A federal judge has dismissed all but one of LCG's claims in a suit against St. Martin Parish and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the controversial spoil banks case.
The only remaining claim, in which LCG argues that St. Martin Parish Government did not act as required in the parish charter, was remanded back to state court because it's not a federal issue, the ruling states.
You can read ruling and the judgment for yourself, by scrolling down.
Lafayette Consolidated Government filed suit against St. Martin Parish and the Corps back in 2022, asking a Lafayette state district judge to rule that LCG broke no rules in the case. The Corps had the case moved to federal court, and both St. Martin Parish and the Corps immediately began asking the court to dismiss LCG's claims.
The court has repeatedly granted motions to dismiss, but each time LCG requested and was given a chance to cure the legal problems in the suit. This is the fourth time LCG attorneys tried to fix the issues, and the court previously had said that this was going to be LCG's last chance to do so.
In the ruling, the court states that all claims against St. Martin Parish and the Corps are now dismissed save the one related to the parish charter. Also pending over the same project is a suit filed by St. Martin Parish against LCG in St. Martin Parish district court.
We've reached out to attorneys for LCG and St. Martin Parish to see if they have any comment on the ruling.
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 LCG already had filed for a permit at a different location with the Corps; that permit application was withdrawn after St. Martin told the Corps that no parish permits for it would be granted. The project has reportedly sparked numerous investigations, including ongoing probes by the Legislative Auditor, the FBI, the EPA and the Corps. To read some of our stories about it, click here, here, here and here.
In general terms, most of the objections to the LCG lawsuit were based on the idea that it was premature. In particular, the Corps argued that LCG couldn't ask the court to rule that LCG hadn't violated any rules or laws until the Corps finished their investigation into the project. In his ruling, the court refers to LCG's position as "convoluted" and outlines the attempts made to cure the issues in LCG's claims.
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.
Here's the judgment:
And here's the ruling:
