Despite determined reform efforts by certain lawmakers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s civil litigation environment, especially in Orleans and St. Landry parishes, remains a concern thanks to laws that still permit excessive liability, plaintiff-friendly judges, and close relationships between the plaintiffs’ bar and some state government officials.
St. Landry Parish, in particular, has been one of the major reasons for Louisiana’s reoccurring spot on the Watch List, starting with the 2010 edition, which called out former state Attorney General Charles Foti Jr. and his successor Buddy Caldwell for hiring a group of “profit-driven” personal injury attorneys to represent the state in a multi-million dollar lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company over an issue that had already been resolved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Basically, the pharmaceutical company had distributed a letter to doctors touting the benefits of a new anti-psychotic drug. The FDA later forced a retraction after discovering the benefits and drawbacks of the drug had both been overblown by the company. Although no individuals were harmed, the state filed suit against the company in the 27th Judicial District in St. Landry Parish. The outcome, rendered by district Judge Donald Hebert, resulted in one of the highest dollar judgements in the history of the parish, and possibly the state. According to the 2010 report:
Louisiana sued on the basis of the regulatory finding by the FDA hoping to collect a windfall. The result? An incredible $258 million judgment, believed to be the largest ever assessed in the parish and one of the largest in the history of the state. Attorney General Caldwell proclaimed that the verdict sends the message that ‘those who deceive the state must pay.’ But the real message conveyed is: Beware of Louisiana’s civil justice system — it can lead to verdicts of hundreds of millions of dollars, even without evidence of actual harm.
In 2011, Louisiana again made the Watch List thanks to St. Landry's district courts, this time because of a $15 million verdict awarded to the family of an Opelousas man who blew himself up while attempting to steal natural gas. The man's gas had previously been cut off for nonpayment. The jury ultimately found Centerpoint Energy, the Opelousas man’s energy provider, to be responsible for 50 percent of the $15 million awarded to his family, despite the fact Centerpoint played no role whatsoever in causing the explosion.
Ending corruption in Louisiana's civil court system means getting to the root of the problem, which according to the 2012 list, all boils down to:
[The] INFLUENCE OF PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS OVER STATE OFFICIALS. In addition to their influence with judges, Louisiana’s personal injury bar also has clout with other state officials. As the $258 million Risperdal verdict shows, state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell hires politically-supportive personal injury lawyers to enforce state law in exchange for lucrative fees based on the fines they impose. He has done so despite a 1997 Louisiana Supreme Court decision that found such arrangements are illegal without legislative approval.
Check out all 11 editions of the Judicial Hellholes Watch List here.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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