Articles Posted in Louisiana Personal Injury Law

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At the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Association for Justice (LAJ), B. Scott Andrews was selected as the 2024-2025 LAJ President-Elect.  Andrews has spent his entire legal career as an attorney with Baton Rouge-based Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C., a BSA-headshot-1-150x150boutique law firm focused on complex personal injury and wrongful death cases throughout Louisiana. Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated, Andrews has a history of service to LAJ and is a two-time recipient of LAJ’s President’s Award.  A 1996 graduate of the LSU Law Center, Andrews was a member of the Louisiana Law Review, Order of the Coif and LSU Law Center Hall of Fame. A long-time Southern University Law Center adjunct professor of law, Andrews taught Advanced Louisiana Torts, Advanced Legal Analysis and Writing, Insurance Law, and Products Liability.

Andrews has earned recognition for his accomplishments from Super Lawyers’ 2020 Top 50 Lawyers in Louisiana, Best Lawyers in America©, America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers, Baton Rouge Business Report Forty Under 40, and others. Andrews is a longtime member of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s House of Delegates and served on its Legislation and Ad Hoc Legislation Advisory committees. He is a former Wex Malone American Inn of Court president.

A Jonesboro-Hodge native, Andrews is a 1992 graduate of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, where he was Student Government Association president. His commitment to NSU continued after graduation and includes service as a board member and past-president of the NSU Foundation Board of Directors and as a member of NSU’s Beacon Society.

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Andy-Headshot-150x150Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C. is proud to announce that K. Andrew “Andy” Guidry, Jr. has joined the Baton Rouge boutique personal injury law firm as an associate attorney.

After graduating law school from Southern University Law Center, Andy was admitted to practice law in Louisiana in the Fall of 2022. Andy is also admitted to practice in the Middle, Eastern and Western Districts of Louisiana. He is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Louisiana Association for Justice and the Baton Rouge Bar Association.

Andy was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and graduated from The Dunham School.

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Best-Law-Firms-Standard-Badge-2022-150x150Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C. is proud to be recognized in the 2022 Edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” for professional excellence with consistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana boutique law firm received Tier 1 recognition in Baton Rouge in the practice areas of Personal Injury Litigation -Plaintiffs and Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiff.

To be eligible for a ranking, a law firm must first have a lawyer recognized in The Best Lawyers in America©, which recognizes 5% of lawyers practicing in the United States. Achieving a tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise.

Firm members, Kirk A. Guidry and B. Scott Andrews, are recognized in The Best Lawyers in America© for Baton Rouge in the practice areas of Personal Injury Litigation -Plaintiffs and Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiff.  C. Scott Courrege is recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in the areas of Product Liability Litigation-Plaintiffs and Workers’ Compensation Law-Claimants.

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ida-300x125Dealing with the insurance claims process can be almost as stressful as facing the mess left behind from Hurricane Ida’s wake. Some insurers will act fairly, reasonably, and in good faith in adjusting and paying their policyholder’s claims. Unfortunately, many do not. In order for you to maximize your chances of getting a claim treated fairly by the insurer, we offer some general insurance claim tips to help get you started:

1. Notify your insurance company immediately.

There will be thousands of Hurricane Ida claims filed, so you want to get yours in the “hopper” as soon as possible.

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During a 2016 declared state of emergency due to flooding, a Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections Master Sergeant was supervising inmates engaged in sandbagging activities. While transporting sandbags and several inmates in a loaded state-owned pick-up truck, the DPSC employee hit a water-filled hole in the roadway, causing injury to the inmates.

The inmates sued the DPSC and its employee for damages. These defendants moved for summary judgment because La. R.S. 29:735(A)(1) provides immunity to the State, its agencies, and political subdivisions for injury or death resulting from emergency preparedness activities. Representatives and employees of the State, its agencies, or political subdivisions are also immune unless they engage in “willful misconduct.”

The Louisiana Supreme Court held “as a matter of law” that the DPSC employee’s actions in overloading the truck with sandbags, struggling to maintain control of the truck, looking at his phone while driving, and wearing sunglasses did not rise to the level of willful misconduct.  The Supreme Court defined “willful misconduct” as follows:

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Kirk-and-Scott-BR-150x150Kirk A. Guidry and B. Scott Andrews of the boutique law firm, Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C., were selected once again by their peers for inclusion in the 2021 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America© in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana litigation practice areas of Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs and Product Liability Litigation-Plaintiffs.

Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation. Almost 108,000 industry leading lawyers are eligible to vote (from around the world), and we have received over 13 million evaluations on the legal abilities of other lawyers based on their specific practice areas around the world. For the 2021 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America©, 9.4 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 67,000 leading lawyers being included in the new edition. Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.

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In Caldwell v. St. Charles Gaming Company, 2019-01238 (La.1/2/2020), the Louisiana Supreme Court held that an employee injured in 2015 on the Grand Palais Riverboat casino in Westlake, Louisiana, was not a seaman under the Jones Act because the riverboat casino was no longer a vessel in navigation for purposes of the general maritime law.

In 2001, the Grand Palais Riverboat casino was moored in Westlake, Louisiana, by nylon mooring lines and steel wire cables, with its primary purpose being dockside gambling.  The riverboat casino has not moved since being moored, is serviced by shore-side utility lines that have not been disconnected since 2001, and the casino computer system is located on land.

After an injured riverboat technician filed suit under the Jones Act, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the issue of whether the injured employee was a Jones Act seaman.  The critical factual issue was whether the riverboat casino was a vessel in navigation.  The trial court denied the motions.

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The Louisiana Supreme Court, in Blair v. Mary Coney, 2019-00795 (La.4/3/20), affirmed the trial court’s order excluding the expert opinion testimony of Dr. Charles E. “Ted” Bain because it was not based on sufficient facts or data.

According to the Supreme Court opinion, Dr. Charles E. “Ted” Bain is an injury causation consultant and partial owner of Biodynamics Research Corporation (“BRC”). Dr. Bain obtained a degree in nuclear engineering, but has never been licensed as a professional engineer. Dr. Bain received his medical degree in Canada and practiced in emergency medicine and family medicine. Dr. Bain completed three weeks of Traffic Accident Reconstruction Courses.

In 2014, George Blair filed a lawsuit in Louisiana for injuries he allegedly sustained in a car wreck. In an effort to disprove a causal connection between the alleged injuries and the wreck, the defendants hired Dr. Bain as an expert witness in the areas of biomechanics, injury causation analysis, and accident reconstruction. Dr. Bain issued a report concluding that the low speed rear-end collision subjected Mr. Blair to minimal forces and accelerations that would not cause serious or long-lasting injuries.

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Scott Andrews was recently selected by his peers for the fourth time for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the practice area of Plaintiff Personal Injury.   Scott Andrews is a member of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana injury law firm of Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C., specializing in wrongful death and serious personal injury cases.

First published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as a definitive guide to legal excellence.  Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation with nearly 87,000 industry leading lawyers from around the world eligible to vote.  For the 2019 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America©, 7.8 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in almost 60,000 leading lawyers being included in the new edition. Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.

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Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C. attorney Kirk A. Guidry was recently recognized by his peers in Best Lawyers as the 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” for Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs in the Baton Rouge area.

Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year,” making this accolade particularly significant. These lawyers are selected based on particularly impressive voting averages received during the peer review assessments.

Receiving this designation reflects the high level of respect a lawyer has earned among other leading lawyers in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, their professionalism, and their integrity.

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