Thursday's lawsuit touches off what could be a lengthy and costly period of litigation over the Bourbon Street attack.

Six people who were injured and the father of a man who was killed in the New Year’s truck attack are suing the City of New Orleans and two contractors, claiming they failed to protect revelers from an Army veteran who sped around a police blockade and raced down Bourbon Street.

Plaintiffs argue that the timing of construction left vulnerable gaps in security, effectively creating a “soft target” that attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar exploited when he drove a rented pickup truck through a crowded Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more.