A civil lawsuit over post-Hurricane Katrina trash disposal involving former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and others has been settled.
The confidential settlement reached last week avoided a trial set for Monday. It involved claims by Waste Management of Louisiana that River Birch - owned by Fred Heebe (HEE'-bee) and Albert Ward - made campaign contributions to local officials to gain advantages in the debris disposal business.
Nagin, imprisoned on unrelated charges, was ordered to give a deposition in the case.
River Birch was once the subject of a federal investigation. That was abandoned after Heebe's lawyer discovered in 2012 that a federal prosecutor made anonymous online posts critical of Heebe and others. The scandal led to the resignation of then-U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, who wasn't implicated in online posts.