This Jan. 9, 2013 photo shows homes built on the 11.5 mile levee designed to protect Augusta, Ga. from the Savannah River. Inspectors with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers taking the first-ever inventory of flood control systems overseen by the federal government have found hundreds of structures at risk of failing and endangering people and property in 37 states. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
Suits dismissed against corps over Nashville flood
Published: 07:06:11 PM, Thu 28 February 2013 UTC
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a pair of lawsuits claiming the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was responsible for flood damage in 2010 to the Grand Ole Opry, Gibson Guitar and other Nashville-area businesses.
The companies claimed corps officials acted negligently in April 2010 by not lowering water levels at the Old Hickory Dam despite warnings from the National Weather Service that heavy rains were coming. When the corps did open the gates, the Cumberland River rose above the 100-year flood plain.
Government attorneys argued that the case should be dismissed because the corps was immune from prosecution under the Flood Control Act of 1928.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell sided with the government and ordered the lawsuits dismissed.
A third lawsuit brought by a Nashville attorney also was dismissed.
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