Louisiana Insurance Litigation Blog

In a world where prescription drugs are touted not only in the doctor’s office, but on TV and in magazine campaigns as well, consumers must be vigilant about their care. Technology is advancing at a rate that has increased the number of drugs presented to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at an unprecedented rate. The consumer must remember that these drugs are highly screened and need a prescription from a doctor for a reason, and use them as guided by their physician or pharmacist. However, even when taken as directed, prescriptions can carry risks, such as unknown side effects or drug interactions.

Continue reading "Products Liability and Prescription Drugs" »

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Posted In: Products Liability

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A reality of living on the Gulf Coast is the yearly threat of hurricane season. While many bypass us, the threat of a direct hit requires property owners to plan for the future, whose plans typically involves insurance policies. Insurance companies hold an important role in society, they are the ones we turn to when disaster strikes, as they represent themselves in large-scale advertising campaigns. Their job is to assess the chance of any given peril occurring, and determining a value a policyholder should pay for the right to receive a benefit should the covered event occur. Some perils carry such high rates of risk, private insurers are unwilling to write policies regarding that event. With some exceptions, flood and certain water-related events are typically not covered under an all perils insurance policy, or flood is excluded under an all risks policy.

Continue reading "Homeowners' and Business Insurance" »

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Posted In: Hurricane Litigation

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Class actions lawsuits are an invaluable procedure to the legal community. Essentially, a class action allows numerous people with common complaints that will be defended similarly to file one lawsuit together, rather than forcing each individual to seek their own attorney and file suit individually. By using this process, advantages are realized by all parties involved- plaintiffs, defendants, and the court system.

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Posted In: Class Actions

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1. THE DIGITAL AGE

• Admissibility of digital evidence:

The 2003 Louisiana Legislature passed Act 1135 amending the provisions of the Louisiana Code of Evidence Article 1001 (3) to provide that digital evidence from palm pilots, the blackberry, e-mail, and related evidence is to be treated as original for evidentiary purposes.

This and similar provisions of the Code of Evidence (e.g. Art. 1003.1) fail to recognize the potential for abuse of digital evidence. The problem with e-mail and any digital evidence is that it may be deleted, altered or preserved incorrectly. There is a presumption of admissibility of electronic duplications in Article 1003.1 by providing “a duplicate may be deemed inadmissable or excluded solely because it is in electronic format”, as will be seen from the following, this is a problem.

Continue reading "Is It The "Real Thing"?" »

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Posted In: Courtroom Techniques

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Louisiana allows punitive damages only in very limited circumstances against insurers. The limited circumstances under which persons can recover are set out at La. R.S. 22:658, which provides as follows:

Continue reading "Punitive Damages in Louisiana" »

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Posted In: Punitive Damages

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I. Introduction

There is no field of governmental activity concerning which the people are as poorly informed as the field occupied by the judiciary.
...
It is highly inconsistent to complain of the ignorance and apathy of voters and then to ‘close the windows of information through which they might observe and learn.’ Generally only idle people, pursuing ‘idle curiosity’ have time to visit court rooms in person. What harm could result from portraying by photo, film, radio and screen to the business, professional and rural leadership of a community, as well as to the average citizen regularly employed, the true picture of the administration of justice? Has anyone been heard to complain that the employment of photographs, radio and television upon the solemn occasion of the last Presidential Inauguration or the Coronation of Elizabeth II was to satisfy an ‘idle curiosity’? Do we hear complaints that the employment of these modern devices of thought transmission in the pulpits of our great churches destroys the dignity of the service; that they degrade the pulpit or create misconceptions in the mind of the public? The answers are obvious. That which is carried out with dignity will not become undignified because more people may be permitted to see and hear.

– Justice Otto Moore of the Colorado Supreme Court, 1956

Continue reading "Cameras in the Courtroom, Part I: Louisiana Approach (Introduction)" »

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Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence states that “although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.” Fed.R.Evid. 403 (Emphasis added). The application of this rule has been hotly contested in current insurance litigation, with specific regard to the admissibility of videos documenting Hurricane Katrina conditions in a different geographic location from where the property damage at issue in the case occurred.

Continue reading "Videos of Hurricane Katrina Conditions May Be Inadmissible in Lawsuits for Damages Sustained During the Storm" »

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Posted In: Hurricane Litigation

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