Business Litigation

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Electronic Discovery, or “E-Discovery”, is not considered the “novel issue” it once was. However, E-Discovery still presents problems that litigants and courts struggle with. Below is a summary of recent Louisiana Federal Court opinions dealing with the issues surrounding E-Discovery.

In Frees, Inc. v. McMillian, 2007 WL 184889 (W.D. La. Jan. 22, 2007), the Western District of Louisiana granted the plaintiff’s motion to compel. In an unfair competition and trade secret theft action, the plaintiff claimed that the defendant, a former employee, had stolen various data files. Plaintiff had unsuccessfully requested production of defendant’s laptop and desktop. The Court granted the motion to compel the defendant to produce these two items because they were the most likely places that the data files would be located. The Court did institute protective measures so as to prevent the disclosure of any irrelevant or personal information.Continue Reading Recent Developments in E-Discovery in Louisiana

The Louisiana Supreme Court in Cheramie Services, Inc. v. Shell Deepwater Production, 2010 W.L. 1631977 (La. 2010) construed the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices Act (“LUTPA”) to mean that persons other than business consumers and competitors may sue for alleged violations of the Act. Regardless of the context of the legislation, according to the Supreme Court, the term “any person” means exactly that – any person.

In the action, Cheramie Services, Inc. (“Cheramie”) entered into a contract with Shell to provide personnel to its platforms. Shell placed two Cheramie employees, Kenneth Ward and Kevin Kays, on a platform. Shell paid Cheramie who paid the employees who were placed on these specific platforms. Ward and Kays alternated working fourteen day shifts so one of them was always on the platform. About six months thereafter, Shell stopped making payments to Cheramie and began paying Filco International, Inc. (“Filco”) for the services provided by Kays and Ward. Additionally, Cheramie sent an employee to meet with Shell about filling a position on another platform. The employee met with Shell and was told that if she wanted the position, she would have to work for Filco, because it had submitted the successful bid.Continue Reading Louisiana Supreme Court Interprets Unfair Trade Practices Act

The United States Supreme Court recently resolved conflicts among the Circuit Courts about the citizenship of a corporation for determining diversity of citizenship jurisdiction (1). This will allow corporations to analyze with more predictable results whether to remove a case to federal court. In Hertz Corp. v. Friend, et al, No. 08-1107 (February 23, 2010) (a unanimous decision, which is unusual in and of itself), the Court decided that when determining a corporation’s citizenship for diversity of citizenship jurisdiction, the “principal place of business” of the corporation is “the place where the corporation’s high level officers direct, control, and coordinate the corporation’s activities”—something that courts have referred to as the “nerve center” of the corporation.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Clarifies Definition of a Corporation’s “Principal Place of Business”

The Louisiana Civil Code provides an implied warranty for all things sold.  Specifically, a seller warrants the buyer against all redhibitory vices and defects.  A defect is “redhibitory” if it renders the item so useless or inconvenient that a buyer would not have purchased it or would have purchased it for a lesser price.   Louisiana does not have warranty statutes which are specific to marine products.  The following outline is an overview of Louisiana’s warranty statutes in connection with marine products such as boats, personal watercraft, and outboard motors.
Continue Reading Louisiana Warranty Statutes and Marine Products

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently addressed the standard for a declaratory judgment action in the context of trademark rights. In Vantage Trailers, Inc. v. Beall Corporation, 567 F.3d 745 (5th Cir. 2009), Vantage filed civil action seeking declaratory judgment finding that its designed for a new aluminum bottom dump trailer would not infringe on any valid trademark rights of Beall Corporation.  Beall manufacturers and sells an aluminum bottom dump trailer which is protected by a registered trademark.  In early 2006, Vantage began designing its own aluminum bottom dump trailer.  In July 2006, Beall’s vice president sent a letter to Vantage stating that if your company places any trailers into service that violate any of Beall’s trademarks we will pursue legal action to stop the infringement. In response to the letter, Vantage filed a civil action seeking a declaratory judgment that Beall’s trademark is invalid and that the design of Vantage’s trailer did not infringe on any intellectual property rights of Beall’s.
Continue Reading Declaratory Judgment Action Still Requires Case or Controversy

Nearly three years have passed since electronic discovery was formally introduced into the realm of discovery.  The scope of electronic discovery is broad- it includes discovery of “any information that can be stored electronically, including writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound recordings, images, and other data or compilations—stored in any medium from which information can…

Throughout 2004–2007 a housing boom along with a series of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico combined to create a shortage of drywall in the United States.  Needing drywall to build the homes that were much in demand, suppliers turned abroad. Chinese manufacturers stepped in, providing cheap and readily available material.  This influx of Chinese drywall was concentrated in Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi; the states most affected by Hurricanes Wilma, Katrina, and Rita.  Since 2006, it has been estimated by some sources that more than 550 million pounds of drywall have been imported from China.  There are reports that some 100,000 homes could possibly be affected nationwide. Continue Reading What does the Transfer of Chinese Drywall Cases by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation Mean?

The Louisiana Legislature has adopted House Concurrent Resolution No. 185, authored by Representative Tim Burns.  The resolution urges and requests that the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Deptartment of Insurance, in consultation with the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors, investigate the health risks associated with living in homes that contain drywall imported…

Beginning at 12:01 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time), on Saturday, June 13, 2009, members of the social networking website, Facebook, will be able to claim usernames to associate with their Facebook accounts and Facebook pages. This will allow Facebook pages to be accessed by using a url such as, http://www.facebook.com/unitedairlines, or something similar.

Facebook is…

In today’s difficult economic climate, franchisors are often faced with a decision to consolidate, not renew or terminate unprofitable franchises.  Generally, franchise agreements have been entered into in better economic times and contain provisions that attempt to minimize adverse economic consequences to the franchisor arising from a non-renewal or termination.  The termination decision often leads to legal challenges involving the validity of such provisions.  These challenges include a determination of whether the termination is permitted by the contract, termination procedures, buy back issues and any damages that flow from the termination or non-renewal.
Continue Reading Franchise or Distributorship Termination Under Louisiana Law