319 results for 'court:"USDC Eastern District of Louisiana "'.
J. Africk grants a request by a district attorney and his assistant state prosecutor to dismiss state law defamation claims by a litigant in connection with his arrest for taking pictures of a carnival amusement ride at a Catholic school fair. In an earlier federal suit related to that incident, a jury found a single sheriff���s deputy liable for excessive force violations, false arrest and imprisonment, and malicious prosecution. State prosecutors are protected by the doctrine of absolute immunity, while other claims are dismissed as time-barred.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1247, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Jury, Malicious Prosecution, Police Misconduct
J. Jolivette Brown grants a request by a Nevada resident for an order freezing $294,000 worth of his cryptocurrency assets traced to private accounts held by a purported investor he is suing for fraud. The litigant has shown that irreparable harm will ensue absent a restraining order, considering the speed with which cryptocurrency transactions are made, as well as the anonymous nature of those transactions. The potential recovery of assets will disappear if the accused is allowed to transfer the allegedly stolen assets into inaccessible digital wallets, which could occur at any moment.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Jolivette Brown, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv393, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Evidence, Fraud, Conversion
J. Milazzo denies a request by the manufacturer of a chemotherapy drug to dismiss 47 cases in the mass product liability litigation in which the litigant has passed away, in some cases, years ago. It is the burden of the litigants��� counsel to notify the decedent���s representatives, not the drug-maker.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Milazzo, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 2:16md2740, NOS: Personal Injury - Health Care/Pharmaceutical Personal Injury/Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Civil Procedure, Damages, Negligence
J. Vitter denies summary judgment to the owner of an offshore production platform on the argument it is not responsible for injuries a rig worker allegedly sustained on a chartered supply vessel carrying him to an oil platform. Two site leaders on the platform at the time of the incident testified that the rig owner has control over both the timing and the means by which a crew change occurs.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv122, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Employment, Maritime, Tort
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J. Currault finds for the insurer of a coastal Louisiana hospital district, finding its policy does not cover the medical facility���s loss of income resulting from the state���s suspension of non-emergency procedures during the initial months of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. A proper reading of the policy���s communicable disease provision means a disease outbreak must occur at the insured premises, not from people infected from an outbreak elsewhere who show up to the hospital for medical treatment. The hospital���s infectious disease control manager testified it was not until the end of 2021 or 2022 that she reported several hospital-acquired Covid-19 cases, and both dates are past the relevant policy period.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Currault, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv689, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Business Expectancy, Covid-19
J. Africk grants a default judgment to a natural gas pipeline company against seven remaining landowners for its suit for right of use and right of way over their properties for the construction of a compressor station and other facilities in the coastal Louisiana town of Golden Meadows. The seven landowners are deceased or could not be located by the company. The pipeline company has agreed to pay $100 in compensation to each of the seven landowners who would otherwise receive less than $100.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv2793, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Construction, Energy, Property
J. Vitter grants a request by a bank to dismiss a landscaping business��� complaint the creditor did not timely process its application for a federally guaranteed pandemic recovery loan in 2021 before the Small Business Administration ran out of funds. The ruling agrees with the bank���s assertion the business disingenuously refused to admit it earned far more than the loan program���s maximum of $1 million in gross revenues required to qualify for a 30-day notification by the bank, information the business concealed by redaction from its lawsuit. "The [c]ourt will not tolerate such gamesmanship."
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1324, NOS: Banks and Banking - Other Suits, Categories: Evidence, Business Practices, Covid-19
J. Vance grants a request by the Uber rideshare company for a stay, but not dismissal, of a passenger���s lawsuit pending arbitration of negligence claims she was run over by the driver of the hired car. A case may be dismissed in favor of arbitration only if all the issues and claims raised are subject to arbitration. The passenger���s claims against two additional litigants, the driver of the Uber and an insurance company, may be litigated without arbitration.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vance, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1775, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Employment, Tort, Negligence
J. Barbier denies summary judgment to the New Orleans Police Department on its argument a negligent hiring claim by the mother of a 14-year old girl should be dismissed because nothing in a 53-year-old police officer���s background check made it plainly obvious he would sexually assault a child. The victim has identified facts in the record that could allow a reasonable jury to find the decision to hire the now-imprisoned ex-officer reflects the department���s deliberate indifference to the particular risk that would follow from his hiring. When he applied for a police job, NOPD was aware he had five arrests on his criminal record, which qualifies him as a habitual offender under the NOPD���s own rules.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv407, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, Evidence, Police Misconduct
J. Ashe grants a request by the president and majority owner of an oilfield services company, dismissing on jurisdictional grounds its fired COO���s suit to dissolve the company, and for an accounting and access to company records. The president, a citizen of Florida, and the ex-COO, the company���s minority owner, is a citizen of Texas, so the company is a citizen of both states. The minority-shareholder's suit must be dismissed because it cannot proceed without the company, but adding the company would destroy the diversity of citizenship required for federal jurisdiction.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Ashe, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv6409, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Civil Procedure, Corporations, Partnerships
J. Currault grants a request by a New Orleans property owner, ordering her insurer to produce written materials pertaining to her claim for damages by Hurricane Ida. The insurer���s nine-month delay in the production of documents identified in the court���s discovery protocols is improper. Likewise, the insurer���s discovery responses, most of which reflect boilerplate, unsubstantiated objections, are insufficient.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Currault, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv761, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Damages, Discovery
J. Vitter grants summary judgment to a minority-owner of a joint venture of general contractors formed to obtain construction work on prison buildings in New Orleans, dismissing the majority-owner's demands for a total of $6 million in capital contributions it made on behalf of its estranged minority partner. The ruling finds the joint venture agreement requires an executive committee's approval of the need for capital contributions to bind the two contractors and partners. The language of the joint venture agreement makes it clear the minority partner is not in default of the contract since the executive committee did not unanimously approve the majority partner���s capital contribution.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv5323, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Construction, Evidence, Government
J. Vance denies a property manager���s request to strike a former tenant���s claim he violated Louisiana law by failing to notify him for almost one year that his social security number and other personal data had been stolen, resulting in major corporations pursuing him for fraudulent purchases. The ex-landlord argues the former tenant knew his allegations were false based on correspondence between the litigants��� attorneys that included letters to the state���s attorney general. However, the correspondence does not clearly show the ex-tenant's state law claim is defective.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vance, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1450, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fiduciary Duty, Negligence, Privacy
J. Milazzo grants a request for default judgment by a seller of construction material against a contractor for unpaid invoices amounting to $399,000. The contractor has failed to appear in court, respond to the suit or otherwise defend itself. However, the prevailing construction business���s request for attorney fees in the amount of $4,700 does not detail the lawyers hourly billing rate nor the hours spent on the litigation; therefore, the litigant must submit attorney fees and costs according to Louisiana law.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Milazzo, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv511, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Construction, Enforcement Of Judgments, Attorney Fees
J. Ashe denies summary judgment to an insurer on its refusal to cover a church's hurricane-related coverage request for a full replacement of its approximately 42,300 square-foot roof, including a warehouse. The insurer has failed to sustain its burden of demonstrating there are no disputed issues of material fact concerning whether the building needs an entire roof replacement. As to the church's bad-faith claims, genuine issues of material fact remain with respect to the timely payment of undisputed amounts, and the timeliness and sufficiency of the insurer's investigation and adjustment of the church's insurance claim.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Ashe, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv3130, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Insurance, Experts
J. Fallon, following a one-day trial of negligent damage claims by a shipyard against a family-owned marine facility located approximately 1,000 yards upstream, finds the litigant-facility is 65 percent responsible for damage to its own dock and two of its ships and the family-owned shipyard is 35 percent responsible for a breakaway vessel striking other maritime property during Hurricane Ida in 2021. The shipyard bears the most fault due to the number of deficiencies and the nature of flaws in its mooring arrangement of two vessels.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv154, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Maritime, Damages
J. Currault grants a request by a T.J. Maxx store allowing it to withdraw admissions to facts that had been deemed admitted when it responded past a deadline to a litigant's discovery requests for her slip and fall suit. Allowing the store to withdraw the deemed admissions at the early stage of the litigation is proper. Withdrawal of the deemed admissions is favored, as it will allow for resolution of the litigant's suit on its merits rather than procedural error. Further, withdrawal will not hurt the litigant's case, despite her protests of the store counsel's "abuses of professional courtesies."
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Currault, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv5020, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Civil Procedure, Tort, Discovery
J. Africk denies a credit union���s request to dismiss a widow���s claim the loan servicer did not provide her with sufficient information, as required by a consumer protection law, when it held her liable for the debts of her husband up to the value of the property that she inherited on behalf of herself and their minor child. With respect to the widow���s alleged failure to claim one of three specific causes for her complaint under the statute, the credit union���s arguments are without merit.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv5618, NOS: Truth in Lending - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Consumer Law, Banking / Lending, Racketeering
J. Vitter denies a request by a motorist arrested on marijuana and weapons charges to overrule a magistrate judge���s decision in a discovery dispute in his civil rights case against a deputy and sheriff. His request for an order requiring the sheriff's office to turn over 255 reports is disproportionate to the needs of the case; the sheriff need only turn over 84 of the requested records. The motorist, whose charges were resolved by pretrial diversion, has not provided evidence to support his accusations the sheriff's office is deliberately withholding documents.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv1275, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Evidence, Discovery, Police Misconduct
J. Vitter grants summary judgment to a sheriff, dismissing the wrongful death and excessive force claims brought by the sister of a transgender inmate who alleges he died in custody after being beaten in his cell by deputies. There is no evidence to support her allegations the deputies used force on or before his death. The undisputed evidence, contained in the autopsy report, shows that the inmate died of natural causes, specifically a Covid-19 infection. The autopsy further states that there was no evidence of trauma.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 22cv3734, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Evidence, Wrongful Death
J. Vitter denies an insurer's request to dismiss a policyholder���s coverage claims on grounds he failed to add two additional named insureds to his suit. The insurer ���appears to misunderstand��� the rules of civil procedure it alleges its insured is violating. The failure to add a person deemed a required litigant to the suit does not mandate the dismissal of the entire action; rather, the proper remedy in such a scenario is for an order that the ���absent-yet-required" person be made a litigant in the case.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv6331, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Civil Procedure, Insurance, Damages
J. Africk grants an insurance company���s request to dismiss a policyholder���s state law unfair trade practices claim related to the insurer���s allegedly insufficient coverage of his hurricane damages property. The policyholder���s trade practices suit is explicitly exempted by Louisiana law, while unfair trade practices in the insurance industry are unquestionably under the jurisdiction of the state insurance commissioner. Further, the Fifth Circuit has held state law does not provide a private cause of action against an insurer for unfair trade practices.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv6152, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Damages, Jurisdiction
J. Fallon finds for the insurance company of a bankrupt New Orleans-based genetic testing laboratory whose principals were barred from participation in any federal health care program for 25 years after they admitted to a fraudulent kickback scheme. The insurer for the failed laboratories is not required to pay state judgments in favor of two former employees in an employment compensation dispute totaling $3.2 million. The breach of contract exclusions contained in provisions of the bankrupt laboratories apply to the ex-employees' claims.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv5410, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Bankruptcy, Employment, Fraud
J. Ashe denies summary judgment to the former employee of an environmental services company in the oil and gas industry on his argument that while his post-resignation tank-cleaning activities constitute a breach of the no-compete and non-solicitation provisions of his employment contract, those provisions are legally void and unenforceable because his old boss was not operating in any of the 64 Louisiana parishes and 150 Texas counties listed in their agreement at the time of execution. Because the restrictive covenant of the employment agreement complies with the law by listing specific areas where the former employee is prohibited from competing and because he engaged in tank cleaning in six of the listed areas when his employment was terminated, their employment agreement is valid.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Ashe, Filed On: January 26, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv5042, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Employment, Evidence, Contract
J. Lemelle finds for an employee benefits plan administrator on a former commercial truck driver���s breach of fiduciary duty claims arising from denial of his request for long-term benefits due to his pre-existing hypertension. The issue is whether the driver was covered under the employer���s policy when he was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, which according to Department of Transportation guidelines, would prevent him from driving a licensed commercial vehicle. The plan administrator���s interpretation of the term ���active full-time service��� as applied to a worker who had not worked in several weeks, had exhausted his paid time off and was on indefinite medical leave is reasonable considering the policy language and known facts.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Lemelle, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1760, NOS: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Labor, Categories: Employment, Health Care, Transportation
J. Ashe denies summary judgment to a surplus line insurance company on its request to dismiss a property owner���s breach of contract and hurricane damage claims on grounds there is no evidence there was a storm-created opening in the roof that caused damage to leak into the building���s exterior. Although one of the policy holder���s insurance adjusters cannot offer opinion testimony, the sum of other expert testimony creates a disputed issue of material fact as to the cause of the water intrusion and whether it is covered by the policy.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Ashe, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 23-3292, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Damages, Experts