NEW ORLEANS AP – The owner of a barge that broke free of its moorings and landed on several homes here during Hurricane Katrina isn’t liable for any of the damage, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan’s ruling Monday exonerated Ingram Barge Co. of any negligence in a case filed on behalf of residents of the city’s flood-ravaged Lower 9th Ward, where the 200-foot barge was a powerful symbol of Katrina’s destruction.