319 results for 'court:"USDC Eastern District of Louisiana "'.
J. Vitter finds for a two-member limited liability corporation in Louisiana, holding two Texas-based LLCs jointly liable for the outstanding balance of a $4 million loan. Although the obligation was vested to one LLC by operation of a merger, the original borrower-LLC was never released from its obligation under the promissory note. Furthermore, while the original borrower validly allocated its obligation under the promissory note to the other Texas LLC in the merger, thereby making it the primary obligor of the note under Texas law, nothing in Texas law supports that original borrowing LLC extinguished all liability via the merger.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1707, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Corporations, Banking / Lending, Contract
J. Papillion grants a New York resident���s request for an emergency temporary restraining order against a man she met online, barring him from spending a total of $380,000 she transferred into his private cryptocurrency wallet after he fraudulently represented he was using various websites allegedly owned and operated by Coinbase. She has met all four criteria for the order, which is necessary to prevent the transfer of the New Yorker���s allegedly stolen assets into unidentifiable digital wallets.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Papillion, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv480, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Fraud, Restraining Order, Conversion
J. Morgan denies a request by an Illinois-based insurer to compel arbitration of a dispute with a New Orleans-based law firm for its defense and indemnity from a lawsuit in the state of California. That the underlying litigation is in California is an insufficient reason to trigger the application of California law. Louisiana���s policy interests would be most seriously impaired if its law were not applied.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Morgan, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv6235, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Choice Of Law
J. Morgan denies summary judgment to a pest control company and its employee who allegedly hit a bicyclist while trying to park in New Orleans��� historic French Quarter. The company argues the bicyclist was peddling the wrong way on the street, adding he is solely at fault for the accident and his injuries. However, a partial ruling would not settle the question of liability and other issues, such as whether the cyclist bears any blame for the accident and his injuries.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Morgan, Filed On: April 15, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv3870, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Employment, Negligence
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Upon remand, J. Barbier rules on the Fifth Circuit's question of ���who, specifically��� directed the closing of Louisiana's Bayou Steel plant and the illegal mass layoff of its 300 employees in 2019, without the 60-day notice required by the federal WARN Act. Black Diamond, the company that owned the private equity fund that acquired Bayou Steel, is not liable for closing the plant or terminating its employees without proper notice, merely for its decision to make additional loans to the financially troubled mill. Three directors Black Diamond installed on Bayou Steel���s board of directors apparently made the ���ultimate decision��� to shutter the plant once it become clear there would be no additional funding. Furthermore, the laid-off workers acknowledged Black Diamond had no legal obligation to continue lending money to the mill.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Papillion, Filed On: April 15, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv1476, NOS: Other Labor Litigation - Labor, Categories: Employment, Business Practices
J. Morgan refuses to dismiss for insufficient evidence conspiracy and excessive force claims filed by a black woman who stands 4-foot 8-inches tall and weighs less than 100 pounds. The woman claims that she was walking home after being attacked by teenagers when the deputy, who was responding to a 911 call about a fight, grabbed her by the hair, lifted her off the ground and slammed her to the ground. He remains on the force despite an alleged history of disciplinary infractions and public complaints of excessive force against minorities. She has sufficiently stated a ���causal link��� between the allegedly deliberately indifferent practices of the sheriff���s office and the deputy���s use of excessive force against her.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Morgan, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv3332, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Evidence, Police Misconduct
J. Fallon grants a policyholder���s request for default judgment against an insurer for liability in connection with its alleged failure to provide sufficient funds to cover hurricane damage to her two properties. Although the insurer received service in October 2023, it did not engage in the litigation by February 2024. The insurer also did not participate in a March 2024 hearing in which the property owner took the stand and testified to ���the saga she has experienced in the years following Hurricane Ida [2021] attempting to work with various State Farm adjusters, inspectors and representatives." Citing an incomplete evidentiary record as to the more than $4.5 million sought, a separate proceeding must be held on the damages to which the property owner is entitled.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv4618, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Insurance, Damages
J. Papillion denies a request by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction a Chinese citizen's claims concerning the delay in adjudication of her request for asylum. She alleges the agency has failed to comply with a non-discretionary requirement of federal agencies that requires adjudication of asylum applications ���within a reasonable time.��� The provision means jurisdiction exists as a federal question under a statute governing the administration of federal agencies.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Papillion, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv2, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Immigration, Agency, Jurisdiction
J. North grants a request by two employees who prevailed in an overtime-pay suit against their employer at a residential heating, air conditioning, and ventilation installer, awarding them $23,000 in attorney fees and costs. The requested $37,000 in fees and costs is reduced, in part, by a reduction in hourly rates.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: North, Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv3953, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Attorney Fees, Labor
J. Lemelle denies a request by an insurer to dismiss two homeowners��� breach of contract and bad faith claims related to their insurer���s alleged failure to compensate them for hurricane-related property damage. The insurer mistakenly contends the property owners��� insurance suit is time-barred for failure to provide notice of their claim within 365 days of the event. State law prohibits insurance policies from limiting its insured's right to sue to a period of less than two years.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Lemelle, Filed On: April 9, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv5396, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Damages
J. Morgan reverses, in part, a magistrate's denial of an inmate's motion concerning spoliation of evidence. Although four prison guards argue they lost surveillance video and body scans that justified four days of fruitless searching of an inmate suspected of inserting contraband in his rectum, there is evidence the guards acted with the intent to deprive the inmate of the photos for use in his excessive force suit against them. Furthermore, the body scans the prison produced were not of the inmate.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Morgan, Filed On: April 9, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv2680, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Evidence, Discovery, Prisoners' Rights
J. Long compels arbitration of certain claims in a maritime cargo damage dispute related to shipment of 14,000 bags of cement from Port Said, Egypt, to a cement plant in Houston, Texas. The litigants��� agreement is valid and enforceable but does not stay the entire litigation.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Long, Filed On: April 9, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv788, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Maritime, Contract
J. Morgan denies a petition by operators of a parish landfill to dismiss its neighbors��� discovery requests for pollution concentration reports and documents on toxic chemicals for its environmental contamination suit. The documents requested by litigants constitute fact work product, which contain no ���mental impressions, conclusions, opinions or legal theories of an attorney.��� Litigants also have demonstrated need and exceptional circumstances that prevent them from obtaining the same information by other means.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Morgan, Filed On: April 8, 2024, Case #: 2:18cv7889, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Civil Procedure, Environment, Discovery
J. Fallon denies summary judgment to an oilfield service cleaning business on its failed argument that Louisiana law, not general maritime law, applies to its contractual dispute with an oil and gas exploration company. Maritime law applies to contractual indemnity provisions when the contract is a maritime contract. Therefore, under its master services agreement, the cleaning business must indemnify both an oil and gas exploration company and the owner of a movable jack-up rig in an injury action against the cleaning company's worker arising from a crane-related accident aboard the rig on the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv78, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Energy, Choice Of Law, Contract
J. Vitter grants summary judgment to a transportation company involved in moving large steel containers by truck, rail and ship, finding a truck driver has failed to present proof the company played a role in loading a container that caused the operator���s truck to tip over, resulting in his injuries.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv797, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, Discovery
J. Currault awards sanctions of $9,000 in attorney fees and costs to three health care companies and against a collective suit of patient-care employees alleging violations of federal labor laws, including overtime and mealtime. Although the health care companies sought $18,000 for the employees��� alleged violations of discovery rules, that was reduced due to the use of ���block billing,��� which made ������it impossible for the court to determine the reasonableness of the hours spent on each task���.���
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Currault, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv1515, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: Civil Procedure, Discovery, Attorney Fees
J. Milazzo grants requests by insurers and against property owners suing them for inadequate compensation related to hurricane damage claims, staying the litigation pending arbitration. Contrary to the litigants��� argument, the arbitration clause at issue in the insurance dispute is enforceable under the New York Convention and federal arbitration law. The property owners��� claims of breach of contract, breach of duty of and bad faith damages claims fall under the policy���s arbitration agreement.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Milazzo, Filed On: April 1, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv4258, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Property, Damages
J. Milazzo denies requests by surplus line insurers to dismiss breach of contract claims and bad faith by a property owner alleging untimely and inadequate compensation for hurricane damage losses covered by the policy. Because the insurers fail to explain why dismissal of the suit, rather than a stay of proceedings, is warranted, the matter must be stayed pending resolution of arbitration proceedings.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Milazzo, Filed On: April 1, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv3780, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Civil Procedure, Damages
J. Vitter grants a request by two domestic insurers and two foreign insurers who jointly provide a surplus lines policy, staying a failure-to-cover suit filed by an apartment complex owner pending arbitration of claims related to fire damage. Although the owner does not dispute his policy���s arbitration provision regarding the foreign insurers, he argues state law prohibits arbitration clauses as to domestic insurers. However, the state law he cites does not apply to surplus line policies.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv7066, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Insurance, Contract
J. Barbier grants a request by a manufacturer of air conditioners and heating systems, dismissing a competitor���s state law claims of unfair trade practices arising from its hiring of a former employee who allegedly divulged the confidential details of a product produced by his former employer. The litigant HVAC company has not alleged any specific conduct by its competitor that is ���immoral, unethical, unscrupulous or substantially injurious.��� Instead, the claims against the competitor demonstrate the latter company���s permissible business judgment in hiring and product development.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1669, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Employment, Evidence, Business Practices
J. Africk grants an unopposed request by New Orleans��� Inspector General to dismiss claims filed by the former director of the city���s juvenile detention center, who resigned amid media investigations following the OIG���s investigative report alleging long absences from work, neglect of duty and breaches of the city���s swipe-card security system. The ex-director says he was denied due process. He alleged the OIG���s report on him denied him future work opportunities and destroyed his personal business endeavors. Neither harm to the ex-director's reputation nor the consequent impairment of future business or employment opportunities qualifies as a constitutionally cognizable injury.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv6607, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Government, Immunity
J. Fallon finds the owner of two nuclear power plants has proven it is entitled to damages in the amount of $1.5 million for repairs to its catwalks and supporting structures after a runaway barge slammed into the facilities��� protective clusters during Hurricane Ida. The owner has carried its burden on the elements of duty, breach and damages. The barge owner has failed to rebut the presumption of causation and, therefore, is liable to for the storm-related damages.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv504, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Evidence, Maritime, Damages
J. Africk grants requests by several corporations sued by a Louisiana manufacturer of protective coatings, dismissing for lack of jurisdiction claims they violated nondisclosure agreements in a business partnership to develop railcar coating. The litigant-manufacturer���s complaint does not allege any specific facts that show their previous business partners purposely directed activities at Louisiana, while signing an NDA with a Louisiana business does not establish the minimum contacts required for jurisdiction.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv6394, NOS: Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) - Property Rights, Categories: Corporations, Jurisdiction, Business Practices
J. Fallon denies a Texas-based alcoholic beverages distributor���s request to dismiss a negligence and defamation suit brought by a former driver. He alleges 16 months after he left the company, a lawyer for his ex-employer falsely informed a U.S. Department of Transportation website he refused to take a drug test. The allegations ���just barely��� support a defamation claim of reckless disregard for the truth.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv304, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Employment, Negligence, Defamation
J. Milazzo denies a request by a representative for a Louisiana investment firm, seeking to strike certain allegations from an Securities and Exchange Commission complaint against him and his employer that he says would prejudice the jury against him in a trial for a "cherry-picking" scheme. The SEC complaint includes allegations his previous employer fired him for inappropriate behavior that did not involve securities and that his current employer knew his ex-wife had accused him of misappropriating $450,000 from his sons��� trust accounts. The adviser can prevent prejudice by a pre-trial request to redact the allegations from the complaint ���if and when it is shown to the jury.���
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Milazzo, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv5650 , NOS: Securities/Commodities/Exchange - Other Suits, Categories: Civil Procedure, Jury, Securities