Louisiana Supreme Court Decisions 2013
Date: December 10, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-K-2358
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Brandon Smith appealed his conviction and sentence for distribution of cocaine. He argued that the evidence presented against him at trial was insufficient to support his conviction. The appellate court agreed…
Date: December 10, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-K-2677
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed a Court of Appeals decision to reverse defendant Jason Duhe's conviction and habitual offender sentence for the creation or operation of a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory. Defendant moved before…
Date: December 10, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0397
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this matter centered on whether defects in load-bearing walls were a result of "any defect" due to noncompliance with the buildings standards subject to a one year peremptive period,…
Date: December 10, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0579
Justia Opinion Summary: Within days of his twenty-seventh birthday, Clyde Snider, Jr., was hospitalized for a suspected myocardial infarction. A few months later, after complaining of chest pains, he went to a second doctor and different…
Date: December 10, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0691
Justia Opinion Summary: Benjamin and Keri Fidelak filed a petition for damages in Caddo Parish district court (a court of proper venue) against Foreign & Classic Auto Centre, Inc., a small, independent repair shop in Shreveport, which…
Date: December 10, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-1085
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case centered on the limitation of liability afforded to a member of a limited liability company (LLC). In 2007, Mary Ogea signed a contract entitled "Custom Home Building…
Date: December 10, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-KA-0914
Justia Opinion Summary: In a direct appeal, the State appealed a judgment that declared La. R.S. 14:95.1 as unconstitutional. In connection with a motion to quash the bill of information filed by the defendant in this case, the district court…
Date: December 10, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-O-2055
Justia Opinion Summary: This matter stemmed from the failure of Raymond Thomas, Jr. (a candidate for the office of justice of the peace) to comply with the financial reporting requirements of Louisiana Supreme Court Rule XL. The hearing officer…
Date: November 5, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-OK-2763
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case centered on whether "Miller v. Alabama," (567 U.S. __ (2012)) applied retroactively in state collateral proceedings. Defendant Darryl Tate, whose mandatory…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-2504
Justia Opinion Summary: Louisiana Machinery Company, L.L.C. and Louisiana Machinery Rentals, L.L.C., Louisiana's exclusive Caterpillar franchise dealers, sold, leased, and/or repaired Caterpillar equipment and machinery in parishes throughout…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0353
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case to review an appellate court reversal of a district court's ruling that defendants, a medical diagnostic monitoring company and its employee/physician, were not…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0557
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case to determine whether the New Home Warranty Act ("NHWA") provided the exclusive remedy between a home builder and a purchaser of residential property, where the builder…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0583
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0749
Justia Opinion Summary: A pharmaceutical distributor/repackager sought review of an appellate court decision that reversed a decision of the Louisiana Office of Workers' Compensation Administration. The Office awarded certain unpaid invoices…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0823
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court centered on whether homeschooling of children born of the marriage was a factor the trial court could consider when awarding final support. The District Court found homeschooling was…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0890
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2005, Patrick Richard sustained a work-related injury at the State Department of Transportation and Development ("DOTD"). After Mr. Richard's injury, DOTD began paying him workers' compensation benefits. Mr. Richard…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-CA-1106
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs are producers of rice in Louisiana. In 1972, the Legislature enacted La. R.S. 3:3531, et seq. and La. R.S. 3:3541, et seq. which established the Louisiana Rice Promotion Board and the Louisiana Rice Research…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-K-1271
Justia Opinion Summary: In response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Louisiana legislature enacted a series of laws titled "Prevention of Terrorism on the Highways." One of the statutes proscribes the operation of a motor…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-KK-0276
Justia Opinion Summary: On August 2, 2012, defendant Bonifacio Ramirez was arrested during a traffic stop in for operating a motor vehicle without documentation demonstrating that he was lawfully present in the United States. The Supreme Court…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-KK-0315
Justia Opinion Summary: On May 8, 2012, defendant Rosa Lugo Marquez was charged by bill of information with being an alien student and/or a nonresident alien who operated a motor vehicle in the parish of Lafayette without documentation…
Date: October 15, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-KP-0873
Justia Opinion Summary: The state charged respondent with aggravated rape on the basis of allegations made by C.C., the granddaughter of Gayle Ardoin, respondent's live-in partner, that respondent had repeatedly abused her sexually over the…
Date: September 4, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-KP-1410
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed the grant of post-conviction relief for Defendant Anthony Thomas. The trial court granted the application based on an allegation that defendant's trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance. Upon…
Date: June 28, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-1711
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Mary Soileau was injured while working for the Town of Mamou when a front-end loader detached from a tractor and struck her in the leg. She named the tractor manufacturer, the Town, Smith's Hardware (where the…
Date: June 28, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-1892
Justia Opinion Summary: Dr. Tommie Granger was a certified cardiac surgeon who had hospital privileges at defendant Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital. One of his patients was hospitalized at Cabrini and developed complications. While the…
Date: June 28, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-2292
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs owned an undivided five-sixths interest of land on which they executed an oil and gas lease to Prestige Exploration, Inc. Plaintiffs ownership interests were managed by Regions Bank who helped negotiate the…
Date: June 28, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-CC-2668
Justia Opinion Summary: Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC sued Assurant Specialty Property, American Security Insurance Company, Donyelle January and Capital One Bank over a mortgage agreement. Specialized was the servicer of the note and…
Date: June 28, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0022
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case centered on whether a non-health care provider could be a joint tortfeasor with a health care provider being sued for medical malpractice. The non-health care provider in…
Date: June 28, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-C-0262
Justia Opinion Summary: Kerry Moseley and Derek Pociask were married and had two children. They separated ten years later, and shortly thereafter, were granted a divorce. But several months before the judgment of divorce, Moseley had another…
Date: June 28, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-CA-0499
Justia Opinion Summary: During the 2012 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature, the House of Representatives considered House Bill No. 61, which provided for the establishment of a cash balance retirement plan for certain new members of…
Date: June 21, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-CJ-2756
Justia Opinion Summary: Mother Misty Hernandez appealed a family court order denying her motion for permission to move to another state with the child she shared with Father Brandon Jenkins. Upon review of the family court matter, the Supreme…
Date: June 14, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-KA-1105
Justia Opinion Summary: In "Louisiana v. Duheart," the Supreme Court reversed part of the district court's judgment that La.R.S. 32:101(A)(1) was unconstitutionally vague, and remanded the case for reconsideration of defendant's motion to…
Date: May 31, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-CA-1088
Date: May 7, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-2182
Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiffs prevailed in their action under the Americans with Disabilities Act and sought attorney's fees, costs, and expenses. The district court rendered a fee award, but reduced the requested number of billable…
Date: May 7, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-CJ-2709
Justia Opinion Summary: In this custody dispute, the trial court ordered a change in custody, finding the father satisfied the requirements of "Bergeron v. Bergeron" by establishing that any harm caused by a modification of a 2004 custody…
Date: May 7, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-K-1296
Justia Opinion Summary: The state charged defendant by bill of information with failing to maintain his registration as a convicted sex offender by failing to appear for his quarterly registration with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.…
Date: May 7, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-KA-2243
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Timothy Bazile was indicted by a grand jury for the second degree murder of his wife, Kendra. The indictment was returned on October 13, 2010, and defendant arraigned on October 15. The district court set a…
Date: May 7, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-KP-0872
Justia Opinion Summary: The Louisiana Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider whether the United States Supreme Court's decision in "Graham v. Florida" (130 S.Ct. 2011 (2010)), applied in a case in which the juvenile offender committed…
Date: May 7, 2013
Docket Number: 2013-CA-0120
Justia Opinion Summary: In a declaratory judgment action before the Supreme Court, the issue for review concerned the validity of two legislative instruments enacted during the 2012 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature, Senate…
Date: April 5, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-1238
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Paul Broussard sued the State for damages he sustained from an accident caused by a misaligned elevator. After a three-day trial, a jury returned a verdict in Broussard’s favor, finding the offset between the…
Date: April 5, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-1763
Justia Opinion Summary: In a medical malpractice case, the trial court refused to qualify an expert witness for the plaintiffs, finding he did not satisfy the requirements for expert witnesses under the Medical Malpractice Act. The trial…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-1472
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case involved a 1925 tax sale and the failure to give notice of the pending tax sale to the property owner. The specific issue in the present case was whether "Mennonite Board…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-1566
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, plaintiff Jane Doe was contacted by detectives in the Baton Rouge Police Department and asked to identify whether she was the subject of a photograph, obtained from a video, captured by a pen camera which had…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-1937
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case centered on whether the minimum monthly salary referenced in La.R.S. 33:1992 included the supplemental amount paid by a municipality for purposes of calculating wage…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-2055
Justia Opinion Summary: Through a series of assignments, Clovelly Oil Company and Midstates Petroleum Company, LLC, were parties to a 1972 joint operating agreement (JOA). The issue before the Supreme Court was whether a lease acquired by…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-2056
Justia Opinion Summary: The taxpayer in this case, a paper mill, requested a refund on taxes it paid on purchases of caustic soda, arguing that the chemical was used in the production of a product for resale and excluded from local and state…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-CC-1697
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was one of first impression: whether the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Law (specifically La. R.S. 23:1036) as the exclusive remedy for a volunteer firefighter in claims…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-K-1021
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court centered on the appropriate remedy for a defendant when he is prohibited, in violation of La. C.Cr.P. art. 799.1, from using a peremptory challenge to back strike a provisionally…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-K-1176
Justia Opinion Summary: While driving his vehicle in a highly intoxicated state, defendant Craig Oliphant struck and killed a pedestrian and subsequently pled guilty to the charge of vehicular homicide. The District Court ultimately sentenced…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-K-2042
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, defendant Jeremy Patterson and co-defendant Tyrone Reynolds were charged by grand jury indictment with one count of second degree murder. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case to consider whether,…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-KA-1854
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1993, respondent Isaiah Overstreet, Jr., who was then 32 years old, quit his job, began living in his car, and started preaching on the grounds of college campuses. On April 25, 1994, at about 6 a.m. police were…
Date: March 19, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-KK-1986
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, Defendant Mazen Hamdan was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The bill of information stated that defendant was previously convicted in Orleans Parish of possession of heroin and…
Date: January 30, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-0884
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs the State and the Vermilion Parish School Board filed a "Petition for Damages to School Lands" in 2004 seeking damages and remediation of a sixteenth section of property in Vermilion Parish owned by the State…
Date: January 29, 2013
Docket Number: 2011-KP-2799
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Manuel Ortiz was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death for the 1995 for the killing of his wife. The State urged jurors to find that Respondent was involved in a murder-for-hire scheme…
Date: January 29, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-1145
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted certiorari to determine whether the State could directly enforce Article I, section 10 of the Louisiana Constitution to prevent a candidate from taking public office without regard to the…
Date: January 29, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-1177
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether La. R.S. 13:4210 was constitutional. Dionysia Prejean was a party to a child custody proceeding captioned "Dionysia F. Huval Prejean v. Ronald Joseph Prejean,"…
Date: January 29, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-C-1762
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted certiorari in order to determine whether the court of appeal erred in overturning the rulings of the district courts with regard to certain tax assessments. Questions were raised as to whether…
Date: January 29, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-CA-1471
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case concerned a law was declared unconstitutional by a district court. The district court granted in part the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, Inc.’s (LHSAA’s)…
Date: January 29, 2013
Docket Number: 2012-O-1821
Justia Opinion Summary: his matter came before the Supreme Court on the recommendation of the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana that respondent Judge Leo Boothe of the Seventh Judicial District Court, Parishes of Catahoula and Concordia, be…
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