Louisiana in General

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Judges in East Baton Rouge and St. Tammany Parish have issued two of the earliest rulings on the impact of the Louisiana New Home Warranty Act on claims by homeowners against contractors for damages related to Chinese Drywall. Both state district court judges have found that the Louisiana New Home Warranty Act is the exclusive…

The July 20, 2010 Louisiana Register contained a notice from the Office of Conservation, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources that purported to promulgate rules amending Statewide Order 29-B to add a new Chapter 8 on procedures for evaluation and remediation of groundwater at E&P sites. Conservation’s Web site on July 20, 2010 contained a “final”…

A law passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Bobby Jindal (Act 945) requires all bidders for public works contracts to certify that they have not entered a plea of either guilty or nolo contendre to certain crimes. Each bidder for public works contracts must certify in writing that they have not pleaded guilty or nolo contendre to: (1) public bribery (La. Rev. Stat. 14:118); (2) corrupt influencing (La. Rev. Stat. 14:120); (3) extortion (La. Rev. Stat. 14:66); or (4) money laundering (La. Rev. Stat. 14:230).Continue Reading New Law Requires Public Works Contract Bidders to Certify They Have Not Pleaded Guilty to Certain Crimes

A new law (Act 868) passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Bobby Jindal on July 2, 2010 requires contractors who are awarded no-bid contracts with state and local entities, or $10,000-plus bid contracts with local entities, to disclose all commissions and fees in writing.Continue Reading New Law Requires Contractors to Disclose the Sharing of Contract Commission/Fees in No-Bid State and Local Government Contracts

For many minority college students, entering law school and becoming an attorney may seem out of reach.  Three years ago, Kean Miller law firm launched the Kean Miller Connection program to educate minority college students on the legal profession and inform them that becoming a lawyer is an attainable opportunity.

What Is The Connection?

Kean …

On June 2, 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency adopted a final rule which significantly lowers the primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard (“NAAQS”) for sulfur dioxide (“SO2 ”). EPA is phasing out both the annual standard (0.03 parts per million or ppm) and the existing 24-hour standard set at 0.14 ppm, and phasing in a new 1-hour standard set at 75 parts per billion (“ppb”). The new 1-hour standard is met when the 3-year average of the 99th percentile of daily maximum 1-hour averages at each monitor does not exceed 75 ppb. EPA will transition to the new standard with overlap of the existing standards. In areas that are in compliance with the current standards (all of Louisiana), the existing 24-hour and annual standards will be revoked one year after the designations of new nonattainment areas. Designations are to be final in June 2012, so the existing standards will no longer remain effective as of June 2013.
Continue Reading EPA Significantly Tightens National Sulfur Dioxide Standard – Affects Louisiana Parishes

In 2006, the Louisiana Legislature enacted Louisiana Revised Statute 30:29 (“Act 312”) to provide a procedure for judicial resolution of claims for environmental damage to property. The provisions of Act 312 are applicable whenever there is “any litigation or pleading making a judicial demand arising from or alleging environmental damage” involving “contamination resulting from activities associated with oilfield sites or exploration and production (“E&P”) sites,” regardless of whether claims for remediation arise under the Louisiana Mineral Code or Civil Code. La. R.S. 30:29(I)(1).
Continue Reading Is Act 312 Applicable to My Operation?

On Friday, April 9, 2010, the Louisiana Supreme Court (1) reversed the Third Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision in Cimarex Energy Co. v. Mauboules (2), in which the Circuit Court held that

(1) a royalty interest vendors’ oral assertion to a mineral lessee that the royalty interest vendee fraudulently inserted a prescription interruption provision in the royalty deed, and that therefore the royalty interest had reverted back to the vendors, is not a reasonable basis for the mineral lessee to initiate a concursus proceeding to determine the ownership of royalty payments because the innocent third party purchaser of the royalty interests is protected by the public records doctrine; and

(2) the mineral lessee is liable not only for the royalties paid into the registry of the court, but also for an additional sum equal to double the amount of royalties paid into the registry of the court, as damages.

The Third Circuit decision represented a gross departure from well-established Louisiana law relating to concursus proceedings, upon which the oil and gas industry, and mineral royalty payors in particular, have long relied in order to avoid the risk of multiple liability and the vexation of multiple lawsuits, as well as to avoid a penalty for nonpayment of royalties pursuant to Mineral Code provisions allowing a penalty under certain circumstances.Continue Reading Louisiana Supreme Court Reaffirms Availability of Concursus Procedure for Royalty Payors, But Leaves Questions Concerning Provisions of the Mineral Code Governing Claims for Failure to Pay Royalties Unanswered

On March 21, 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives on almost a straight party-line vote passed two final healthcare reform bills late Sunday night. Initially, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3950, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, by a vote of 219 to 212.

Following the passage of H.R. 3950, the House of…

The February 10, 2010 Federal Register contains a notice of EPA’s final decision that the Baton Rouge ozone nonattainment area “has attained the 1-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS).” (The Baton Rouge area consists of the parishes of Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Livingston, and West Baton Rouge.) EPA found that the ambient monitoring data for 2006-2008 demonstrated attainment and noted there were no exceedances of the standard in 2009. Although this 1-hour ozone standard was revoked in 2005 and replaced with a more stringent 8-hour standard, some of the SIP requirements associated with the old 1-hour standard were continued under the Clean Air Act’s “anti-backsliding” provisions. The EPA action, known as a “Clean Data Policy Determination,” formally suspends several requirements associated with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s (“LDEQ’s”) State Implementation Plan (“SIP”) as long as the area continues to achieve the 1-hour standard. These suspended requirements include “a severe attainment demonstration, a severe reasonable further progress plan (RFP), applicable contingency measures plans, and other planning State Implementation Plan (SIP) requirements related to attainment of the 1-hour ozone NAAQS.”
Continue Reading EPA Recognizes That Baton Rouge Area Attained the 1-Hour Ozone Standard