The nation’s highest court has dealt a blow to property owners who want insurance companies to pay for damage from levee breaches after Hurricane Katrina, but the Louisiana Supreme Court is poised to tackle the issue later this month.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear appeals from Xavier University and dozens of other Louisiana policyholders who sued several insurers for refusing to cover water damage from the levee breaches that flooded 80 percent of New Orleans following the August 2005 hurricane.