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Announcements
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SRZ Continues to Work on Behalf of FEMA Victims
March 2008
Within weeks of Hurricane Katrina striking the Gulf Coast, lawyers at Schulte Roth & Zabel began to advocate on behalf of its victims. Their research resulted in the filing of McWaters v. FEMA, a nationwide class action suit filed in New Orleans in October 2005. In December, literally just days before the Christmas Holidays, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana granted a restraining order that prevented FEMA from evicting registered displaced Katrina victims who were temporarily staying in hotels until FEMA acted on their applications. This prevented the evictions of more than 150,000 people from their only shelter. More than 20 Schulte Roth lawyers expended over 10,000 hours on the case.
"Through our efforts, we have kept a roof over the heads of more than 150,000 of Hurricane Katrina's neediest victims — the poor, the sick, the elderly — who otherwise would have been evicted from hotels and left on the streets by FEMA in December," said Litigation partner Howard O. Godnick , who, with Special Counsel for Pro Bono Initiatives Daniel L. Greenberg, headed up SRZ's pro bono efforts on this case. The case was filed jointly with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. While no damages were sought, under federal statutes the firm was entitled to attorneys fees. SRZ donated all of its fees, nearly a million dollars, to The Lawyers Committee and two other public interest law firms with whom we collaborated.
The Katrina work continues. In 2007, half a dozen SRZ associates returned to the Gulf Coast to monitor the progress FEMA had made in providing trailers to those displaced. Their investigative work was used by advocacy organizations on the ground to pressure FEMA into fulfilling its obligations to the hurricane victims.
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