323 results for 'court:"USDC Eastern District of Louisiana "'.
J. Milazzo denies a request by state police to stay, pending appeal, a convicted sex offender���s suit alleging that since her intellectually disabling seizure, the state���s sex offender notification requirements have resulted in an unfair cycle of arrest, imprisonment and release for noncompliance. She now alleges the state requirements violate her constitutional rights to due process and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The state authorities fail to offer an argument on any of four factors required to obtain a stay pending appeal, including where the public interest lies in the litigation.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Milazzo, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv2371, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Ada / Rehabilitation Act
J. North grants summary judgment to a school board, dismissing the employment retaliation claims of a full-time high school English teacher who was relieved of his duties coaching the boys' basketball team after posting losing seasons. The teacher alleges he was fired from his coaching job in retaliation for filing a sexual harassment suit against the female school principal who previously investigated him for statewide violations of rules for student athletes. The board argued the teacher���s claims were unsubstantiated and the school superintendent gave the teacher a second chance at the coaching job, which he failed. Because the teacher cannot establish a clear case of employment retaliation, the school board is not required to offer a non-retaliatory reason for the adverse employment action against him as a basketball coach.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: North, Filed On: December 20, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv1081, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Education, Evidence, Employment Retaliation
J. Ashe grants summary judgment to an insurer and dismisses bad faith claims by a property owner seeking policy coverage for $298,000 in hurricane damages to a 30-year-old metal roof. The insurer did not act in an arbitrary and capricious when it denied the policyholder���s claim because it had just and reasonable grounds, including its experts��� investigations and opinions, to believe the policy exclusion applies.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Ashe, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv3292, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Insurance, Damages
J. Barbier grants a request by a Texas-based corporation to dismiss theft of trade secrets claims by a Louisiana based-HVAC goods and service business. The complaint does not explain exactly what actions or conduct by the Texas corporation could constitute egregious actions involving elements of fraud, misrepresentation, deception or other unethical conduct, which would violate Louisiana���s law against unfair trade practices. Instead, the HVAC business accuses it of stealing information about the design and production of its product without any supporting evidence, which is insufficient for a determination of whether the Texas company���s conduct was unfair and violative of public policy.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1669, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Fraud, Trade Secrets, Unfair Competition
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J. Lemelle grants remand to the state of Louisiana and two parish governments, ordering various oil and gas industry producers and refiners to face joint claims their production activities resulted in pollution and subsequent wetland loss along Louisiana���s coastline. The oil and gas companies failed to establish they are entitled to federal-officer jurisdiction, as they do not show the complained-of production actions were associated with or connected to a federal officer.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Lemelle, Filed On: December 13, 2023, Case #: 2:18cv5213, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Energy, Environment, Government
J. Guidry denies requests by a parish school board and a school bus monitor to dismiss civil claims he repeatedly sexually abused a severely intellectually disabled child under age 10, on the argument that sexual abuse does not qualify as actionable discrimination under federal disability discrimination laws. While the Fifth Circuit has not directly addressed the issue, based on persuasive evidence in circuit precedents, as well as the plain statutory language, the school bus monitor���s alleged sexual abuse of the disabled child may be actionable discrimination under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Guidry, Filed On: December 11, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1532, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities - Other - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Employment, Jurisdiction
J. Guidry denies a request by the Louisiana State Police to dismiss Title VII racial discrimination claims by a white former lieutenant who alleges two less qualified, non-white lieutenants were promoted ahead of him to captain in the department���s gaming enforcement division. The department unsuccessfully argues that although the lieutenant may have held the highest examination grade and had the most years-in-service, he was not necessarily more qualified because he had ���no actual gaming experience.��� While this may be true, and while the department may ultimately prevail, the lieutenant has set forth plausible allegations that he suffered race discrimination.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Guidry, Filed On: December 11, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv772, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Government, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Zainey denies summary judgment to an ex-defendant whose murder conviction was vacated on constitutional grounds after he spent more than 28 years in prison. The former defendant cannot rely on the "self-flagellating��� post-conviction admissions of the New Orleans District Attorney in 2021 to fulfill his burden of proof in his civil rights suit against the DA's office, alleging prosecutorial misconduct by prior regimes. When the DA joined the defendant���s post-conviction appeal, he sought justice for the ex-defendant and he did so ���at the risk of his own office���s coffers, the protection of which would have better served his own office."
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vance, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 22cv15, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Malicious Prosecution
J. Africk denies an early request by the Louisiana Special School District to dismiss a self-represented black woman's race- and gender-based hostile workplace claims by its fired director of accountability, adding the district may prevail at a later stage of the litigation. Her complaint alleges her boss, the district superintendent, made derogatory comments about her hair, eyelashes and masculine demeanor, and that he told her to stop talking about her purported discovery that some employees were unqualified for their jobs because he was "not going to get rid of any white folks.���
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: December 6, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv3083, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Vance denies a request by an insurance company to dismiss hurricane damage claims by an antique shop in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans. Because the insurers have not explained why dismissal, rather than a stay, is warranted, the court declines to dismiss the case pending arbitration.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vance, Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv4343, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Insurance
J. Guidry, ruling on remand from the Fifth Circuit, grants summary judgment to the medical manufacturer of an artificial shoulder. The patient cannot carry his burden to show the device was unreasonably dangerous due to failure to conform with any express warranty.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Guidry, Filed On: December 1, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv2706, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Health Care, Product Liability, Warranty
J. Brown denies requests by a general contractor and its surety to dismiss a subcontractor���s Miller Act claim totaling $1.1 million for work allegedly performed on a federal construction project in New Orleans on grounds the subcontractor���s claims are subject to arbitration. Citing Fifth Circuit precedent, the ruling rejects dismissal of the federal suit as both inimical to the law giving a subcontractor the right to sue a surety issuing a bond to a general contractor and as a hindrance to litigants from arbitrating their disputes. Therefore, the subcontractor���s federal Miller Act claims against the surety are stayed, pending arbitration of the subcontractor���s state law claims against the general contractor.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Brown, Filed On: December 1, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv2119, NOS: Miller Act - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Construction, Contract
J. Fallon denies a request by a co-trustee of a charitable trust to strike the jury trial demand of a co-trustee the court removed for breach of fiduciary duties. The surviving co-trustee's suit against his expelled cohort seeks monetary damages for funds to which the beneficiary trusts are entitled. This is a legal remedy and, therefore, the expelled trustee is entitled to a trial by jury.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: November 30, 2023, Case #: 2:17cv5368, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Trusts, Damages, Fiduciary Duty
J. Fallon denies summary judgment to a fuel supplier domiciled in the United Kingdom on its request for a maritime lien of $296,000 against the charterer of a Liberian-flagged vessel for unpaid fuel costs. Even if the fuel was purchased by someone with apparent authority from the vessel, the issue of damages and the reasonability of fuel supplier���s calculations is ���factually pregnant," which is best resolved at trial.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: November 30, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv595, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Maritime, Business Expectancy
J. Roby denies a request by a staffing agency for New Orleans area hospitals to sanction counsel for a health care services provider for alleged harassment of its corporate representative related to her deposition for a contractual dispute. Only four pages of a deposition transcript have been provided and, therefore, it is impossible to know whether the accused litigant���s requests were proper.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Roby, Filed On: November 30, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv2322, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Employment, Evidence, Health Care
J. Morgan grants a request by domestic and foreign insurers to arbitrate hurricane damage claims by a condominium association and stays its policy coverage suit pending out-of-court negotiations. The condo association argued the arbitration provision is against state public policy because Louisiana law generally prohibits arbitration agreements in insurance policies governing property within the state. While the court recently held that state law provides an exception to the prohibition on arbitration clauses to surplus lines carriers, such as the condo owners��� insurers, the provision cited is applicable at the award-enforcement stage only. Therefore, the association���s argument is premature.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Morgan, Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv3546, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Insurance, Jurisdiction
J. Barbier grants summary judgment to a group of insurers, dismissing claims of federal health care violations by primary care physicians one day after rejecting their antitrust claim, effectively gutting the doctors��� suit alleging they conspired to reject their claims for allergy services. The doctors unsuccessfully sought a ruling the insurers were violating Medicare and Medicaid regulations aimed at protecting health care providers from discrimination. None of the statutes cited provide the doctors with a right to sue the insurers, which the physicians acknowledge by their failure to respond to the insurers��� argument on this point.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: 2:18cv399, NOS: Antitrust - Other Suits, Categories: Antitrust, Evidence, Health Care
J. Fallon grants summary judgment to an Alabama shipyard and employer of a crane operator and against the owner of an offshore supply boat allegedly responsible for an offshore transfer accident that resulted in the crushing of the operator���s right hand, causing him to sustain partial amputation of his fingers. Because the shipyard has no obligation to indemnify the supply boat owner for vessel negligence, the shipyard similarly has no obligation to obtain insurance that would cover such indemnification.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv4004, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Employment, Negligence, Indemnification
J. Fallon finds a South Louisiana shipyard has successfully invoked an Act of God defense and, therefore, is not liable for damages to one of 19 vessels moored at its docking facilities when Hurricane Ida struck in 2021. The shipyard did all it reasonably could to prevent an un-manned vessel from breaking free and slamming into a docked workboat, during the strongest storm to hit the area since the ���Last Island Hurricane��� of 1856. A litigant invoking the Act of God defense must show ���that the accident could not have been prevented by ���human skill and precaution and a proper display of nautical skills[.]������
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv3046, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Maritime, Damages, Negligence
J. Africk denies a request by the lessor of land underneath a 19-story office tower to dismiss state law unfair trade practice claims by the owner and developer of the building, arising from a dispute over insurance provisions of a ground lease. The text of the contract cited by the lessor is ambiguous and dismissal of the building owner���s unfair trade practice claim based on the phrase "reasonably obtainable" would be inappropriate at this time.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: November 20, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv2085, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Real Estate, Contract
J. Milazzo dismisses breach of contract claims by a crewboat company and its insurer, arising from a $3.3 million judgment against the two companies and in favor of a construction worker injured on the boat. The construction worker���s employer was not obligated to obtain insurance coverage for crew and employee liabilities, as the crewboat company and its insurer alleged.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Milazzo, Filed On: November 17, 2023, Case #: 2:17cv585, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Contract, Workers' Compensation
J. Brown denies remand to a private landowner in coastal Louisiana that seeks to evict a natural gas pipeline company and removal of its pipelines after a 20-year lease agreement expired. The 15,000-acre landowner, which also issues annual fishing and hunting permits, unsuccessfully argues that because the tenant���s annual rent was only $2,500, it would take 30 years of nonpayment of rent to reach the $75,000 minimum for federal jurisdiction. The ruling finds the landowner���s proposed annual rent of $6,000 with periodic increases is more appropriate; raising the disputed minimum of the 20-year lease to at least $120,000. The energy company says it would cost at least $75,000 to remove its pipelines and equipment.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Brown, Filed On: November 16, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv04989, NOS: Rent Lease & Ejectment - Real Property, Categories: Energy, Landlord Tenant, Jurisdiction
J. Currault grants a request by an education technology company that provides classroom audio and camera systems, ordering a software development company to supplement its responses to more specifically identify the trade secrets that the technology company has allegedly stolen. A recently enacted rule requires a statement of a greater degree of particularity than the categories within which the trade secret information may fall, such as that set forth in the publicly available complaint, and more than simple generalized descriptions.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Currault, Filed On: November 15, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv2862, NOS: Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) - Property Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Evidence, Trade Secrets