A court ruling about Hurricane Katrina could open the way for another flood-- of lawsuits.

The flooding caused by Katrina was in part a man-made disaster, that's the conclusion of a federal judge who blamed the Army Corp of Engineers for what he called "gross negligence" that lead to the catastrophic flooding of New Orleans

For more than 40 years the Army Corp of Engineers was aware of the problem but failed to do anything about it.

If the ruling is upheld taxpayers could be on the hook for billions of dollars in future civil awards.