Your drunk driver case is similar to the one I was thinking of.

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decades of governmental neglect of infrastructure upgrades, as in NO, but sorry folks, it is not actionable in a civil court in the majority of states


If it isn't actionable as a civil case then what about criminal? I would certainly think that a case could be made for fraud, theft, or depraved indifference. There were school & transit buses in NO that could have made at least one trip loaded with evacuees that wanted to get out & couldn't. They could have set up a share a ride system before this happened.