View Recent Blog Posts in Asbestos, Occupational Exposure and Toxic Tort Litigation

  • By: Kean Miller Most litigants in Louisiana know that the usual tort claim has a prescriptive period (i.e., statute of limitation) of one year. This one-year clock begins ticking from the day injury or damage is sustained.[1] But when exactly someone sustains an injury can be a tricky question to answer. If I am unknowingly exposed to a... Continue Reading...
  • By: Allison Benoit and Greg Anding On February 15, 2023, the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's award of $2.75M each to the two surviving children of a deceased mesothelioma plaintiff and also affirmed the trial court's award of judicial interest relating back to the date the original petition was filed. In December 2021, after a multi-day... Continue Reading...
  • By: Georgia Ainsworth The Supreme Court of Louisiana's recent decision in Rismiller v. Gemini Ins. Co., 2020-0313 (La. 12/11/20), will impact all stages of civil litigation. In Rismiller, the Court held that, like biological and adopted children, children who have been given in adoption fall within the enumerated class of beneficiaries who may bring a wrongful death and/or... Continue Reading...
  • By: Sean McLaughlin The Fifth Circuit issued an important decision on April 7, 2020, Texas Brine Company, L.L.C. v. American Arbitration Assoc. et al, No. 18-31184 (5th Cir. 2020). For the first time, the Court analyzed the propriety of "snap removals." Those can occur when a plaintiff sues several defendants in state court. Complete diversity between the parties... Continue Reading...
  • By: Michael deBarros In asbestos-related injury claims, some states, including Louisiana, base an insurer's liability for defense and indemnity on the amount of time an insurer is "on the risk." For instance, if a claimant was exposed to asbestos for a ten year period and the insurer issued policies covering five of those ten years, the insurer is... Continue Reading...
  • By: Alexandra Rossi The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals "adopt[ed] a bright-line rule [on January 11, 2018]: Section 1446(b)(3)'s removal clock begins ticking upon receipt of the deposition transcript" as opposed to running from the date of the deposition testimony. The decision in Morgan v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc., et al, No. 17-30523, __ F.3d __ (5th Cir.... Continue Reading...
  • By: Lana Crump and Amanda Collura-Day In Louisiana, the collateral source rule mandates that a tort plaintiff be awarded the full value of his medical expenses against the tortfeasor, including any amounts written off by the provider, when that plaintiff paid some "consideration" (money) for the benefit of the written-off amount. In other words, even though a person may have health... Continue Reading...
  • By: Greg Anding For years, plaintiffs in asbestos litigation have been filing suit in the plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions of St. Louis, Missouri and Madison County, Illinois. Some estimate that more than half of all mesothelioma claims filed in the United States are filed in Illinois and Missouri. Many of those claims arise out of alleged exposures completely outside of... Continue Reading...
  • By: Kean Miller Chief Judge Brian Jackson issued an "Omnibus Order Suspending All Deadlines" for cases pending or to be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. The Order explains that the court has been inaccessible—a key term in the Federal Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure—since August 12, 2016 due to historic... Continue Reading...
  • By: Claire Juneau On August 17, 2016, Governor Edwards amended Executive Order JBE 2016-57 which had suspended the running of prescription, peremption, and all legal delays from August 12, 2016 until September 9, 2016. The amendment to Executive Order JBE 2016-57 modifies the suspension of deadlines as follows: Liberative prescription and peremptive periods continue to be suspended throughout... Continue Reading...
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