18 results for 'judge:"Atkins"'.
[Consolidated.] J. Atkins finds that the trial court properly denied a mother's motion to relocate from Louisiana to Florida. In this case, the mother does not show that relocation was in the children's best interest because she provided no support for her claims that Jacksonville would be better for the parties' daughters and did not provide any evidence about how the daughters felt about the move. Further, the trial court properly found the mother in contempt for failing to bring the children for a visit from Jacksonville to New Orleans during Mardi Gras. The mother alleged that she could not bring them for financial reasons but also contended that the move to Jacksonville was beneficial due to her increased salary. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 2023-CA-0463, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
[Consolidated.] J. Atkins finds that the trial court should not have found for a tax sale purchaser of a property on its petition to annul judgment rendered in favor of the original owner's exception of no right of action on the purchaser's petition to confirm title. In this case, the purchaser claimed that the owner clandestinely changed the address of its property after the tax sale purchase and failed to inform the trial court, which constituted fraud or ill practices. A determination of the intent behind the owner's failure to inform the trial court that it changed its property address hinges on questions of credibility and is a question of fact which is inappropriate for summary judgment. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 2023-CA-0707, Categories: Property, Contract
J. Atkins finds that the Civil Service Commission properly determined that a sewerage board employee was never made a permanent employee. In this case, the employee never met the minimum qualifications for the Utility Human Resources Administrator position. The employee's transfer to transient status was effective and occurred prior to the end of his working test period. The transfer to transient status was actually designed to benefit the employee by allowing him to stay in his position, and the transfer and gave him an additional year and a half in his position and extra time to try to obtain professional certification. Since the employee never finished his working test period to become a permanent employee, he had no right to a general disciplinary appeal. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: April 5, 2024, Case #: 2023-CA-0531, Categories: Employment, Contract
J. Atkins finds that the trial court properly determined that a port is a political subdivision, rather than a state agency, when granting the port's motion to strike the jury demand on a cargo company's petition for breach of lease and unfair trade practices. Although the port was considered a state agency under early jurisprudence, the port's designation as a state agency did not continue with the ratification of the 1974 state constitution. The state legislature included the deep-water port commissions as part of local government. Further, the port is not listed as a state agency on the Governor's website. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 2024-C-0026, Categories: Jury, Agency, Contract
J. Atkins finds that the trial court properly determined that a firefighter had an occupational disease covered by the Firefighter’s Heart and Lung Act and that he was disabled. The firefighter's doctor testified that he specifically told the firefighter that he was disabled from being a firefighter as a result of his atrial fibrillation. The firefighter testified that he felt a crushing pain in his chest, dizziness, rapid breathing, and faintness when he had an episode. Further, the firefighter testified that if he experienced an episode of atrial fibrillation during a response to a fire, he would have had to leave the scene. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 2023-CA-0495, Categories: Employment, Workers' Compensation
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J. Atkins finds that the trial court should not have denied the state's motion to continue trial in a sexual abuse of a minor action. In this case, the trial court did not take into consideration that the state's witnesses were not available on the trial date. One witness was the forensic nurse practitioner who completed a report in the matter, and the other witness was an expert in child sexual abuse forensic examinations, child sexual abuse, and trauma. Further, a continuance would not violate defendant's right to a speedy trial. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: January 23, 2024, Case #: 2024-K-0034, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Sex Offender, Speedy Trial
J. Atkins upholds the trial court’s dismissal of the patient’s motion to review an unfavorable jury verdict and a motion for a new trial in a medical malpractice case, confirming the jury’s finding that the patient’s primary care physician did not breach the standard of care when he failed to refer the patient to the emergency room after he was admitted with symptoms of cardiac arrest. The verdict was based on fair interpretation of the evidence and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a new trial. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: 23-CA-0215, Categories: Jury, Medical Malpractice
J. Atkins finds that the trial court should not have granted an injured driver's motion to quash the defendant driver's subpoena to the injured driver's insurer for information related to the case. A review of the insurer's agreements is necessary to determine if the collateral source rule applies and whether the defendant driver has a valid defense against the application of the collateral source rule. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: December 20, 2023, Case #: 2023-C-0718, Categories: Discovery, Contract
J. Atkins finds that the trial court properly granted an oil company's "motion to adopt the most feasible plan" for the evaluation and remediation of environmental damage on a property as necessitated by decades of oil and gas operations on the property. The property owner's claim that there is a lack of complete delineation of the vertical and horizontal extent of the environmental damage does not invalidate the plan because statute is clear that non-compliance with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources' Act 312 implementing regulations is not fatal to a "most feasible plan." Further, the property owner does not show that the plan is statutorily or constitutionally invalid. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 2023-CA-0269, Categories: Environment, Contract
J. Atkins finds that the trial court should not have granted defendant's motion to suppress drug evidence. The officer searched defendant's residence under a warrant based on a confidential informant buying cocaine from someone at the residence. Further, the officer explained in his affidavit that he had been surveilling the residence before the controlled buy and observed visits "indicative of narcotic activity." Therefore, there was probable cause for the warrant. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: November 20, 2023, Case #: 2023-K-0690, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Search
J. Atkins finds that the trial court properly granted an exception of prescription in favor of employers on the decedent's family's Jones Act suit regarding asbestos exposure while working on the employer's vessels. The federal discovery rule and state's principle of contra non valentem does not apply when the injury and cause were knowable to the plaintiff. Therefore, the statutes of limitations under federal and state law began when the decedent was diagnosed with mesothelioma. In this case, it is undisputed that the family learned of the decedent's mesothelioma diagnosis in September 2012 and that the family did not file suit until nearly nine years after the diagnosis. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: November 15, 2023, Case #: 2023-CA-0116, Categories: Civil Procedure, Maritime, Asbestos
J. Atkins finds that defendant was properly convicted of second degree rape. The evidence shows that the victim did not consent to sexual intercourse with defendant during their date. The victim testified that before leaving a music venue on their date, she told defendant multiple times that she did not want to have sex and only consented to going to his condominium to eat. The victim told defendant "no" multiple times as he aggressively kissed her, attempted to take off her clothes, and forcefully penetrated her against her will. Further, there was testimony from another victim, detailing a sexual assault that was similar to the current case. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: October 30, 2023, Case #: 2022-KA-0628, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender
J. Atkins finds that the trial court properly ruled in favor of the owner in an action seeking confirmation of her tax sale title and sole ownership of a property and correctly denied the individual's motion for a new trial. The trial court correctly found in favor of the owner on the basis of post-sale notice. The individual failed to establish any issue of fact as to the validity of the tax sale. The curator ad hoc exercised reasonable diligence in finding and notifying the individual of the owner's petition. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: August 11, 2023, Case #: 2022-CA-0853, Categories: Property
J. Atkins finds that the trial court properly dismissed a former wife's negligence claim against her husband's mother and another family for the husband's violation of a warrant to return their child to the wife's custody. In this case, the mother and the family did not owe a duty to the wife not to negligently precipitate the crime of a third party. Further, the wife did not allege that the husband's mother or the family caused the husband to violate the warrant or engaged in a pattern of conduct to deprive the wife of permanent custody of the child. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 2022-CA-0820, Categories: Family Law, Negligence
J. Atkins finds that the trial court should not have determined the city council acted arbitrarily and capriciously in its denial of a developer's request for a zoning map amendment. Under Louisiana jurisprudence, since the city council's vote constituted a zoning decision by a legislative body, it is presumed to be valid unless the developer can demonstrate that the decision was arbitrary. In this case, there were only two public comments in favor of the zoning amendment request, one being from a member of the developer's corporation. The rest of the public comments were against the zoning request, citing concerns of property values and showing that the developer bought the land knowing that it was not zoned to be fully commercial. Further, there were concerns regarding removing affordable housing for low-income residents, additional commercial activity keeping their children up at night, and that the zoning change would affect the culture and historic background of the neighborhood. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: June 22, 2023, Case #: 2022-CA-0813, Categories: Evidence, Government, Zoning
J. Atkins finds that the trial court properly dismissed an architectural design firm's claim that a life insurance company improperly denied its claim for benefits related to the death of the firm's members. In this case, the evidence shows that the firm had not made a timely premium payment before its member's death. The policy included express language authorizing reinstatement following lapse for non-payment provided certain conditions were satisfied, including that the insured member was still alive. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: May 19, 2023, Case #: 2022-CA-0783, Categories: Insurance, Contract
J. Atkins finds that the trial court should not have found that the driver of a truck owned by a disposal company had permission to drive the vehicle and was a covered driver at the time the car collision took place. There was testimony that the employer informed the truck driver that he could not drive the truck until he resolved his driver’s license issues. Reversed in part.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: May 19, 2023, Case #: 2022-CA-0693, Categories: Insurance, Contract