111 results for 'court:"USDC Middle District of Louisiana"'.
[Consolidated.] J. DeGravelles denies requests by the city and several police officers to dismiss negligence claims by a protester they arrested during a demonstration against the police killing of Alton Sterling in 2017. The lasting impact of the woman’s unlawful arrest is significant. As a licensed professional, she was required to notify licensing agencies about a pending felony charge for “inciting a riot” for the years between her arrest and the expiration date for her prosecution. Also, she says she "has not wanted to protest and has a heightened sense of distrust and fear.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 3:17cv179, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Jackson grants a family’s request for default judgment in a wrongful death suit, awarding in excess of $4.8 million in damages against a business that rents floatation tubes for customers on the Amite River. The father and husband of the survivors, who could not swim, drowned when he fell out of the inner tube. The company did not respond to family allegations that if falsely assured its customers who could not swim that the river was safe and that life jackets were not necessary or required because of the alleged shallow river depth. The award included bystander damages. The drowning of the father on Father’s Day can be reasonably expected to cause severe mental anguish to his wife and children, their eyewitness testimony conveys the seriousness of their emotional distress. The decedent’s widow subsequently experienced suicide ideation and was diagnosed with severe PTSD, anxiety and insomnia. His three children have daily dreams about their dad and the events of that day.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv310, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Damages, Wrongful Death, Business Practices
J. Dick grants a request by incarcerated juvenile offenders to certify a class-action civil suit against the Governor of Louisiana and state corrections officials for the transfer of certain youths in state custody to the former “death row” facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. The state says the transfers applied to a “handful” of violent youth who were endangering the public by repeatedly attempting to escape from youth care facilities statewide. The suit alleges locked-up youth have been allegedly harmed by the threat of transfer to Angola as a form of punishment where their constitutional rights will be violated by continuous cell restrictions and a lack of educational, rehabilitative, recreational, mental health services. Further, the suit challenges the state’s alleged failure to accommodate a sub-class of disabled children confined at Angola. The goal of the juveniles’ suit is “specific and quite simple:” forbid the state from transferring youth to the state’s maximum-security prison for adult men.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv573, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Constitution, Evidence, Government
J. Jackson grants requests to amend a bench trial ruling in favor of a former environmental health and safety specialist for a natural gas pipeline company who prevailed at trial on state whistleblower claims alleging that he was fired in retaliation for refusing to dilute sewerage samples so his employer could pass regulatory checks. The fired whistleblower is awarded attorney fees of $272,299 and costs of $17,905. In addition, his ex-bosses must pay him treble damages on six months of lost wages for a total of $119,586, plus daily interest on the trebled award amount.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 3:19cv50, NOS: Other Labor Litigation - Labor, Categories: Damages, Whistleblowers, Attorney Fees
J. Dick denies remand to a Dollar General customer and dismisses a store manager from her personal injury suit alleging liability for her trip-and-fall involving a Coca-Cola pallet. The shopper does not allege any specific duties of care that the manager owed the customer regarding the maintenance and safety of the premises. Furthermore, a customer incident report does not shed any light on the manager’s knowledge of, or involvement with, the placement of the coke pallet prior to the litigant’s trip and fall. The manager is dismissed from the suit and her Louisiana citizenship must be disregarded for purposes of determining jurisdiction.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: August 14, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv930, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, Tort, Jurisdiction
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J. Jackson denies summary judgment to Walmart, ruling that the big box store chain must face a jury trial on the personal injury claims of a Black Friday customer. She was inspecting a Roku device when a display of multiple boxed TV sets suddenly toppled over, striking her. Multiple Walmart employees agreed that the TV boxes fell because they were improperly stacked. Further, there is sufficient evidence in the store’s video surveillance footage for a reasonable jury to return a verdict finding that a second customer, a mystery woman in a “pink shirt” did not cause the televisions to fall, as Walmart maintained. To prevail in a falling merchandise case in Louisiana, the customer must demonstrate that the merchant’s negligence caused accident, not the litigant or another customer “in the aisle at that moment.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: July 28, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv723, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, Jury, Damages
J. Jackson denies summary judgment to a Louisiana health care provider for Medicaid agencies, ruling in favor of its New York-based insurer in a dispute over coverage. None of the relevant communications prior to a 2019 settlement between an Oklahoma psychiatric facility, Florida’s Medicaid agency and the Louisiana health services corporation constituted “claims” as required by the New York insurer’s liability insurance policy covering errors and omissions. Therefore, coverage under the policy was never triggered.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: July 17, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv50, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Health Care, Insurance, Settlements
J. Dick grants summary judgment to the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office on civil rights claims brought by environmental activists in canoes and kayaks who were arrested and jailed, after admittedly blocking a moving construction barge, during protests in 2018 over the building of a pipeline across Louisiana wetlands. The officers had probable cause to arrest the activists for obstructing the path of the barge in a navigable waterway. Video evidence of the bayou protests does not depict any body language suggesting the demonstrators are intimidated by the barge or police airboats, as they repeatedly placed themselves right back in front of the barge. No reasonable jury could conclude that video of the demonstration depicts the protestors using the waterway recreationally.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: July 17, 2023, Case #: 3:19cv516, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Environment
J. Wilder-Doomes denies a request by an embattled Louisiana nursing home operator seeking to withdraw deposition statements made in August 2022 to a bank suing him for defaulting on substantial loans. The businessman unsuccessfully argued he has been mentally incompetent from pain and treatment with opioids since a major dental surgery in June 2021 and he has been unable to “concentrate or engage in a social conversation, much less a business communication.” The declarations by the businessman and his wife were contradicted by live testimony and lack credibility. His incompetency defense has been rejected in other pending suits. He also claims his attorney abandoned him.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Wilder-Doomes, Filed On: July 11, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv680, NOS: Negotiable Instrument - Contract, Categories: Discovery, Banking / Lending
J. Bourgeois denies a requests by consul for the American Civil Liberties for the “complete files” of all juvenile offenders temporarily housed in the former death row facility at the state’s maximum security prison at Angola, Louisiana. Advocates for the detained children have not set forth any arguments as to why records dating to each juvenile’s adjudication are relevant to an upcoming hearing on current conditions at the youth detention facility on the 18,000-acre prison farm. The hearing is set for Aug. 15, 2023.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Bourgeois, Filed On: July 9, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv573, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Family Law, Government, Prisoners' Rights
J. Jackson grants, in part, a discovery request by potential class action litigants seeking to represent at-risk and marginalized Louisiana children on claims against the Department of Health. Litigants may conduct limited expert discovery to define the term “intensive behavioral services." A more precise definition would help “put a finer point” on class claims.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: June 15, 2023, Case #: 3:19cv770, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities - Other - Civil Rights, Categories: Government, Health Care, Medicaid
J. Jackson denies a “bizarre” request by the East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff for reconsideration of an apparently favorable ruling dismissing constitutional claims of medical neglect against him, arising from the death of a pretrial detainee in the parish prison. The sheriff “quibbles” with the order that he alone, as “keeper” of the keys, should respond to the suit because adding the same official-capacity claims against other sued entities is confusing and unnecessary. All constitutional claims have been dismissed against the sheriff, the city-parish, and the jail’s private health contractor. So, barring any reinstatement of claims, revisiting the dismissal order would be “an exercise of impermissible speculation.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: June 14, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv488, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Negligence, Wrongful Death
J. Bourgeois grants requests by a physician and an orthopedic clinic, quashing an insurer’s subpoenas for 25 of 27 categories of documents. The ruling finds good cause to protect both clinic and the physician, a litigant’s rebuttal expert in a personal injury case, from the insurer’s overly broad and burdensome requests. The physician, under penalty of perjury, estimates that compliance with one request would require him to spend at least 30 minutes reviewing over 4,000 individual patient charts at his standard fee of $2,000 per hour (i.e. over $4 million). Requiring the production of documents sought for the sole purpose of providing potential statistical evidence to undermine the medical expert’s bias and credibility would be overly burdensome and disproportionate to the needs of the case.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Bourgeois, Filed On: June 1, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv153, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Insurance, Experts, Discovery
J. Jackson denies summary judgment to Louisiana’s only forensic mental health hospital, holding that a civil detainee has carried his burden of showing that a psychiatric aide at the state facility violated his constitutional rights by forcing him to attend a Christian worship service over his express objection. The state’s attempt to show its employee, an avowed Methodist, acted reasonably considering a staffing shortage, relies on the “wrong law” and facts. The sharply worded ruling adds: “This case is going to trial.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv267, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Jury
J. Jackson denies requests by the State of Louisiana to dismiss a prison inmate’s excessive force claims against a guard escorting him to a treatment center at the state maximum security prison. The inmate claims his feet and hands were shackled when he implored the officer to slow down. The officer allegedly threw the manacled prisoner down, kneed him in the ribs and choked him, resulting in the inmate’s dislocated shoulder. A prison official’s use of force is excessive and violates the Constitution “only when such force is applied maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm rather than to maintain or restore discipline. The inmate’s allegations do not reveal the need for any use of force.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv68, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution
J. Jackson denies a request by the Sheriff of East Baton Rouge Parish and others to dismiss constitutional claims by the daughter of a lifelong resident — a retired government employee, active church member and grandmother — who died in jail after being arrested for her first time following a domestic altercation. She allegedly died of complications of congestive heart failure due to prison officials’ refusal to dispense her prescribed heart medication. Her daughter is allowed to amend her complaint to comply with federal pleading requirements.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv488, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Wrongful Death
J. DeGravelles denies a request by the Secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Corrections to dismiss experts for three inmates who are suing him personally for unlawfully over-detaining thousands of state prisoners each year since 2012. One expert served as director of state correctional systems at Missouri and Arizona and participated in the American Bar Association’s development of standards for the treatment of prisoners. The secretary unsuccessfully argued that simply because the expert had a career in prison administration, “which never remotely involved the state of Louisiana, does not qualify her to opine on whether [DOC] has over detained anyone.” The ruling disagrees, finding the out-of-state expert “sufficiently qualified.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: May 25, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv233, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Experts, Prisoners' Rights
J. DeGravelles denies a request by a doctor at a parish jail, refusing to dismiss constitutional claims against him by the family of a prisoner who died from brain cancer. The family alleges that the physician’s denial of a life-saving medical device, an Optune, violated both state human rights law and his constitutional right to medical care. The doctor’s refusal to provide the device, despite “full knowledge” that the inmate needed it, constituted deliberate indifference, and “every reasonable officer would know, beyond debate, that this was the case.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv548, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Medical Malpractice
J. Joseph denies a request by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and dismisses, on jurisdictional grounds, a suit by two Louisiana investors in a venture seeking a mining permit for what may be “the largest gold discovery ever made” in Alaska’s northwest Seward Peninsula. Because the Corps has yet to rule on the investors’ appeal of an initial permit denial, these is “not yet a final decision” by the agency for judicial review, notwithstanding the investors’ argument that the Corps’ appeal process is an “injurious waste of time.” The ruling also notes that “the Corps’ apparent misunderstanding of its own regulations is concerning.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Joseph, Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: 6:23cv114, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, Agency, Jurisdiction
J. DeGravelles grants a request by the Louisiana State Police to enforce a settlement with a fired Black trooper who alleged retaliatory termination, arising from his complaints to Louisiana news media about the deadly cover-up of the alleged beating death of a Black motorist and racially disparate discipline for other alleged police misconduct. One week after a written settlement, the fired trooper sought to revoke the deal, saying his attorney allegedly pressured him into accepting an agreement that did not reinstate his position by telling him that “he could not win at trial, nor could he win on appeal.” The settlement “almost exclusively dealt” with the ending of trooper’s employment and his counsel’s warning that she would cease representing him if he chose not to accept the deal was “not an improper threat.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv656, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Settlements, Police Misconduct