Lawsuit against Brad Pitt’s Make It Right sent back to Orleans Parish court

A federal judge has sent the ongoing cluster of lawsuits surrounding Brad Pitt’s Make It Right development in New Orleans back to state court.

The ruling May 15 moved the lawsuits against three former officers of the Make It Right Foundation back to Orleans Parish Civil District Court, according to a court document. The former Make It Right officials are accused of building substandard houses.

In the years after Hurricane Katrina, Make It Right built 109 experimental modernist homes in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward to replace those lost to flooding. Spearheaded by actor Brad Pitt, the altruistic nonprofit enterprise sold the houses to former residents of the area at affordable prices. The rebuilt neighborhood became a post-K tourist attraction.

Brad Pitt’s Make It Right venture turns 10, triumphant but troubled

The daring post-K recovery project produced 109 homes in the Lower 9th Ward, including one that neighbors say has become an abandoned, moldy eyesore.

But on Sept. 7, 2018, roughly ten years after the project began, two Lower Ninth Ward residents sued Make It Right, accusing Pitt and several officers of the company of building houses that are flawed and deteriorating rapidly. As a proposed class action, the suit is intended to represent everyone who bought a Make it Right house.

Read more.