18 results for 'judge:"Barbier"'.
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. Barbier grants a request by a FEMA contractor conducting post-hurricane disaster mitigation work, dismissing breach of contract claims totaling $129,000 by a subcontractor hired to clear mud and debris. The amount in dispute arose from work the subcontractor’s workers mistakenly performed at the direction of an individual who turned out to be representing another subcontractor at the same work site. The subcontractor sent corresponding invoices to the disaster mitigation business only to discover the FEMA contractor was not invoicing or receiving payment for the litigant-subcontractor's services. A mistake by one company’s employees is not enough to show the contract had been orally modified.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1580, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Employment, Evidence, Contract
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. Barbier grants a request by a Texas-based corporation to dismiss theft of trade secrets claims by a Louisiana based-HVAC goods and service business. The complaint does not explain exactly what actions or conduct by the Texas corporation could constitute egregious actions involving elements of fraud, misrepresentation, deception or other unethical conduct, which would violate Louisiana’s law against unfair trade practices. Instead, the HVAC business accuses it of stealing information about the design and production of its product without any supporting evidence, which is insufficient for a determination of whether the Texas company’s conduct was unfair and violative of public policy.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1669, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Fraud, Trade Secrets, Unfair Competition
J. Barbier grants summary judgment to a group of insurers, dismissing claims of federal health care violations by primary care physicians one day after rejecting their antitrust claim, effectively gutting the doctors’ suit alleging they conspired to reject their claims for allergy services. The doctors unsuccessfully sought a ruling the insurers were violating Medicare and Medicaid regulations aimed at protecting health care providers from discrimination. None of the statutes cited provide the doctors with a right to sue the insurers, which the physicians acknowledge by their failure to respond to the insurers’ argument on this point.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: 2:18cv399, NOS: Antitrust - Other Suits, Categories: Antitrust, Evidence, Health Care
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J. Barbier finds in partial favor of a marine towing company and on a seaman's claims that he suffered physical injuries while attempting to help a “green” deckhand who fell off a barge and into the water. There is no question that the seaman’s previously concealed injuries to his lower back, neck and left shoulder affect the exact same body parts as the injury at issue. However, the employer fails to prove the seaman’s request for benefits and treatment for his alleged psychological injuries were linked to any prior injuries.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv1209, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Maritime, Negligence, Emotional Distress
J. Barbier grants a request by the mother of a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped and sexually abused by a 53-year-old New Orleans police officer, barring the now-incarcerated ex-cop, the City and its former police chief from re-litigating the child’s criminal claims in her civil suit. They argue that the officer pleaded guilty in the criminal case and did not mount a vigorous defense to the girl’s allegations because of poor health, including three heart attacks, a stroke, and a likely terminal brain tumor. The City, the former police chief and the ex-cop all unsuccessfully argued without any legal authority that his health condition is a special circumstance that could prevent his guilty plea in the criminal case from being used in the child rape victim’s civil suit.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv407, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Evidence
J. Barbier denies requests by four law enforcement officers to dismiss excessive force claims by the daughter of a visibly distressed armed man who they fatally shot, allegedly firing a majority of their 36 shots after he dropped his gun and fell to the ground, incapacitated. The facts raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence that one of the officers, a Louisiana State Police trooper, fired his weapon at the gunman after he no longer posed a threat. The Fifth Circuit has held that police excessive force claims are fact-intensive inquiries, requiring an examination of the totality of circumstances to determine whether an officer in the same situation would have concluded that a threat existed justifying the particular use of force.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv4587, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Immunity
J. Barbier denies as “vague” and “unpersuasive” challenges by a chemical plant to a 2010 government toxicology study that found its chloroprene emission rates posed an “imminent danger” to public health in communities surrounding the facility. Dismissing the plant’s claims in no way hinders its ability to defend itself or to argue that the government study is inaccurate or flawed. Dismissal of the plant’s claims on jurisdictional grounds does not constitute a judgment on the merits of the government’s suit against the facility.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv735, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, Government, Jurisdiction
J. Barbier grants summary judgment to a marine transportation company, dismissing a seaman’s claims for benefits related to injuries he allegedly sustained aboard the employer’s vessel during Hurricane Ida. As required under the so-called “McCorpen defense,” the maritime employer has established that the seaman intentionally withheld evidence of preexisting injury, ongoing back and neck problems. Therefore, his request for benefits is denied.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv747, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Maritime, Discovery
J. Barbier grants summary judgment to two Louisiana banks and against a former criminal defendant who inherited $1.4 million dollars after serving time for bank fraud. The banks are entitled to split the admitted fraudster’s inheritance because they compensated his restitution victims’ losses. The ruling rejected the convicted felon’s “unsupported” argument that, because the banks compensated the restitution victims, they participated in his criminal conduct. The government maintains the admitted fraudster still owes over $6.7 million in restitution.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: August 28, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv2819, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Fraud, Real Estate, Banking / Lending
J. Barbier denies DuPont’s motion to dismiss the federal government’s environmental lawsuit against it over a neoprene manufacturing facility on its property, leased to another firm. The government says the plant’s chloroprene emission rates pose an “imminent danger” to public health in communities surrounding it. DuPont unsuccessfully argued that the court lacked jurisdiction over “hypothetical allegations” that DuPont may interfere with the chemical plant’s compliance with orders to reduce pollution emissions at the facility. The court disagrees; the mere fact that DuPont is in a position to frustrate a potential court order is sufficient reason for the inclusion of DuPont as the landlord in the government’s environmental lawsuit and for the court to retain jurisdiction in the case.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv735, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, Government, Jurisdiction
J. Barbier, reversing a prior order, grants summary judgment to a marine construction company and against a Louisiana manufacturer of “swamp buggies” on patent infringement claims arising from that the marine company’s production of an amphibious vehicle. The prior order erroneously applied the standard for a patent or prior publication when evaluating the marine company’s vehicle. Upon reconsideration, the marine company has met its burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence that the patent held by the swamp buggy maker “lacks novelty and is therefore invalid.”
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: July 19, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv3135, NOS: Patent - Property Rights, Categories: Maritime, Patent, Vehicle
J. Barbier denies summary judgment to the owners of an offshore supply boat, denying their request to limit liability to $777,000, after its vessel crashed into a stationary oil field platform after the vessel’s pilot fell asleep at the helm while steering toward another oil platform. The company failed to overcome negligence claims after multiple crew members testified that the company failed to enforce its own “fatigue management policy” or monitor shipboard use of “proximity alarms” to alert sleepy or distracted captains. Owners were “put on notice” to the use of proximity alarms after a 2018 incident during which another company captain fell asleep at the wheel of a different vessel in the fleet and crashed into an oilfield platform.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: June 30, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv2371, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: Maritime, Tort, Negligence
J. Barbier, following a bench trial, finds that the owner of a twin-screw pushboat breached its contract with a shipyard for repairs, and owes the shipyard for work invoiced at $572,113. The ruling finds that the shipyard is entitled to prejudgment interest at a rate of 6% per annum from July 30, 2021, until paid.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: June 7, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv1169, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Evidence, Maritime, Contract
J. Barbier grants summary judgment to the Federal National Mortgage Association establishing the liability of the owner of six separate borrowers, all of which are the owner’s limited liability companies, which are all now in bankruptcy. The fact that the borrowers filed for bankruptcy automatically accelerated the federal loan, and the borrowers became personally liable for all payments immediately due, without any written notice required from Fannie Mae.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: June 2, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv2588, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Bankruptcy, Housing, Banking / Lending
J. Barbier grants summary judgment to State Farm, dismissing a homeowner’s charges that the insurance giant acted in “bad faith” when it denied coverage, arising from storm damage by Hurricane Ida in 2021. The evidence demonstrates that State Farm had a “reasonable basis” to question whether the cause of the damage was covered under the homeowner's policy, which did not cover flood or mold losses. Therefore, State Farm did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in denying her insurance claim.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv581, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Construction, Insurance, Damages