Cajun Navy 2016 Sues United Cajun Navy Over Defamation Claims

BATON ROUGE, La. — Two organizations sharing the “Cajun Navy” name are now suing each other. Cajun Navy 2016 filed a defamation lawsuit against United Cajun Navy on July 24, accusing the Baton Rouge nonprofit and two of its officers of spreading false statements that damaged its reputation and interfered with its disaster relief work.

The name “Cajun Navy” goes back to 2005, when everyday Louisianans hooked their boats to their trucks and drove to New Orleans to pull stranded residents out of the floodwaters after Hurricane Katrina. Since then, multiple groups have picked up the name for their own disaster response work. That’s led to plenty of public confusion over who’s who, and now, an open legal fight between two of the bigger organizations.

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What the Lawsuit Alleges

The petition, filed in the 19th Judicial District Court, names United Cajun Navy along with its president, Todd Terrell, and vice president, Brian Thrasher, as defendants. It claims the three ran a multi-year campaign of false statements across social media and other public channels that questioned Cajun Navy 2016’s legitimacy, integrity and disaster response record.

The filing points to specific posts as examples. It alleges United Cajun Navy said on social media that Cajun Navy 2016 would “scam good-hearted people out of their donations” and had “stole[n] valor to line their own greedy pockets,” comments made while Cajun Navy 2016 was helping with Hurricane Helene relief in North Carolina.

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Cajun Navy 2016 founder and CEO Jon Bridgers said the group held off on legal action for years before deciding it had no choice. “When floodwaters rise, families don’t have time to sort through competing claims on social media. They need to know who is actually showing up. Our reputation is one of the most important tools we have when lives are on the line,” Bridgers said in a statement released through the organization’s public relations coordinator, Trey Williams.

The History Between the Two Groups

Cajun Navy 2016 traces its roots to the August 2016 flood and was formally established as a Louisiana nonprofit corporation in September 2017. The group, based in Denham Springs, has since deployed volunteers nationwide for hurricanes, floods and tornadoes.

United Cajun Navy, which operates chapters in a dozen states, was incorporated as a nonprofit in April 2018. The petition claims Terrell initially volunteered with Cajun Navy 2016 before the two organizations severed ties over questions surrounding unauthorized payments he allegedly promised to others. The lawsuit says it isn’t challenging the work of other disaster relief groups broadly, only the specific statements made about Cajun Navy 2016.

How United Cajun Navy Has Responded

Cajun Navy 2016 says it won’t comment further on the litigation now that the matter is before a judge, and plans to keep its focus on disaster response work. United Cajun Navy hasn’t issued a public statement addressing the lawsuit’s allegations directly. When a reporter asked for comment, a United Cajun Navy officer instead forwarded a 2018 news report on Bridgers’ arrest on residential contractor fraud allegations tied to flood repair work, a case unrelated to the current lawsuit.

What Comes Next

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages available under Louisiana law along with injunctive and declaratory relief aimed at stopping further defamatory statements. The case is now pending in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge.

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