Is it reasonably forseeable that the first permittee might allow others to operate the automobile? Implied permission by the named insured can be found even in the face of a specific prohibition against allowing others to operate the automobile if there is evidence that the named insured was aware of…
As long as initial use of an automobile is with the express or implied consent of the insured, the scope of permission granted the user will not preclude coverage unless the deviation from the permission consented to by the insured amounts to theft or other conduct displaying an utter disregard…
Many liability policies extend coverage to relatives of the named insured who are “residents” of the same household of the named insured. Whether a person is or is not a resident of a particular place is a question of law as well as fact, and is to be determined from…
After teaching Product Liability during the Spring 2011 semester at the Southern University Law Center (SULC), Baton Rouge, Louisiana personal injury and accident attorney, Scott Andrews, will be teaching Insurance Law at the Southern University Law Center during the Fall 2011 semester. Scott Andrews is a 1996 Order of the…
The Louisiana Supreme Court in McGlothlin v Christus St. Patrick’s Hospital, 2010-2775 (La. 7/1/11), struck a powerful blow to the conspiracy of silence machine that dominates Louisiana medical malpractice litigation by holding that the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act does NOT mandate the admission of a medical review panel opinion when…
In a case arising from a fire at an oil well site which left a worker severely burned, a deeply divided Louisiana Supreme Court held in a 4-3 decision that a timely filed lawsuit against a worker’s statutory employer who is immune from tort liability and who had not paid…
In Whitley v. State of Louisiana, through the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University Agricultural Mechanical College, 2011-0040 (La. 7/1/11) and Burnett v. James Construction Group, 2010-2608 (La. 7/1/11), the Louisiana Supreme Court preserved a tort victim’s rightful day in court. According to Baton Rouge, Louisiana personal injury and…
Retired Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal Judge, Bob Downing, now of counsel with the Baton Rouge, Louisiana law firm of Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C., has joined the panel of neutrals of MAPS – Mediation Arbitration Professional Systems, Inc. – with offices in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and…
In Brooks. v. State of Louisiana, Department of Transportation and Development, 2010-1908 (La.7/1/11), the Louisiana Supreme Court held that the scope of duty of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) to maintain the shoulder of a Louisiana state highway does not encompass the risk that a driver of…
The Louisiana Supreme Court in Fulmer v. State of Louisiana, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, 2010-2779 (La.7/1/11), clarified that seamen employed by the State of Louisiana may assert a claim for damages against the State of Louisiana under the Jones Act. The Supreme Court held that because the State of…