Articles Posted in Litigation

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Jeanine Pryor of Lake Charles was injured when she fell exiting bleachers at a football came and filed a claim for damages due to injuries she sustained. Her claim was denied at the trial court level and in a recent decision, the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and awarded Ms. Pryor a significant damage award (over $500,000), even after reducing her damages by 30% due to a finding that she was partially at fault for the accident.

Ms. Pryor, of Lake Charles, went to New Iberia to watch her grandson’s team play a playoff football game at Lloyd G. Porter Stadium. The facility is owned by the Iberia Parish School Board. Spectators at the field sit on either west or east side spectator seating. According to reports the west side, where home team fans sit, is a much nicer facility made of concrete that sits well off the ground and has ramps leading to the seats. The east side of the field, where visiting teams traditionally sit, contains metal frame bleachers with wood seat boards and foot boards and rails around the rear and upper portions. The bleachers have no aisles for walking up into the stands or rails to help someone walking up rows.

When she arrived at the stadium, the 69 year old Ms. Pryor walked to the visitor side of the stadium, balancing on the uneven ground with her daughter’s help. Because the players and cheerleaders standing on the sidelines blocked the view of the game from the bottom rows, Ms. Pryor needed to climb up into the stands. Because she could not step up the eighteen inches from the first board to the second she had to grab the second board and lay on her side to swing up her legs one at a time. During halftime, Ms. Pryor needed to use the restroom so, again, with her daughter’s help, she walked down the bleachers. When she came to the second seat board, she stepped down slowly the extended distance to reach the first board and fell back. She dropped her daughters hand and suffered a broken leg and other injuries.

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Sometimes one plus one does not equal two. This was a lesson learned by the Living Epistle Church after a suit against the City of Shreveport. The church sued the city for damages to its sanctuary building, which was allegedly caused by a leaking sewer main. The trial judge heard testimony from the pastor and several experts and awarded $150,000 in damages to the church. However, the city appealed, arguing that the church had failed to prove that the sewer main leaked and was the cause of the damage to the sanctuary. The appellate court agreed with the city and reversed the decision and dismissed the claims.

In a civil suit like this one brought by the church, the plaintiff has the burden of proving the negligence of the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence. Most negligence cases require proving the following separate elements

  1. whether the defendant had a duty to conform his or her conduct to a specific standard
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In a recent Court of Appeals decision, plaintiff Ryan George appealed a jury verdict that rejected his damage claim following his 2007 car accident in Lafayette. The Court of Appeals affirmed the jury’s decision and found that defendants did not improperly challenge jurors during the selection process while one of Mr. George’s challenges was deemed to be discriminatory.

Trials can be made or broken if the jury is sympathetic to one side or the other. This case shows how important it is for plaintiffs to have an experienced attorney involved in jury selection process. A good attorney will not only make the right decision about who should be struck from a jury via peremptory challenges, but will also be prepared to object to the other sides’ challenges if they are a pretext for discrimination while being able to provide a articulable non-race reason for excluding should one of their own challenges are questioned.

The accident occurred at the intersection of Simcoe Street and Evangeline Thurway in Lafaeyette when a vehicle driven by Horace McBride rear ended a vehicle driven by Richard Benoit, Jr. as Benoit was turning left. McBride was working for Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. and driving his employer’s vehicle. George was a passenger in Benoit’s vehicle and was injured, requiring extensive treatment.

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According to a recent article in Baton Rouge’s Times Picayune, drivers who fall asleep at the wheel and cause an accident could be in more trouble than ever before. Earlier this month a Committee of the Louisiana State Legislature approved a bill that would create the new crime of involuntary vehicular homicide.

A Galiano couple who lost their son in an accident caused by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel provided tearful testimony leading up to the unanimous vote in favor of House Bill 628 in the Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice. The next step for the bill will be debate on the House floor.

Tina and Anthony “T-Boy” Charpentier lost their 33 year old son when a truck driver fell asleep at the wheel. Anthony doesn’t think the bill is tough enough but hopes it will at least make guilty drivers think about what they have done.

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A two-car collision on Highway 117 in Natchitoches Parish led to a lawsuit and an appeal regarding the amount of damages awarded, among other things. On the morning of October 25, 2002, Edward Raymond was travelling north on Highway 117, returning from work. He was a firefighter at Fort Polk. That same morning Stephen Taylor was traveling south on the same highway. Taylor was on his way to New Orleans to get a sea card to work on tugboats. He was detouring to his girlfriend’s mother’s house in Leesville to pick up his birth certificate. It was raining that morning and during Taylor’s maneuver to pass a loaded log truck, he saw the headlights of Raymond’s vehicle. Taylor attempted to drive onto the shoulder to avoid a collision, but Raymond also tried to avoid a wreck by driving onto the shoulder; the cars crashed head-on and Raymond died as a result of the accident. The site of the crash was in a no-passing zone. The jury determined that Taylor was 75% at fault and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) was 25% at fault (mostly for failing to place a no-passing pennant sign at the start of the no-passing zone where the accident occurred).

The jury awarded the following damages

(1) $5,421.20 for funeral expenses; (2) $1,904.00 for medical expenses; (3) $1,514,747.79 for loss of past earnings, future earnings, and earning capacity; (4) $50,000.00 for the conscious pain and suffering and anguish of Mr. Raymond; (5) $1,500,000.00 for the damages suffered by Barbara Raymond for the loss of her husband; and (6) $750,000.00 to each of [Raymond’s] four children for the loss of their father.

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Victim John Deshotels learned the hard way what happens when you donÕt have a an attorney represent you in an accident injury claim. He took his case to trial unrepresented and lost. Even after getting an attorney the damage was done and he lost again in a recent Court of Appeals decision. Plaintiff John Deshotels appealed the trial courtÕs granting of involuntary dismissal of his case against Nicholas J. Fontenot and his insurance company. Deshotels alleged he was rear ended by a car driven by Fontenot and injured. The case went to trial and following Deshotels’ presentation of his evidence, the insurance company moved for involuntary dismissal pursuant to La. Code Civ.P. art. 1672 (B).

Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 1672 (B) states: that when there is no jury, a party When there is no jury, an action tried before the court may be over rather quickly. After a plaintiff has finished presenting their evidence, either party may then ask for a dismissal of the case based on the ground that the plaintiff has not shown any right to relief. The judge must rely on both law and the facts of the case that have been presented at that time. Then, the court is permitted to examine the facts currently presented and make a judgment against the plaintiff and in favor of the moving party. Or the court may decline to make any judgment on the matter until the close of all of the evidence.

Trial courts have discretion to grant an involuntary dismissal if, after weighing the evidence, they determine the plaintiff has not proved their claim by a preponderance of the evidence, or the more likely than not standard.

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According to a report from talkofthetown.com, a low-speed traffic circle, or “roundabout,” is slated to be installed at the end of Jackson Street Extension in Alexandria. The intersection links Jackson Street Extension with Twin Bridges Road, Lodi Road, and Horseshoe Drive. The initial plan called for a four-way stop sign, but Nick Verret, District 8 engineer-administrator with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD), said a roundabout would offer better safety and efficiency than a four-way stop or a traffic light signal.

The debate over the most effective traffic control devices for intersections has been ongoing throughout the last century. As far back as 1934, a study published in the Journal of Social Psychology reported that approximately 25 percent of drivers who approached an intersection with visible cross traffic failed to come to a full stop at the stop sign. Another study revealed that when there was no approaching traffic, only 14 percent of drivers fully stopped their cars. This frightening figure comes from research conducted in 1968 in Berkeley, California, which was published in the Law & Society Review. For a recent discussion of these studies and the efficacy of stop signs generally, see this article from Slate.

Roundabouts on the other hand enjoy a significantly better reputation for safety. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2001 looked at crash statistics for 24 intersections across the U.S. that were converted from stop sign or traffic light signal controls to roundabouts. Traffic accident rates at the intersections dropped dramatically following the conversion, including a 90 percent reduction in the number of crashes involving fatal or incapacitating injuries. Roundabouts also offer improvements to traffic flow. The DOTD’s Verret estimates that the Jackson Street Extension roundabout will result in a “50 percent increase in capacity” for the intersection,” which will help to reduce the long queues that occur during peak times. The trade-off is that roundabouts are typically more expensive to install and maintain than signs or signals. The Jackson Street Extension roundabout will cost $2.34 million, with $1.6 million funded with federal dollars and $740,000 funded by the city of Alexandria.

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When Robert Williams, Jr. and Tyson Smith got into an altercation that resulted in a broken jaw for Williams, the Williams family brought a lawsuit against both Tyson Smith and the Northeast Louisiana Marine Institute, Inc. (NLMI). NLMI is an alternative school in Tallulah, LA. The event occurred one January morning in 2007 at NLMI with both teachers and other students present.

Even though both defendants were served with notice of the suit neither responded in a timely fashion. When a defendant does not respond to a claim against him or her, the court has the ability to enter a judgment despite a party’s failure to show up and present a defense. If a party has made any appearance in the process, however, then the party’s representative must be given notice of the default judgment before the judgment is confirmed.

The trial court in this case entered default judgment against the defendants. The court found NLMI liable for the incident and awarded just over $60,000 to the plaintiffs. NLMI appealed this decision, and, even though they did not present a defense at trial, were able to get the ruling overturned.

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When a lawsuit is brought the positions of the parties are frequently unequal. This is often the case for products liability suits, which involve an injured consumer or user of a product seeking to recover damages from the maker or seller of the product. Being a large and sometimes repeat player in the legal system can give businesses an advantage over an individual that is using the court system for the first time. Depending on the size, structure, nature of the business, as well as other factors, businesses may have an in-house legal department or regular representation from an outside firm. This kind of legal experience and expertise can sometimes result in the business defendant being able to delay, increase the cost of, or otherwise inhibit the discovery process. A potential plaintiff needs a competent, experienced, and dedicated lawyer to ensure that all the discovery evidence he or she is entitled to is provided by the defendant.

An example of this type of battle is the recent case called Soileau v. Smith’s True Value and Rental, which named Deere & Company and John Deere Limited as defendants. Ms. Soileau was injured in an accident on November 1, 2007 when a John Deere Model 460 front end loader became detached from a John Deere Model 4510 tractor and struck her right leg. Her initial lawsuit was brought on April 21, 2008.

Ms. Soileau filed interrogatories and requests for production of documents at the time of initially filing her lawsuit. However, each round of requests seemed to lead to refusals, delay, and incomplete information. Ms. Soileau even received incomplete information from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This battle eventually led Ms. Soileau to turn to the court to force cooperation from the defendants. In addition to a motion to compel the defendants to answer her interrogatories, she sought to have them sanctioned, barred from producing certain evidence at trial, and forced to pay penalties and attorney fees for the trouble caused by their lack of cooperation.

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A recent Louisiana Court of Appeals decision provides a good discussion of the burden of proof required in Jones Act cases.

James Bancroft worked as a seaman on the M/V Captain Nick owned by Mitchell Offshore Marine when the ship collided with the Pan Am Caribe. Mr. Bancroft was thrown violently, and broke ribs and punctured a lung. The court ruled that the vessel was not seaworthy and therefore Mitchell owed Bancroft $65,000 in general damages as well as $8250 for wage loss. The trial court did not agree with Bancroft that the accident had aggravated a prior back injury. On appeal, Bancroft asserted that the trial court erred in applying the incorrect burden of proof to the causal element of his case, finding his spine injuries and spinal fusion were not caused by the accident, awarding unreasonably low damages for his injuries, and failing to award punitive damages against Mitchell, while Mitchell claimed the trial courts damage award was too high.

Under the Jones Act, seaman are provided with the same rights railway employees have under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act which provides that “every common carrier by railroad . . shall be liable in damages for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier.” 45 U.S.C. § 51. Under the Jones Act, seaman can recover when their employers’ negligence causes their injury. The standard of causation in both FELA and Jones Act cases is very low. The Supreme Court has used the word “slightest” to describe the standard of causation between employer negligence and employee injury. This means that if employer negligence played any part in producing injury or death, the employer will be held liable

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