44 results for 'court:"Louisiana Supreme Court"'.
J. Genovese finds that while the trial court should not have determined that the phrase "in any way interested in" in the statute was facially unconstitutionally overbroad, the phrase was unconstitutionally vague as applied to the chairman because it violated the chairman's federal and state constitutional right to due process. The Board of Ethics alleged Ethics Code violations against a Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority chairman whose real estate development firm was hired as a project consultant for a public housing project. Under Murtes, “no member of the legislature or officer of the executive department of the state shall be in any way interested in any contract" was determined to be so broad, general and vague as to fail to define the offense by this court. The phrase at issue prohibits no specific action by the chairman. Affirmed in part.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Genovese, Filed On: October 20, 2023, Case #: 2023-CA-00398, Categories: Evidence, Contract
J. Crain finds that Judge G. Michael Canaday violated the Code of Judicial Conduct when he engaged in improper ex parte communications and inappropriately granted a state motion to release documents from seal without holding a hearing related to a criminal defendant's indigency. Judge Canaday's conduct resulted in the defense strategy being revealed in a second-degree murder case and gave the impression of favoring prosecutors. Therefore, Judge Canaday is publicly censured.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Crain, Filed On: October 20, 2023, Case #: 2023-O-00735, Categories: Civil Procedure, Judiciary
J. Griffin finds that the decedent's purported lost notarial testament is absolutely null. When an original notarial testament is lost, a duplicate testament can prove a valid will was executed. Under statute, a notarial testament must be signed by the testator on each page and at the end, accompanied by the signatures of the witnesses and notary on the attestation clause. In this case, the unsigned copy of the lost notarial testament and the narrative affidavits fail to meet the statutory requirements. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Griffin, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 2022-C-01763, Categories: Evidence, Wills / Probate
J. McCallum vacates the trial court's order to remit funds of $2.7 million into the court’s registry because it unconstitutionally intrudes upon the Parish School Board's delegated responsibility to appropriate funds under Crooks. The funds were collected through the enforcement of an ordinance titled "School Bus Safety Enforcement Program for Detecting Violations of Overtaking and Passing School Buses." Vacated in part.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: McCallum, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 2022-CC-01713, Categories: Constitution, Class Action
J. Crichton finds that Article 930.10 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows the judicial branch to exercise the governor's power to pardon a final conviction, is unconstitutional. The statute permits a court to create a “post conviction plea agreement” for the purpose of “amending the petitioner’s conviction,” by overturning a defendant's final conviction, and then, accepting their guilty plea and imposing the agreed upon sentence. Article 930.10 allows a court to overturn a final conviction solely because a defendant and the district attorney jointly requested the court to do so, and this violates the doctrine of separation of powers. In this case, the district court should not have denied the Attorney General’s motion to vacate defendant's post-conviction plea agreement as unconstitutional. Further, the district court's decision overturning defendant’s second degree murder conviction is vacated. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Crichton, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 2022-KK-01827, Categories: Constitution, Judiciary, Murder
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J. Crain finds that refusals to engage in illegal or environmentally damaging activities are "disclosures" under the Louisiana Environmental Whistleblower Statute and is a protected action. The statute was enacted pursuant to a constitutional mandate to protect the environment, and "disclosures" encompass a refusal to act. Further, the statute gives protection to an employee who reports to his supervisor an activity of the employer that he or she reasonably believes is in violation of an environmental law, even when reporting violations of environmental law is a part of his or her normal job responsibilities.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Crain, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 2023-CQ-00246, Categories: Employment, Environment, Contract
Per curiam, the Louisiana high court remands the matter to the district court to reconsider an injured construction worker's exceptions including the exception of no cause of action, in light of Moreno, regarding third party demand claims against the defendant construction company and the defendant university where the renovations were taking place. In this case, the plumber does not allege that the third party, as a general contractor, is liable to him outside of the third party's negligence or fault.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 2022-C-01715, Categories: Construction, Contract
J. Hughes finds that the putative biological father in this case has no fundamental constitutional right to parent a child born to a mother, who was married to and living with another man at the time of the child’s conception and birth. Under statute, a biological father is given a limited one-year
window in which to file a paternity action when there is a legal father. Based on the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, there does not exist an unqualified fundamental right for the biological father to the child. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Hughes, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 2023-CJ-00060, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
J. Genovese vacates the trial court's declaration that Act 322, the statute that revived prescribed child sex abuse claims for a limited three-year period, is unconstitutional. There was a statutory basis for sustaining the exception of prescription without having to determine the constitutionality of Act 322, and the instant case was not in the proper procedural posture for constitutional review. Vacated in part.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Genovese, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 2022-CA-01826, Categories: Civil Procedure, Constitution, Negligence
J. Crichton finds that the trial court properly determined that parents of a deceased daughter did not state a cause of action on their claim to nullify their daughter’s marriage to her husband. The parents alleged that the marriage was for the sole purpose of evading federal immigration laws to obtain permanent resident status for the husband. Based upon the exclusive list of impediments as listed in Article 94, the parents have not adequately pleaded a cause of action to nullify the marriage. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Crichton, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 2022-C-01570, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
J. Griffin finds that the court of appeal properly determined that a creditor’s recovery in a deficiency judgment action is barred against a surety when a creditor forecloses on property through a judicial sale without appraisal. Under the Louisiana Deficiency Judgment Act, the surety is discharged from his obligations because the foreclosure through a judicial sale without appraisal left the surety with no rights of subrogation. Affirmed as amended.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Griffin, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 2022-C-01088, Categories: Debt Collection, Contract
J. McCallum finds that the court of appeal should not have reduced the general damages awarded to the minor victim of a sexual assault. The jury properly assessed the damages amount based on the victim being an eight-year-old special education student being sexually assaulted during a camp by a fourteen-year-old child who was on probation for aggravated sexual assault. The victim's father testified that the victim has not been the same since the incident, began to struggle with anger and "has a lot more negativity." Further, an expert testified that the victim was afraid, nervous, and anxious and has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the sexual assault. Reversed in part.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: McCallum, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 2022-C-00961, Categories: Evidence, Damages, Negligence
Per curiam, the Louisiana Supreme Court suspends attorney Henry Klein for one year and one day. Klein made unsubstantiated, disparaging remarks about a trial judge and opposing counsel, engaged in ex parte communications with the trial court’s law clerk, and continued to file duplicative pleadings into the record related to a civil matter.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 18, 2023, Case #: 2023-B-0066, Categories: Evidence, Attorney Discipline