New Orleans has a plan to pay tens of millions of dollars in cash judgments to residents who have won lawsuits against the city for everything from contract disputes to a deadly police wreck.

The city council can appeal the decision. WDSU reached out to New Orleans City Council President JP Morrell, Cantrell's administration, and the council's attorney for a statement regarding the ruling.

New Orleans’s storm surge protection system was built largely in response to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city in 2005, killing more than 1,800 people and causing more than $160 ...