30 results for 'judge:"Africk"'.
J. Africk grants summary judgment to an insurer on an apartment complex owner's breach of contract action related to hurricane damages. The litigant’s claim was premature when it was filed. He concedes he reported the claim to the insurer only nine days before filing the lawsuit, and almost two years after the hurricane. Additionally, despite the insurer’s efforts to contact the apartment complex owner’s counsel to schedule an inspection, the insurer received no response until after the lawsuit had been filed.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv369, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Civil Procedure, Evidence, Damages
J. Africk denies summary judgment to an insurer and its insured homeowners on claims the insurer acted in bad faith by failing to pay for hurricane damages within 30 days upon proof of loss. “Although the question is close,” the facts of the payment at issue are sufficient to create a genuine dispute as to whether the original inspection constituted satisfactory proof of loss.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv377, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Damages
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. 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
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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. 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. 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. 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. Africk denies a request by the owner of a dredging vessel to exclude the testimony of a marine safety expert for a catering employee who alleges the owner’s negligence resulted in his disabling fall when he attempted to disembark from the dredge. The vessel’s owner relies on a case in another section of the court that held the expert could not testify because “no expertise of any kind” was required to render his opinion or to help the jury in that case. In the current suit, however, the same expert’s specialized knowledge and experience of maritime safety standards will help shed light on the issue of safe means of access to and from vessels.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: January 19, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1602, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Jury, Maritime, Negligence
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. 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. Africk grants summary judgment to the FDIC, the government-appointed receiver of a failed New Orleans bank, finding a group of insurance policies cover the FDIC’s timely claims against the bank’s CEO for breach of fiduciary duty and gross negligence in approving loans at the director level.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: November 8, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv9, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Bankruptcy, Insurance, Banking / Lending
J. Africk grants the insured's request to remand to state court his insurance dispute over damage to his property resulting from Hurricane Ida. The insured sufficiently argues that Lloyd's did not obtain written consent to remand from all joined defendants since the notice of removal does not indicate whether Syndicate 5000 consents to removal. While Lloyd's argues that Syndicate 5000 is a nominal defendant, there is some possibility that the insured could establish a cause of action against Syndicate 5000. This is "a question of contract interpretation that will be addressed by the state court."
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: October 27, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv2505, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Jurisdiction
J. Africk grants the nonprofit organization's motion to remand its case accusing New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell of improperly reallocating $32 million from its capital budget to be used for the construction of an addition to the Orleans Justice Center that is required to bring the jail into compliance with a consent decree in another lawsuit. Although the nonprofit's petition may raise a federal question, that question need not be analyzed because the nonprofit lacks Article III standing, depriving the court of subject matter jurisdiction.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: October 24, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv5067, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Municipal Law, Jurisdiction
J. Africk grants a request by a storm-displaced family, allowing them to add an expert appraisal umpire to their suit against an insurance company even though the family has not explained their failure to adhere to a court deadline. Because two other experts have been excluded, the testimony of the appraisal umpire is “significant.” Although the amendment to the witness list is close to trial, the insurer does not identify specific harm that would be caused by allowing the appraisal umpire to testify.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv218, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Damages, Experts
[Consolidated.] J. Africk grants summary judgment to a New Orleans-based nonprofit health system and a national for-profit health care corporation, finding that their recent sales transaction of three hospitals is exempt from federal antitrust laws. There is no genuine dispute of material fact in this case, and the hospitals are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: September 27, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1305, NOS: Antitrust - Other Suits, Categories: Antitrust, Agency, Jurisdiction
J. Africk grants a couple’s belated request to add an expert witness to their suit against their insurance company alleging that inadequate compensation for their losses from Hurricane Ida in August 2021 have left them displaced from their home more than two years later. Although amendment of the witness list would be close to the date of trial, the insurer does not identify specific harm that would be caused by permitting the testimony of the expert, a neutral appraisal umpire. Further, the exclusion of other litigant experts renders the umpire’s testimony “significant" to the homeowners' case.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: September 26, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv218, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Insurance, Experts, Discovery
J. Africk denies a request by the New Orleans District Attorney to dismiss a wrongful conviction claim against his office by a former criminal defendant who spent 26 years in prison following his conviction in 1995 for first-degree murder based on the acknowledged unconstitutional suppression of favorable evidence by prosecutors under a former D.A. The current district attorney’s contention that the freed defendant has no claim against his office because the state is responsible for the parish district attorneys’ actions is “without merit.”
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1922, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Malicious Prosecution
J. Africk awards $53,687 in unopposed damages to a freshman college student who was punched, choked and beaten in his dorm room by another man, who has not answered the lawsuit, without any justification, resulting in his jaw being wired shut for two months. The student spent weeks in significant pain and months on a liquid diet, and during his recovery he “missed a part of the freshman college experience.”
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv4056, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Damages, Assault
J. Africk denies requests by investors, developers, and other indemnitors to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction claims for collateral by an insurance bonding company, arising from a general contractor’s default on two state bridge construction contracts. One Louisiana-based indemnitor argued unpersuasively that a family court at Baton Rouge has “exclusive jurisdiction” over the insurer’s intervention to block a separation of community property by the business owner and his wife — after 20 years of marriage — as an attempt to defraud the insurer of its rights under the bridge-building indemnity agreement. The insurer’s request for a preliminary injunction does not ask the federal court to determine whether the former couple’s partition of assets in family court constitutes bad faith or fraud. Rather, the insurer seeks a judgment for collateral related to the $18.5 million dispute over the bridge-building indemnity agreement signed by the husband.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1723, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Family Law, Fraud, Indemnification
J. Africk denies a request by a woman who shot and killed her husband in 2015 for a Temporary Restraining Order, blocking litigation in state court initiated by his two children over their father’s pension benefits. Whether her killing of her husband was justified has been an issue in state civil actions and federal court, where insurance companies have sought a ruling to determine to whom his insurance proceeds must be paid. After a years-long absence, the woman appears to have turned to federal court only when it appeared that the state litigation would not resolve in her favor. Her request for a TRO is denied based on principles of federalism and out of respect for the state courts’ orders.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: July 28, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv3962, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Insurance, Jurisdiction, Wrongful Death
J. Africk denies summary judgment to the criminally convicted president and CEO of a failed bank, a senior vice president acquitted of all charges and the bank’s board of directors, on their identical arguments that an insurance company breached their contract by refusing to pay $5 million dollars for their legal defense costs. Neither the bank executives nor the board of directors have pointed to any policy language to support their argument that a court ruling was required to trigger the policy’s warranty exclusion. The dissatisfied insureds have failed to show that they are entitled to summary judgment.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: July 13, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv4518, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Bankruptcy, Evidence, Banking / Lending
J. Africk denies a request for a new trial by a sheriff’s deputy found liable by a jury for violating a motorist’s constitutional right to be free from an unreasonable arrest on grounds the verdict was “inconsistent” with the jury’s conclusion that lawman was not liable for violating the driver’s Fourth Amendment right be free from an unreasonable traffic stop. The court was “not persuaded.” The jury also found the deputy liable for state law claims of battery, false arrest and malicious prosecution, awarding the motorist a total of $122,700 in damages, including $65,000 in punitive damages for violating his right to be free from unreasonable arrest. A second deputy was found not liable of all counts.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: June 9, 2023, Case #: 2:19cv12749, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Damages, Police Misconduct
J. Africk denies the property owner’s breach of contract claim against his insurer for failing to pay any of his $300,000 claim for hurricane damage. The mere facts that the property owner has an insurance policy and has not been paid for alleged damages do not constitute factual allegations sufficient to allow for the plausible conclusion the insurer’s actions are “arbitrary, capricious, and unsupported by any evidence and constitute bad faith.” The policyowner is offered one opportunity to amend his complaint to provide more specifics and facts to support his claims.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: June 5, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1463, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Insurance, Damages
[Consolidated.] J. Africk grants summary judgment to seven offshore workers who filed personal injury claims arising from a liftboat’s capsizing, dismissing claims by two insurance carriers seeking to recover payments for medical compensation and indemnity benefits. Both insurance carriers waived subrogation in their insurance contracts with the workers’ employers as required by master service contracts.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: May 24, 2023, Case #: 2:19cv10850, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Tort, Contract, Workers' Compensation