Hurricane researcher sues LSU over Katrina criticism

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Hurricane researcher sues LSU over Katrina criticism

February 10, 2010 1:48 p.m. EST

Ivor van Heerden, in 2005, is deputy director of LSU's Hurricane Center.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Ivor van Heerden led inquiry into failure of New Orleans levee

system

* It put much of blame on Army Corps of Engineers

* He was told last year that his contract will not be renewed

* Lawsuit accuses school officials of " engaging in illegal reprisal "

RELATED TOPICS

* _Hurricane Katrina_

(http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Hurricane_Katrina)

* _New Orleans_ (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/New_Orleans)

* _Louisiana State University_

(http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Louisiana_State_University)

* _U.S. Army Corps of Engineers_

(http://topics.cnn.com/topics/U_S_Army_Corps_of_Engineers)

(CNN) -- A researcher who warned of Hurricane Katrina's catastrophic

damage sued Louisiana State University on Wednesday, accusing university

officials of pushing him out of his job over his criticism of the Army Corps of

Engineers.

Ivor van Heerden led the investigation into the failure of the levee system

surrounding New Orleans, which flooded when the levees failed during the

2005 storm. The inquiry put much of the blame for the disaster on the Corps,

which his lawsuit called " an important funding source " for LSU.

The suit accuses _LSU_

(http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Louisiana_State_University) of putting " the

bureaucratic interests of university officials above

the health and safety of millions of people who live in the path of the

hurricanes that threaten the Gulf Coast every year. " It argues that school

officials " engaged in illegal reprisal " against van Heerden, the deputy

director of LSU's Hurricane Center, because of his critical research and

testimony about the levee system.

Van Heerden was told in 2009 that his contract, which expires in May, would

not be renewed. There was no immediate response from LSU officials to the

complaint, which was filed in a state court in Baton Rouge on Wednesday.

_Katrina_ (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Hurricane_Katrina) killed more

than 1,800 people when it struck near the Louisiana-Mississippi state line in

August 2005. Most of the dead were in or around _New Orleans_

(http://topics.cnn.com/topics/New_Orleans) , where more than three-quarters of

the city

flooded.

Van Heerden has said the university barred him from testifying as an

expert witness in a case against the _Corps of Engineers_

(http://topics.cnn.com/topics/U_S_Army_Corps_of_Engineers) . But he served as an

adviser to the

plaintiffs in that suit, which resulted in a finding of negligence against the

agency in November.