27 results for 'judge:"DeGravelles"'.
J. DeGravelles grants a request by foreign and domestic insurers, ordering a stay of a nonprofit condominium owners’ suit for recovery of repairs for wind and hailstorm damage, pending arbitration of claims. The condo owners fail to support their argument the arbitration provision is unenforceable.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv279, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Arbitration, Damages, Contract
J. DeGravells denies a second request for summary judgment to Walmart, finding a shopper shows a genuine issue of material fact as to the store’s knowledge of a liquid in an aisle prior to her slip and fall accident. An employee-witness's contradictory statements, including whether the woman slipped on water or a reddish liquid resembling “congealed meat juice,” must be considered by a jury.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv488-, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Employment, Jury, Discovery
J. DeGravelles denies summary judgment to the Kansas City Southern Railway Company, finding a motorcyclist has adequately alleged the railroad failed to properly inspect a railroad crossing, resulting in his single-vehicle accident with injuries. According to regulations, the railroad must conduct an inspection of railroad track crossings once a month. In the motorcyclist’s case, the railroad’s own exhibits prove that on-foot inspections “never occurred.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv309, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, Jury, Transportation
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J. DeGravelles orders the state of Louisiana to pay intervenors in a black voting rights suit, including several voters and a candidate for a state Supreme Court seat, the amount of $36,000 in reasonable attorney fees. The intervenors prevailed in their request to lift a stay of all Louisiana Supreme Court elections, pending reapportionment. The black plaintiffs were not "the driving force" behind the opposition to lifting the stay; state officials were, notably the state Attorney General who has since been elected Governor of Louisiana, along with its Secretary of State, who did not seek reelection. Both officials were heavily involved in the litigation surrounding whether the stay order would be lifted, and thus should have
known the intervenors would request attorney fees.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 3:19cv479, NOS: Voting - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Government, Attorney Fees
J. DeGravelles grants a request by an ophthalmology practice to dismiss a retina specialist’s fraud claim for lack of detail. The physician is given more time to address deficiencies in his complaint. His fraud claim is based on the practice’s alleged misrepresentation that the business was relatively debt-free during their contract negotiations. The doctor’s fraud claim may be reasserted on amounts he may be owed that are found in the discovery.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv3158, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Health Care, Discovery
J. DeGravelles grants summary judgment to the insurer of the lessee of an oilfield service company’s truck and against the insurer of the vehicle’s owner. Both insurance companies are providers of co-primary underinsured motorist coverage in the accidental injury case of the truck’s driver, who was struck by another motorist. Although the insurer of the truck’s owner argues there cannot be co-primary policies because Louisiana law provides for one primary and one excess policy to provide uninsured motorist coverage, this incorrectly states the law.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv123, NOS: Motor Vehicle - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, Insurance, Vehicle
J. DeGravelles affirms a bankruptcy court ruling dismissing the voluntary Chapter 7 petition by the majority member, owner and past president of a real estate development corporation. The unanimous consent of the members of the limited liability corporation is required to file a bankruptcy petition. Chapter 7 proceedings cannot dissolve a corporation and bankruptcy code does not provide for the dissolution of corporations; any dissolution of a corporation must be effectuated under state law. Affirmed.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv383, NOS: Bankruptcy Appeal 28 USC 158 - Bankruptcy, Categories: Bankruptcy, Corporations
J. DeGravelles grants summary judgment to five juvenile sex offenders, declaring key parts of Louisiana’s sex offender registration and notification laws as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment right to free speech. The order bars Louisiana from enforcing a law requiring that driver’s licenses issued to sex offenders adjudicated as juveniles be branded with the orange phrase “SEX OFFENDER.” The state also is prohibited from emblazoning the phrase “SEX OFFENDER” on the identification cards of registered sex offenders who committed sex crimes as juveniles. Louisiana’s lifetime social media ban for sex offenders is declared inapplicable to adjudicated juvenile delinquents.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv837, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Evidence
J. deGravelles declines to find in favor of the licensing board for the private security guard's failure to timely serve board over his license suspension. The security guard sent the summons and complaint to the board through certified mail, but this is not a permissible method of service under Louisiana law. However, state law tolling is appropriate here, so the security guard is given 30 days to properly serve the board.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: deGravelles, Filed On: October 25, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv258, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Licensing
J. DeGravelles denies a request by the secretary of Louisiana’s correctional department to exclude an email he wrote in 2016 from a class action alleging Louisiana has been unlawfully overdetaining thousands of prisoners each year and that the Secretary has known about the state’s misconduct since at least 2012. The secretary unsuccessfully argues that the email is irrelevant, has not been authenticated and that its late production is untimely and unfair. The state official’s objection “rings exceedingly hollow.” Not only did the secretary turn over the email in discovery, he authored the letter which is relevant in that it tends to show that there was an overdetention problem in Louisiana which he and the state recognized before a former inmate filed suit in 2020.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: October 4, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv233, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Discovery
J. Gravelles, rules following a bench trial, finding the owners of an inland push tug are not at fault and therefore exonerated from liability for a deadly accident in an inland waterway, during which its barges struck and sank a skiff carrying four intoxicated crew members to an inland towboat, killing two. The negligence of the towboat’s captain was a “substantial contributing cause” of the tragic accident.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv214, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Maritime, Tort, Wrongful Death
J. Gravelles, ruling after a bench trial, finds that a home health care business failed to give its fired supervising employee the required 15 days to obtain certification of her illness, major depression, for medical leave. No reasonable person would conclude that the employer acted appropriately in giving its employee just one day to provide medical documentation considering the “clear allowance” for 15 days, under federal law. The fired manager, who earned $12 per hour, is entitled to back pay totaling $132,000 with interest since her termination in 2018, an equal amount of damages for breach of contract, and attorney fees and costs.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 26, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv156, NOS: Family and Medical Leave Act - Labor, Categories: Employment, Health Care, Damages
J. DeGravelles denies a request by a credit union to dismiss a Louisiana resident’s amended class action complaint alleging that the institution violated a consumer protection regulation governing electronic fund transfers by not accurately describing its overdraft practices. The litigant has alleged sufficient facts to give rise to the inference that a regulation was violated. The credit union is not covered by the regulation’s safe harbor provision because the suit does not challenge the form in which the disclosures were made.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 22, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv368, NOS: Banks and Banking - Other Suits, Categories: Consumer Law, Banking / Lending, Class Action
J. DeGravelles denies summary judgment to the owner of an offshore production platform on its argument that is entitled to immunity from liability as the borrowing employer of a worker injured while working as part of a “human chain” to move grocery boxes from pallets to storage locations on the structure. There is conflicting evidence regarding whether the conduct of contractors on the platform modified the contract provision purporting to prohibit borrowed employee status and disputes of fact regarding the control the various contractors exercised, during the incident.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv15, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Employment, Immunity, Damages
J. DeGravelles denies a request by the founding president and majority owner of an environmental services company to dismiss its trade secrets theft lawsuit against him, his daughter and a competitor he started. Because an earlier age-discrimination complaint by the founding president against the first environmental services company he started and that company’s present suit against him “do not arise” from the same set of operative facts, the company now suing its founder was not required by rules of procedure to bring its theft claims as counterclaims-in-reply.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv866, NOS: Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) - Property Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Environment, Trade Secrets
J. DeGravelles grants a renewed request for dismissal from an oil and gas corporation tasked with overseeing the state-ordered cleanup of a former Superfund site. A subcontractor on the restoration project has failed to make sufficient allegations to support its claim for unjust enrichment against the supervisor of an industry fund for the cleanup operation corporation. Because the subcontractor has a contractual remedy against the general contractor for the job, the subcontractor is precluded from bringing an unjust enrichment against the corporation for $887,386 in unpaid invoices.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv62, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Energy, Environment, Contract
[Consolidated.] J. DeGravelles denies requests by the city and several police officers to dismiss negligence claims by a protester they arrested during a demonstration against the police killing of Alton Sterling in 2017. The lasting impact of the woman’s unlawful arrest is significant. As a licensed professional, she was required to notify licensing agencies about a pending felony charge for “inciting a riot” for the years between her arrest and the expiration date for her prosecution. Also, she says she "has not wanted to protest and has a heightened sense of distrust and fear.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 3:17cv179, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Police Misconduct
J. deGravelles finds the trial court properly denied defendant’s motion to suppress evidence found in his house and truck, including a firearm and marijuana. After defendant was pulled over under the possible suspicion of having been involved in an earlier shooting, officers discovered marijuana and a firearm after defendant had given consent. The court’s decision, based on the factors governing the determination of defendant’s consent, is plausible. The court’s application of sentencing enhancements based on the Armed Career Criminal Act was improper as it cannot be shown that the predicate offenses occurred on separate occasions. Affirmed in part. Reversed in part. Vacated in part and remanded.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: deGravelles, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 21-10966, Categories: Firearms, Search, Sentencing
J. DeGravelles denies a request by the Secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Corrections to dismiss experts for three inmates who are suing him personally for unlawfully over-detaining thousands of state prisoners each year since 2012. One expert served as director of state correctional systems at Missouri and Arizona and participated in the American Bar Association’s development of standards for the treatment of prisoners. The secretary unsuccessfully argued that simply because the expert had a career in prison administration, “which never remotely involved the state of Louisiana, does not qualify her to opine on whether [DOC] has over detained anyone.” The ruling disagrees, finding the out-of-state expert “sufficiently qualified.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: May 25, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv233, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Experts, Prisoners' Rights
J. DeGravelles denies a request by a doctor at a parish jail, refusing to dismiss constitutional claims against him by the family of a prisoner who died from brain cancer. The family alleges that the physician’s denial of a life-saving medical device, an Optune, violated both state human rights law and his constitutional right to medical care. The doctor’s refusal to provide the device, despite “full knowledge” that the inmate needed it, constituted deliberate indifference, and “every reasonable officer would know, beyond debate, that this was the case.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv548, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Medical Malpractice
J. DeGravelles grants a request by the Louisiana State Police to enforce a settlement with a fired Black trooper who alleged retaliatory termination, arising from his complaints to Louisiana news media about the deadly cover-up of the alleged beating death of a Black motorist and racially disparate discipline for other alleged police misconduct. One week after a written settlement, the fired trooper sought to revoke the deal, saying his attorney allegedly pressured him into accepting an agreement that did not reinstate his position by telling him that “he could not win at trial, nor could he win on appeal.” The settlement “almost exclusively dealt” with the ending of trooper’s employment and his counsel’s warning that she would cease representing him if he chose not to accept the deal was “not an improper threat.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv656, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Settlements, Police Misconduct