Thursday's lawsuit touches off what could be a lengthy and costly period of litigation over the Bourbon Street attack.
www.nola.com
Seven victims of the
New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street, including the family of a 43-year-old Terrytown man who was killed, sued the City of New Orleans and two of its contractors Thursday, alleging they each failed to protect the street from an assailant who easily got around the city’s security barriers before mowing down a crowd.
The suit, filed in Orleans Parish Civil District Court, was brought on behalf of victims Alexis Windham, Corian Evans, Jalen Lilly, Justin Brown, Shara Frison, Gregory Townsend and the family of
Brandon Taylor, a local cook who died in the attack.
The suit names the City of New Orleans and two contractors — Mott MacDonald, LLC and Hard Rock Construction, LLC — who the plaintiffs say were responsible for installing the security barriers on Bourbon Street.
The suit is the first to be filed in New Orleans from a victim of the New Year’s Day attack. It comes eight days after Texas man, Shamsud-din Jabbar, rammed a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring more than 30 others.
It’s too early to say how many victims or their families will sue the city, while the city’s failure to secure Bourbon Street has figured prominently in discussions of the attack.
City officials have faced criticism for failing to erect physical barriers on Bourbon Street and failing to cordon off the intersection with Bourbon and Canal streets.