Articles Posted in Louisiana Personal Injury Law

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So much for the medical malpractice crisis in Louisiana. Louisiana doctors will receive a 10% dividend this year from Louisiana’s largest medical malpractice insurer bringing the total amount of insurance premiums returned by the malpractice insurer to health care providers since 2008 to $20,500,000.

Thomas H. Grimstad, M.D., President / Chief Executive Officer of the Louisiana Medical Mutual Insurance Company (LAMMICO) announced on December 16, 2009 that the LAMMICO Board of Directors and the Louisiana Department of Insurance authorized a third consecutive dividend. The press release issued by LAMMICO states that: “A 10 percent dividend will be paid to individuals, groups and health care facilities holding a LAMMICO policy in force on December 9, 2009 (with the exception of medical student and tail policies). …This dividend equals approximately $5.1 million. Dividend checks will be distributed during the first quarter of 2010. This development follows two previous dividends declared since 2008, totaling $20.5-million.” The Advocate reports that Dr. Grimstad said in a prepared statement: “We declare this third dividend with confidence while maintaining a surplus level that ensures the reliable payment of claims over any cycle.” Victims of medical malpractice in Louisiana should be pleased to know that Louisiana’s largest medical malpractice insurer has sufficient money in its accounts to pay any and all medical malpractice claims that arise during any time period.
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Esteemed LSU Law Pofessor Emeritus, Saul Litvinoff, died the morning of January 5, 2010 at the age of 84. Professor Litvinoff, a former Boyd Professor, joined the LSU Law Center in 1965 and became director of the Center for Civil Law Studies in 1976. He retired in 2009. Professor Litvinoff was instrumental in drafting much of the Louisiana Civil Code, including the sections on contracts, obligations and sales. Former student and Baton Rouge injury lawyer, Scott Andrews, recalls Professor Litvinoff’s photographic memory and quick wit: “Professor Litvinoff had every student’s name memorized the first day the seating chart was made available and he referenced his textbooks by page number even though he never brought a book to class. His students were mesmerized by his genius and humor.” The civil law community lost a great friend on Tuesday. We will miss you Professor Litvinoff.

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The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal, in an opinion not designated for publication, reaffirmed that once a party has been dismissed from the litigation by a summary judgment, that former party cannot be named on the verdict form and cannot have any percentage of fault attributed thereto.Quinn v. State of Louisiana, DOTD, 2009-0085 (La.App. 1 Cir. 12/23/09). See also Bowie v. Young, 2001-0715 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/20/02), 813 So.2d 562, 569-570, writ denied, 2002-1079 (La.6/21/02), 819 So.2d 335; and Duzon v. Stallworth, 2001-1187 (La.App. 1 Cir. 12/11/02), 866 So.2d 837, 853-854, writs denied, 2003-0589 (La. 5/2/03), 842 So.2d 1101, 1110 (“when the court determines that a party or nonparty is not negligent [is dismissed on summary judgment], he may not be considered in the allocation of fault, and subsequent evidence may not be admitted to establish his fault.”).

This personal injury legal update is provided by Baton Rouge, Louisiana injury lawyer Scott Andrews of the Louisiana accident and injury law firm, Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C..

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“The peculiar genius of the jury system is its reliance on the common sense and common experience of ordinary men and women to determine definitively much that cannot be known absolutely.” Miller v. National Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 578 F.2d 125 (5th.1978).

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A Rottweiler dog attacked and killed a 20 month old boy in Florida while the boy was reaching for a cookie he had dropped on the ground.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana injury attorney, Scott Andrews, says “animal attacks occur too often and are usually by dogs trained to be vicious by their owners or by dogs that are not properly supervised by their owners.” In Louisiana, damages caused by animals are governed by Louisiana Civil Code article 2321, which provides that the owner of a dog is “strictly liable for damages for injuries to person or property caused by the dog and which the owner could have prevented and which did not result from the injured person’s provocation.” The owners of all other animals in Louisiana are “answerable for the damage caused by the animal” upon a showing that the owner knew or should have known that his animal’s behavior would cause damage, and that by the exercise of reasonable care, the damage could have been prevented.
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The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal held that an award for future medical expenses can be supported by testimony that future medical expenses will be required, even in the absence of any evidence as to the specific cost of such future treatment. It is proper for the trial court to determine future medical expenses on the basis of the record, past medical expenses, and other evidence. Since the plaintiff’s past medical expenses exceeded $326,000, an award of $150,000 for future medical expenses was proper. Goza v. Parish of West Baton Rouge, 2008-0086 (La.App. 1 Cir. 5/5/09), 21 So.3d 320, writ denied, 2009-2146 (La.12/11/09), citing Levy v. Bayou Indus. Maintenance Services, Inc., 03-0037 (La. App. 1 Cir. 9/26/03), 855 So.2d 968, 975, writs denied, 03-3161, 03-3200 (La. 2/6/04), 865 So.2d 724, 727.

This personal injury legal update is provided by Baton Rouge, Louisiana injury lawyer Scott Andrews of the Louisiana accident and injury law firm, Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C..

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The family of a football player who suffered a brain injury in a football game one month after suffering a concussion settled their case against La Salle University for $7,500,000. The family claimed in their lawsuit that the earlier concussion made the football player more vulnerable to brain damage from another severe blow to the head.

Better training on proper tackling techniques and proper blocking have greatly reduced the number of paralyzing football injuries. However, there remains an enormous amount of controversy and disagreement over the seriousness of concussion injuries. Just this season, Tim Tebow, Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger went down with concussion injuries. Certainly, these three stars received the finest medical treatment available and did not return to play until it was neurologically safe to do so. However, many young men and women do not receive proper treatment and are pushed back onto the field by over zealous coaches before it is safe to return to full contact, and are unnecessarily exposed to a high risk of brain injury.

The Louisiana injury lawyers at Dué Guidry Piedrahita Andrews Courrege L.C. are no strangers to sports injury cases, having handled one of the most well-known reported sports injury cases in Louisiana– Fox v. Board of Supervisors, involving a rugby player rendered quadriplegic after being allegedly improperly tackled by an opposing player.
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Time-computation amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Appellate Procedure went into effect on December 1, 2009.

These amendments implement a consistent method of calculating time periods throughout the federal rules, a method that counts every day, instead of excluding weekends and holidays for some periods but not others. Most of the amendments lengthen time periods by a few days, to offset the effect of counting weekends and holidays and to express time periods of less than 30 days in 7-day multiples. Most of the periods either remain the same or are lengthened: 5-day periods become 7-day periods, and 10-day periods become 14-day periods.

Congress has enacted changes to 28 statutory time periods affecting court proceedings to be consistent with this new, simplified computation approach. The United States District Courts for the Middle District of Louisiana, Western District of Louisiana and Eastern District of Louisiana revised their local rules to be consistent with the national rule and statutory changes.

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The 200 foot boom of a crane collapsed onto a fabrication shop at Elevated Boats, Inc. in Houma, Louisiana, killing one man and injuring another on November 17, 2009. The collapse occurred when the steel base of the crane ripped and detached while the crane operator was moving a 30 ton weight from the flat bed of an 18 wheeler. The accident remains under investigation by OSHA.

A crane collapse is usually caused by operator error, defective design of the crane or a component part, or improper maintenance. When injured or killed on-the-job by a crane collapse in Louisiana, worker’s compensation is often the exclusive remedy for the injured or killed worker. However, if the crane or a component part is defective, or if the crane was improperly maintained or negligently operated by a contractor or other third-person who is not considered an employer or co-employee, a claim may be made outside of the worker’s compensation scheme. And, when an on-the-job crane collapse in Louisiana is covered by the Jones Act or General Maritime Law, a claim for injury or death can sometimes even be made against an employer or co-employee.
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Two Villa Feliciana Medical Complex employees, accused of hitting a patient, were arrested on November 13, 2009, and booked into the East Feliciana Parish Jail.

Hitting a patient is considered an intentional tort or battery by Louisiana law, and any claim for injuries and damages suffered by the struck patient generally fall outside the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act. Other types of abuse and neglect of the elderly in nursing home settings will generally fall within Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act.

The National Center for Elder Abuse estimates that between 1 and 2 million Americans age 65 or older have been injured, exploited, or otherwise mistreated by a caregiver. If that caregiver is a nursing home or other healthcare provider licensed by the State of Louisiana, a complaint should be filed with the Health Standards Section of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. The Health Standards Section will investigate any good-faith and timely complaint against the health care provider, and if the complaint is verified, appropriate action will be taken.
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