settled for a Corona. Tiashi easily opened up about her two children, life as a single mom, and how she had avoided men while she raised her younger daughter. Clarence listened intently. He was ready to order a second round, but Tiashi stood up. “Gotta go. My sweet teenager hasn’t seen me for dinner all week. So I’m going to surprise her. Can I drive you anywhere?”

  “No thanks. I decided just to stay here at the hotel during the deliberations. Saves time, and I don’t have to remind myself of all the devastation by driving through it every day. Thanks anyway. See you tomorrow.”

  Tiashi brushed by him. She passed close enough that he caught her unseen scent, unforgettable and delicious. She negotiated her way to the door. Clarence was stunned. How could I have a drink with this firebrand lib? But what a looker.

  Tiashi drove straight home to the place she was renting in the French Quarter. She felt safe here in the original New Orleans settlement, the only place around that was above sea level. She walked in and hugged her daughter. “Surprise. Home early. Did you finish your homework?”

  “Yes, Mom. You seem pretty frisky. Did you all reach a verdict?” “No, dear. We’re still deliberating. But I did meet a very interesting neocon. He’s on the jury with me, and we had a drink after we left the courthouse. He’s the one who’s holding us up. Need to figure out some way to get him to see the human tragedy that Katrina caused. Somehow I think the only two things he thinks about are taxes and your mama! But you know what he said? He’s staying downtown at a hotel so he doesn’t have to drive back and forth through the Katrina mess. Strange man. Can’t quite figure him out.”