In the Parish of Acadia, the Third Circuit Court of Appeal decided a case that clarifies how punitive damage awards are to be applied to vicarious liability cases. In Bonnie Romero v. Clarendon America, Bonnie Romero (plaintiff) was hit by an 18 wheeler truck. The truck was driven by an employee of Stanford Trucking (Stanford).
In a recent unpublished opinion, a panel of the Louisiana 1st Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court’s award of additur in a personal injury lawsuit stemming from a low-speed rear-end automobile accident occurring in Terrebonne Parish in October 2005. The plaintiff sued for damages for personal injuries, medical expenses, and loss of wages,
Court systems are very highly burdened. Currently, there are too many cases compared to the number of judges and judicial staff. This phenomenon of law will not likely change any time soon. Therefore, the judicial system had to come up with ways to counter the overflowing process. One of the most logical methods of ending
In civil litigation, the defendant is responsible for the damage caused to the plaintiff(s) when found responsible for causing harm. This damage may be either physical or property damage. If a defendant is found to be at fault, the next question is usually to what extent the defendant is liable for any resulting injuries. In
In a very recent Louisiana Court of Appeals Case, the Court took a rare action to uphold summary judgment when considering whether the lead vehicle in multi car pileup was negligent. The Court found the lead driver, Martin Lopez, was not negligent because he acted with ordinary care. This idea of ordinary care is extremely
It is well settled in Louisiana law that “a tortfeasor takes his victim as he finds him and when a defendant’s tortious conduct aggravates a pre-existing condition, the defendant must compensate the victim for the full extent of the aggravation.” Lasha v. Olin Corp. In other words, when a person injures another, that person is
Louisiana courts have consistently held that a guest passenger is not responsible for a driver’s negligence. “This jurisprudential rule recognizes the fact that an automobile passenger is generally incapable of influencing the driver’s behavior: it is unrealistic to hold … that the occupant of a motor vehicle has factually any control or right of control
It is well-settled in Louisiana jurisprudence that an injured party has a duty to mitigate damages. In other words, a victim is required to make reasonable efforts to minimize the extent of injury or damage that results from a tortfeasor’s actions, even though the actions may be negligent or wrongful. The idea is that a
Accidents are a common occurrence for automobile drivers. In fact, in 2009, there were 73,900 injuries caused by automobile accidents in the state of Louisiana. However, when one is injured in such an accident, liability is often difficult to assign. In other words, it takes a fact-finder to determine who is at fault for the
In numerous prior posts, we have explored how critical expert testimony often is in determining the outcome of a negligence trial. Although experts can play a pivotal role in helping a plaintiff build his case, they do present some limitations. Typically, expert witnesses are required to render an opinion based on the information that they
Jeffrey Berniard is a specialized injury attorney with over 21 years of experience fighting for Louisiana families.