One obstacle to the “potential windfall of litigation” in New Orleans – finding a jury:

More than four months after Katrina wrecked much of the city, Bruno & Bruno has filed dozens of lawsuits that reflect the rising frustration and anger among thousands of residents and business owners who lost homes, jobs and relatives in the flooding. The lawsuits’ targets include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local government boards that oversaw New Orleans’ failed levees, as well as an oil company, a nursing home and insurers . . .

. . . Under Louisiana law, either side in a legal dispute is entitled to a jury trial if the claim exceeds $50,000. The Trial Lawyers Association has asked state lawmakers to raise the financial threshold on jury trials to perhaps as high as $250,000 so that judges alone can resolve more claims and eliminate the need for a jury to hear the case.

PointofLaw.com says what is on everyone’s mind:

. . . how quick the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association is to abandon typical plaintiffs-bar rhetoric about the critical importance of the jury system when that system is an obstacle to a payday.