Louisiana Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
As individuals approach the end of their life or encounter health problems, they may utilize a general power of attorney (POA) in order to care for their property. A POA is a written authorization to represent or act on another’s behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter. The individual executing the POA is the principal and the individual acting under the POA is the principal’s agent. Dealing with a POA can be difficult since it is usually exercised during a stressful period in the principal’s life. Recently, the issue of using a POA was made even more complicated when it stirred up family drama in the Parish of Lincoln District Court after an agent used the POA to transfer all of the principal’s property into his own account days prior to the principal’s death.
Kimberly Pee Tatum, Roy Pee, Timothy Pee and Raymond Pee filed a lawsuit against Joseph Daniel Riley in order to void a gift that Riley donated to himself. Riley was the son of Barbara McManus’ second marriage and the plaintiffs were the children of McManus’ first marriage. Riley acted as McManus’ agent under a POA, with McManus as the principal. On January 30, 2006, Riley donated all of McManus’ immovable property, including 32 acres and a house, to himself. This was done before a notary and witnessed by two witnesses. McManus passed away days later, on February 2, 2006.
At trial, the plaintiffs attempted to show that Riley’s donation left McManus without sufficient funds to care for herself. The plaintiffs presented bills to show that there was no way McManus could care for herself but the plaintiffs admitted these bills were not actually McManus’ bills; the bills presented were from the plaintiffs’ memory and by looking at what was paid by other single, older women. Additionally, Riley testified that he and McManus shared a joint checking account. McManus received $1,037 dollars from Social Security every month and $100 dollars in royalties that were deposited into the shared account. Riley testified that even though they shared an account, McManus paid her own bills and Riley even supported McManus sometimes with his own money. Riley’s wife, Amy Riley, testified and stated the same thing as Riley. She said McManus never asked them for money but they offered her money when they wanted to. Further, Amy said that even though they shared an account, Riley and herself paid for all of their bills from a separate account. The District Court in the Parish of Lincoln sided with Riley and held that the POA expressly authorized him to donate all of McManus’ property to any person, including himself. The district court also held that public policy was not violated through the donation.
When a patron is injured by a third party at a hotel, the patron might wish to seek damages from a national franchisor. There are however several criteria to establish a franchisor’s liability making it very difficult for a patron to recover in the absence of direct links between the injury and negligence. In a recent case out of New Orleans, a shooting victim was left with little recourse against the big company behind the local Motel 6. 
When employees are fired they can often be entitled to benefits upon termination; including money payments to act as a substitute salary while the terminated employee searches for another job. While there is no federal requirement in the United States for an employer to offer severance pay, many do as it can be an attractive benefit to potential employees. Many employers choose to adopt a plan that falls under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”). Employers can get tripped up however when they fail to support a denial of severance pay by substantial evidence. 
In nearly every case of injury to person or property, there is a time period during which you can bring a lawsuit. When that time period ends is determined by statute. Defendants in cases where the time has past may bring an exception of prescription to have these cases dismissed. But how many times and when the exception of prescription may be raised is an issue that took center stage in an automobile accident case from Jefferson Parish. 
Russell and Tracy Varmall owned a home in Kenner, Louisiana. Their home sustained damages during Hurricane Isaac in 2012. The home was insured by Bankers Specialty Insurance Company (“Bankers”) for wind damage and New Hampshire Insurance Company for flood damage. 
Sexual harassment in the workplace is unfortunately all too common. While a victim of such harassment might feel entirely justified in filing a lawsuit against his or her employer, the harassing conduct might not be bad enough to survive a motion for summary judgment. Just how bad does a work environment have to be for a harassment victim to have a potentially successful claim? This was the issue in a recent case out of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal. 
Generally, plaintiffs bring an action against an adverse party to be made whole again in some way. Bringing a claim is a remedy seeking process. But, can a claimant’s inaction cause the proceeding to be dismissed? The Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal recently answered this question in the affirmative in a case out of Jefferson Parish. 
In law, deadlines and rules of procedure are very important. Good cases can be lost because someone missed a deadline or did not understand and follow a procedural rule. That is why it is so important to ensure you have a good attorney who understands the rules of procedure and who keeps close track of deadlines, especially those for appeals.
Sometimes procedural rules are overlooked as merely a peripheral aspect of a lawsuit. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Oftentimes you need to overcome numerous procedural hurdles just to reach the merits of a case. The following case illustrates the importance of procedure in the practice of law.
In Louisiana, a victim of fraud can recover actual damages resulting from the fraud, treble damages up to three times the amount of actual damages, and reasonable attorneys fees and costs. However, this potentially large recovery is barred by a peremptory period if the defrauded party doesn’t bring the lawsuit within one year. In certain cases, the issue of when exactly this one-year timer starts can be dispositive. The following case dealing with two real estate transactions illustrates the point.