Arbitration panel awards $475 million for Charity Hospital damages

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – A three-judge arbitration panel in Washington has said that $475 million dollars should be paid to the state to replace Charity Hospital, which has been closed since Katrina. Jindal and Nagin said the money will be used to fund a new $1.2 billion-dollar replacement hospital to be built alongside a new Veterans Administration hospital in Lower Mid City. The state has battled with FEMA over the total damages sustained at the Art Deco structure.
But a spokesman for the Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital said the fight isn't over.
Co-chairman Derrick Morrison said two legal challenges will continue.
A federal lawsuit is set to begin next month on the National Trust for Historic Preservation case alleging the project skirted environmental laws. And a case pending in New Orleans Civil District court alleges the plan did not have proper public input.