111 results for 'court:"USDC Middle District of Louisiana"'.
J. Wilder-Doomes grants a request by the owners of a paper mill, ordering a 20-year military veteran to complete the requested authorization to obtain his service medical records. The veteran was discharged with a 90 percent disability, which would have preexisted any physical or mental injuries he allegedly suffered as a contractor’s employee during an explosion at the plant in 2017. The military medical records are relevant, as the former employee claims to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from the paper mill blast.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Wilder-Doomes, Filed On: November 27, 2023, Case #: 3:18cv613, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Health Care, Damages, Military
J. Wilder-Domes grants a request by an investment firm and orders Louisiana’s largest public retirement system to respond to discovery requests by a private foundation in Austria seeking evidence for a criminal investigation of the foundation’s alleged loss of hundreds of millions of dollars by fraudulent purchases. The Louisiana pension system was one of several passive investors in a private equity fund that indirectly owned an Austrian company where three named executives are accused of misappropriating corporate funds. The Austrian foundation has filed similar discovery requests related to the international criminal probe with other passive investors in the federal Southern District of New York and Wisconsin.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Wilder-Doomes , Filed On: November 24, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv365, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Fraud, International Law, Securities
J. Dick denies summary judgment to the Republican governor-elect of Louisiana on his argument as the state’s current attorney general that "Black Voters Matter" does not have standing to represent black voters in a voting rights suit against the state. The organization concedes it does not have associational standing in the case but that it meets the constitutional requirement for injury-in-fact by presenting evidence that the state’s allegedly discriminatory voter redistricting maps have required a diversion of organizational resources from its broader voter registration and community empowerment initiatives.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: November 15, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv178, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Evidence
J. Dick denies a request by the Louisiana Secretary of State to turn over jurisdiction of a voting rights redistricting case to a three-judge court, on the argument that federal law requires a tribunal for a constitutional or statutory challenge to the apportionment of a state legislative body. The law does not support the secretary’s argument and there is no decision in the Fifth Circuit that supports his “strained interpretation” of the law. The decision comes one day after a mixed ruling on proposed experts for both sides in a lawsuit challenging redistricting plans that allegedly dilute black voters’ voting strength in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: November 9, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv178, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Jurisdiction
J. Dick denies a request by 53 death row prisoners for a preliminary injunction ordering the state pardon board to hold clemency hearings under outgoing, term-limited Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, dismissing their argument that they “face a real possibility of death if this preliminary injunction is not granted." The prisoners fail to demonstrate harm is imminent as a result of the cancellation of scheduled clemency hearings, and there is no evidence they will face execution before they are able to apply for clemency.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: November 9, 2023, Case #: 3:23CV1494, NOS: Civil Rights - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Constitution, Due Process, Jurisdiction
Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for Free
J. Dick orders judgment in favor of class-action litigants and against the state department of corrections, ending a yearslong litigation of medical treatment claims at Louisiana’s maximum-security prison in Angola. “The attitudes of those in medical leadership” at the corrections department and the sprawling 18,000-acre prison farm “easily demonstrate that injunctive relief is required in this case.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: 3:15cv318, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Health Care
J. DeGravelles denies requests by the suburban Louisiana city of Baker and its mayor to dismiss certain civil rights claims submitted by a food truck operator who alleges the city denied her the ability to operate a legal business by refusing to issue her a business permit. The city and the mayor have not offered any argument opposing the business owner’s claim for punitive damages against the mayor in his individual capacity. However, she concedes that the mayor cannot be sued for damages in his official capacity. She is given time to amend deficiencies in her suit.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravalles, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv193, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Damages, Business Practices
J. Jackson declines to remand to state court the school board's lawsuit accusing Facebook, Instagram and Tik-Tok of being highly addictive to children and harmful to the learning environment it is required to provide for its students. The school board argues that it is an arm of the state and therefore immune from federal jurisdiction under the Eleventh Amendment, but this argument "has been squarely rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, each of the three Louisiana U.S. District Courts, and Louisiana's state courts, too."
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: November 2, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv807, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Tort, Immunity, Jurisdiction
J. Dick denies the insurance company's motion motion to vacate the appraisal award following the damage to the insured's property caused by Hurricane Zeta. The insurance company's appraiser had the opportunity to to participate in the appraisal process, but chose not to, so there is no basis for vacating the award.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: October 26, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv318, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Property
J. deGravelles declines to find in favor of the licensing board for the private security guard's failure to timely serve board over his license suspension. The security guard sent the summons and complaint to the board through certified mail, but this is not a permissible method of service under Louisiana law. However, state law tolling is appropriate here, so the security guard is given 30 days to properly serve the board.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: deGravelles, Filed On: October 25, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv258, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Licensing
J. Jackson grants summary judgment to a suburban fire chief and against two former employees who allege he discriminated against them because they got married. To the contrary, the ruling holds, the fire chief only prohibited the department’s receptionist from marrying an ex-district fire chief to avoid chain-of-command and workplace morale issues that would arise from the subordinate being managed by the district’s second-in-command — her ex-husband. She disregarded the fire chief’s policy, married the ex-chief, and lost her job. The evidence shows that a rational relationship existed between the fire chief’s policy of requiring the receptionist to choose between marrying the ex-chief and her job — particularly given the “chaos” the couple created at the fire department when they first began dating in 2016. At the time, they were both married, but not to each other.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: October 19, 2023, Case #: 221cv287, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Settlements
J. Fannie Mae denies a request by a Baton Rouge real estate company to dismiss a complaint by two apartment owners who argued that it must legally indemnify them against a foreclosure suit by Fannie Mae in exchange for being designated the exclusive property manager of their housing units. The apartment owners have alleged a plausible claim of legal indemnity against the realty firm, specifically that any potential finding of liability on their part would be “constructive or derivative” of the property manager’s own fault.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Bourgeois, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv551, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Government, Property, Real Estate
J. Morgan orders lawyers for both sides of a high-profile wrongful termination suit not to ask to “follow” or “friend” any juror or potential juror on social networking sites during jury selection or trial. Both sides are also ordered not to attempt to gain access to Internet posts or profiles that are “not otherwise publicly available.” It is both standard and accepted practice in Louisiana courts to conduct open-source internet research of potential jurors. The trial court has broad discretion to manage jury selection, to maintain fairness and to protect privacy.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Morgan, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv198, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: Communications, Jury, Racketeering
J. DeGravelles denies a request by the secretary of Louisiana’s correctional department to exclude an email he wrote in 2016 from a class action alleging Louisiana has been unlawfully overdetaining thousands of prisoners each year and that the Secretary has known about the state’s misconduct since at least 2012. The secretary unsuccessfully argues that the email is irrelevant, has not been authenticated and that its late production is untimely and unfair. The state official’s objection “rings exceedingly hollow.” Not only did the secretary turn over the email in discovery, he authored the letter which is relevant in that it tends to show that there was an overdetention problem in Louisiana which he and the state recognized before a former inmate filed suit in 2020.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: October 4, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv233, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Discovery
J. Gravelles, rules following a bench trial, finding the owners of an inland push tug are not at fault and therefore exonerated from liability for a deadly accident in an inland waterway, during which its barges struck and sank a skiff carrying four intoxicated crew members to an inland towboat, killing two. The negligence of the towboat’s captain was a “substantial contributing cause” of the tragic accident.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv214, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Maritime, Tort, Wrongful Death
J. Jackson denies a request by a California-based filmmaker to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds a lawsuit by a Louisiana-based company that pilots drones for aerial photography, after alleging $587,228 in damages, from unpaid fees, damaged equipment and unpaid drone pilot fees. Hired for a documentary about a scallop fishing vessel off the coast of Massachusetts, production failed allegedly due to poor conditions for filming and the Louisiana drone owner became “deathly seasick.” The litigants’ resulting contract dispute must be resolved in a Louisiana court. The evidence shows that the filmmaker waived jurisdiction by virtue of a forum selection clause in a binding contract.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv912, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Damages, Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Jackson denies summary judgment to an eastern Louisiana police department and a parish sheriff’s office on state-law claims filed on behalf of the minor child of a car passenger shot to death by two lawmen, during a traffic stop for a failed license plate light. The same video evidence that creates a genuine dispute regarding the constitutional excessive force claim against the police officer and the sheriff’s deputy also establishes a genuine dispute as to these claims to state-law claims excessive force, assault and battery.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv221, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Dick affirms a bankruptcy court ruling denying a creditor’s counsel request for more time to file proof of a claim against the debtor in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The creditor’s lawyer said he did not file his client’s claim timely because of a calendaring error, and pleaded “excusable neglect.” The district court ruling disagrees: “Neglect is the inadvertent failure to do or not to something. Counsel for [the creditor] made the conscious decision to remove deadlines from his calendar on an erroneous ill-advised assumption. This is not excusable neglect — it is a bad decision.” The bankruptcy court’s decision is affirmed.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv664, NOS: Bankruptcy Appeal 28 USC 158 - Bankruptcy, Categories: Bankruptcy, Civil Procedure, Constitution
J. Gravelles, ruling after a bench trial, finds that a home health care business failed to give its fired supervising employee the required 15 days to obtain certification of her illness, major depression, for medical leave. No reasonable person would conclude that the employer acted appropriately in giving its employee just one day to provide medical documentation considering the “clear allowance” for 15 days, under federal law. The fired manager, who earned $12 per hour, is entitled to back pay totaling $132,000 with interest since her termination in 2018, an equal amount of damages for breach of contract, and attorney fees and costs.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 26, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv156, NOS: Family and Medical Leave Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Health Care, Damages
J. DeGravelles denies a request by a credit union to dismiss a Louisiana resident’s amended class action complaint alleging that the institution violated a consumer protection regulation governing electronic fund transfers by not accurately describing its overdraft practices. The litigant has alleged sufficient facts to give rise to the inference that a regulation was violated. The credit union is not covered by the regulation’s safe harbor provision because the suit does not challenge the form in which the disclosures were made.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 22, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv368, NOS: Banks and Banking - Other Suits, Categories: Consumer Law, Banking / Lending, Class Action
J. DeGravelles denies summary judgment to the owner of an offshore production platform on its argument that is entitled to immunity from liability as the borrowing employer of a worker injured while working as part of a “human chain” to move grocery boxes from pallets to storage locations on the structure. There is conflicting evidence regarding whether the conduct of contractors on the platform modified the contract provision purporting to prohibit borrowed employee status and disputes of fact regarding the control the various contractors exercised, during the incident.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv15, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Employment, Immunity, Damages
J. DeGravelles denies a request by the founding president and majority owner of an environmental services company to dismiss its trade secrets theft lawsuit against him, his daughter and a competitor he started. Because an earlier age-discrimination complaint by the founding president against the first environmental services company he started and that company’s present suit against him “do not arise” from the same set of operative facts, the company now suing its founder was not required by rules of procedure to bring its theft claims as counterclaims-in-reply.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv866, NOS: Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) - Property Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Environment, Trade Secrets
J. Bourgeois denies a request by an insurance company to depose additional corporate representatives on the issue of unpaid damages alleged by its insured, a business that owns 36 apartment complexes in Louisiana. The insurer argues that the president of the apartment complex corporation has given insufficient responses on the topic. That the business will not be required to designate a new corporate representative on the issue of damages does not leave the insurance company without any remedies.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Bourgeois, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv485, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Damages, Discovery
J. DeGravelles grants a renewed request for dismissal from an oil and gas corporation tasked with overseeing the state-ordered cleanup of a former Superfund site. A subcontractor on the restoration project has failed to make sufficient allegations to support its claim for unjust enrichment against the supervisor of an industry fund for the cleanup operation corporation. Because the subcontractor has a contractual remedy against the general contractor for the job, the subcontractor is precluded from bringing an unjust enrichment against the corporation for $887,386 in unpaid invoices.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv62, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Energy, Environment, Contract